ZywOo finished the tournament with a 1.50 Rating 3.0 and collected his first MVP award of the second half of the season.
THE MVP GAVE ZYWOO A CONFIDENCE BOOST
ZywOo admitted that receiving another individual award felt like a release after a quieter start to the second half of the year.
For him, the MVP mattered not only as another personal achievement, but also because it arrived together with Vitality returning to trophy-winning form.
It feels good and feels like a release a bit to have this MVP. I wanted at least one MVP for the second part of the season just to be a bit more confident and to win also a trophy.
The award became the 33rd MVP medal of ZywOo career. He also made clear that the result was not only about his individual performance, crediting the rest of Vitality for the level they showed in Barcelona.
VITALITY HELD IMPORTANT TALKS AFTER PORTO
One of the biggest reasons behind the improvement, according to ZywOo, came after BLAST Open Porto.
Vitality held individual discussions with almost every player to better understand how everyone felt about the game, the team and each other. ZywOo believes those conversations removed some of the stress that had built up and helped the roster become more confident.
After the last tournament in Porto, we had a talk individually with almost everyone just to know what our feelings were. I think it released a lot of things, a lot of stress, it’s more confidence in a way.
Vitality still lost to Aurora in the Upper Bracket Final, but ZywOo felt the overall level throughout StarSeries Fall showed that the team were moving back toward their best form.
VITALITY FIXED THEIR MISTAKES AGAINST AURORA
Aurora defeated Vitality one day before the Grand Final, but the rematch looked very different.
ZywOo pointed specifically to the T sides. Vitality struggled to create rounds during the first series, often becoming too passive and waiting for Aurora to make the first move.
That changed in the Grand Final, where Vitality won Anubis 13:4 before eventually taking the Bo5 3:1.
Yesterday we played too passive. We were just waiting for them to do things. But today we’re just taking our balls in a way and just playing the game we want to.
ZywOo also said the team had prepared mentally for an extremely long Championship Sunday. After already playing FURIA in the Consolidation Final, Vitality were ready for as many as eight maps across the two series and approached every round without trying to conserve energy.
“IT’S BEEN A WHILE FOR US TO WIN A TROPHY”
The championship ended a trophy drought that ZywOo said had started to feel unusually long by Vitality standards.
He acknowledged that the team had heard outside doubts after failing to maintain the same dominant level from earlier in the year, but believes the StarSeries Fall victory showed Vitality remain among the best teams in the world.
We lifted another trophy. I think it’s been three months. It’s crazy to say it’s been a while for us to win a trophy, but we’re happy for that.
ZywOo also highlighted William “mezii” Merriman return to the lineup and his strong performance in the Grand Final after missing BLAST Open Porto.
THE MAJOR REMAINS THE MAIN GOAL
Vitality will next turn their attention to ESL Pro League before another temporary lineup change at PGL Masters Bucharest, where Justinas “jL” Lekavicius is expected to return as a stand-in.
Despite winning another trophy, ZywOo said the approach will not change. Vitality plan to return to practice, review mistakes from Barcelona and continue improving with the Major as their main target.
It doesn’t matter if we won this one, I think we want to improve again and improve every day. Anyway, our main focus is the Major. We’re here to win, we’re here to improve every day.
