XTQZZZ: "[flameZ] just needed to be more consistent in my opinion"

Vitality have made professional Counter-Strike look like a joke at times this year, completely dominating any event they attend. The only exception so far has been BLAST Bounty, so they’ll be motivated to correct past mistakes here at BLAST Open Rotterdam.

We spoke to XTQZZZ ahead of the event discussing flameZ’s leap, his input on the team, and beating the Astralis trophy record.

So to start off, I wanted to talk to you about flameZ for a second. He's made a massive leap statistically compared to last year. So I was curious from your perspective as a coach, what's changed for him as an individual?

I think nothing crazy, he could've done the same last year. He just needed to be more consistent in my opinion. Of course he proved in the last two tournaments that he can be really good, but expect more from him.

In the second part of the season, in 2025, he tried to bring new things, new routines for himself. It's worked out, but now we need to see if he can keep doing the same.

What's your input in that process, do you let him figure it out, or do you actively try to help?

Yeah, we tried. Because he is still a young player, and he can go left and right. Last year we had some discussions about how he can improve as a human.

I talked to him, as an entry you need to watch your game a bit more. To ask your IGLs input in the server, in the prep, or even in theory. Now he is trying to do it, he has to improve, but I think he is going in the right direction now.

Do you see that as one of your strengths as a coach, helping players? Or is it just part of the job?

Yes and no, yes because it was the same for mezii in the past. How he can improve as an anchor. Even in tier 1, he had a lot to learn from tier 1.

But you know, the team knows how to play well: ropz, apEX, ZywOo, etc.

flameZ, yes, it was more of a mission, because he's still young and needed to be more consistent. But it's not the first thing I do for the team right now.

I know last year you guys were set out to break Astralis' record of 10 trophies. What I wanted to know is if that's something you were a part of, or if that is more driven by apEX?

After 7 trophies, of course you are like "oh, maybe we can beat them." For me, the first thing is I want to make sure we are still on the same page, we want to improve. If you want to be the best, you want to improve. If that is not the case, and you're just focused on goals, like winning more trophies than Astralis or whatever you want. That's not the right direction in my opinion.

Of course when you have an interview and someone asks "do you want this," you say of course we want to. But you need to respect your process first to make sure you achieve the goal.

Vitality will start their run at BLAST Open Rotterdam today at 20:30 (Thursday, March 19th) against 9z. Will flameZ continue this stellar form, or does his consistency still need work? Only one way to find out...