Dan ‘\u009capEX’\u009d Madesclaire<\/strong>: Qualifying for the Major for a team like us is kind of normal, but it’\u0099s never easy at the RMRs, we all know that. The feeling is really good about qualifying first, but today the good feeling is that we took the game as we had to do. We had nothing to lose and we played some really good, solid CS that helped us to go through. That’\u0099s the most important thing, we just played some good CS without having too much pressure and we beat G2 2-0.<\/p>\n
BLIX: Do you think that you would have gone 3-0 in your group if you had played like you did today? BLIX: You have your final tiebreaker game tomorrow at 10 am against Monte, and then you’\u0099ll play at IEM Rio on Monday. How does the schedule work? Isn’\u0099t there a risk of burning out, with jet lag and the time zones coming into play, and have you talked about it? BLIX: Coming into the match against Monte, they’\u0099ve been on an incredible individual level and surprised many teams. How do you think this match is going to play out? Will it be more of a game of individual CS? BLIX: You’\u0099ve been in the scene for a very long time and you also were a Major champion with Envy at DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015. How does it feel now, being at the last CS:GO Major and having a new game on the horizon? Did this qualifier feel like the most important set of matches in your career after the Cluj-Napoca final, aiming for the Major on home soil? BLIX: You’\u0099ve been in CS:GO for eleven years, as you said, so do you think we’\u0099re going to see you make the switch to CS2 this summer? BLIX: During these eleven years you have made a lot of switches, moving from an aggressive entry rifler in the French scene to this international project Vitality where you’\u0099re the IGL. How do you feel that you have developed as a player over the years? How much room do you feel is still there for you to keep developing and getting better? BLIX: Did you ever think you were going to end up playing in an international project after spending so long in the French scene? Do you think it was the right time for the switch, or should you have done it earlier? BLIX: Are you not closing any doors for an eventual return to the French scene? BLIX: Have you been able to play the CS2 beta yet? BLIX: Do you think it was the right time for Valve to release it? BLIX: We’\u0099ve been talking about Source 2 for many years now. From what you’\u0099ve seen of the game so far, has it matched your expectations for it or has it been different in any way? BLIX: Obviously you guys will fully focus on CS:GO for the last Major, but after that have you talked about how you will divide your time? For example, if some tournaments are on CS:GO while others will be on CS2? Following Vitality’s win over G2 at the BLAST.tv Paris Major RMR, BLIX sat down with Vitality’s IGL Dan ‘\u009capEX’\u009d Madesclaire to discuss the team’s upcoming game against MONTE, the schedule that the team has, and his long career, among other topics. Hugo “TheSwedishJoker” Nilsson Meier, BLIX.GG: Congratulations on your win against G2. You qualified for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":15040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cs-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
apEX: <\/strong>Maybe, but we all know those games are ‘\u009cpressurized’\u009d. It’\u0099s the most pressure because if a team like Vitality doesn’\u0099t go to the Major it’\u0099s the biggest fail in the world! If a team like Vitality goes to the Major it’\u0099s nothing crazy, right? We have the best player in the world so who cares? It’\u0099s all about that, it’\u0099s a lot of pressure on us, especially when it’\u0099s on home soil. Playing the same way yesterday would have been a bit harder, obviously, we made more mistakes and were more nervous. But today it was really good!<\/p>\n
apEX: <\/strong>Obviously Rio will not be as important as the other tournaments because otherwise, we would kill ourselves. We are leaving on Sunday and we’\u0099ll have jet lag and everything, but we’\u0099ll take this tournament without pressure in Rio. We’\u0099re going to give our best but obviously, we’\u0099re going to be tired when we arrive so obviously it’\u0099s not going to be easy.<\/p>\n
apEX: <\/strong>Of course when you play a team like Monte you need to be on point individually. I haven’\u0099t seen them that much yet, but for sure they’\u0099re hitting their shots hard. BOROS (Muhammad ‘\u009cBOROS’\u009d Malhas, ed.<\/em>) has been insane this tournament, so for us, it’\u0099s just about watching and being ready for anything. They will do everything to beat us individually, so it’\u0099s just about getting prepared. We need to win these games, because we’\u0099ve been losing so many games like that against lower opponents, and we need to show up on the day.<\/p>\n
apEX:<\/strong> It’\u0099s been a long chapter for me, it’\u0099s been eleven years of CS:GO at the highest level, so that’\u0099s a pretty good feeling, to be honest, I’\u0099ve been doing really well overall. But I’\u0099ve missed two Majors, and the two I missed were kind of my fault: one I got banned when KQLY (Hovik ‘\u009c\u00e2\u0081\u00a0KQLY’\u009d Tovmassian, ed<\/em>.) got VAC banned, and the other one I was benched in G2 so I couldn’\u0099t attend the tournament. Overall the good thing is that I made all the Majors I could, I gave everything to get to the Majors I could and that’\u0099s what matters to me. Now we have the Paris Major and to end this chapter of my life that has been CS:GO, one of the most intense and important ones in my life, I’\u0099m really happy to be there, trying our best to lift the trophy.<\/p>\n![\"apEX](\"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/4408ce0ab367396c.jpeg\")
apEX has been a part of many rosters over his 11 years of CS | Image via Dreamhack<\/span><\/div>\n
apEX:<\/strong> Yes, of course! I don’\u0099t feel done yet, I will make the switch obviously. The game is not a big change I would say, I played just a little bit but I will play more and it’\u0099s nice for players like me because it gives extra motivation to grind again. I’\u0099ve been playing on Source professionally, then on CS:GO and now CS2, so three different games being a professional… that will be amazing! I’\u0099m just really happy it’\u0099s new, I don’\u0099t have anything against new, it’\u0099s a bit weird but nowadays I don’\u0099t give a fuck. I will stop my career when my teammates or my staff tell me ‘\u009cYou’\u0099re done’\u009d. And then, I will most likely agree, but right now, I’\u0099m still so hungry. I’m still playing a lot and trying my best for my team to perform, creating strats, creating things, individually helping my teammates, dropping nades and dropping AKs. *laughs* I’\u0099m ready to give my ass to win, so not much to say except that I’\u0099m still there and I will be there for a few more moments for the haters!<\/p>\n
apEX:<\/strong> Of course, you can always improve and nowadays in CS you have to improve every day, otherwise people will beat you. Obviously, I’\u0099ve done a lot of roles, I used to be the star rifler, then I was a more supportive player and then I became an In-Game Leader. I will keep being an IGL, no way I switch back to something else, I love it! I’\u0099m working my ass off so that’\u0099s what’\u0099s the most important thing. I just want to keep improving every day just to make my team better.<\/p>\n
apEX:<\/strong> I was close earlier, in 2018, I was close to joining MOUZ with oskar (Tom\u00c3\u00a1\u00c5\u00a1 ‘\u009coskar’\u009d \u00c5\u00a0\u00c5\u00a5astn\u00c3\u00bd, ed<\/em>.) and suNny (Miikka ‘\u009csuNny’\u009d Kemppi, ed<\/em>.), in place of STYKO (Martin ‘\u009cSTYKO’\u009d Styk, ed.<\/em>). I was about to go to this lineup, but MOUZ and G2 didn’\u0099t find an agreement. Then I think we had to do it, the French scene was really poor in terms of players, and when you have a player such as ZywOo and you want something big like Vitality do you need to move on. I think that was the right step to go international, we haven’\u0099t shown it yet as we’\u0099ve only won one tournament but let’\u0099s see how it goes in the near future.<\/p>\n
apEX: <\/strong>I think it’\u0099s going to be tough. I’\u0099m not going to play in tier two or tier three, I will play in tier one until I can and then I will retire, so for me, I will maybe go back to another international team. But I think a tier-one French team right now would be tough.<\/p>\nCS2: Beta, release timing and tournaments<\/h2>\n
apEX: <\/strong>Yes, I played maybe five or ten minutes in Pro League but I don’\u0099t care yet. We have more important things coming like the Major in Paris and all other tournaments, so I will see whenever I’\u0099m done with all the other things.<\/p>\n
apEX: <\/strong>Of course, eleven years of CS:GO! Even though we kept breaking records and even more records, I think it was time for them to release something new. We also need young casual players to come, and we need more players to play our game, so I think it was the right decision. Imagine having the best FPS, it’\u0099s eleven years old and it still has the most players! It’\u0099s insane, that’\u0099s why CS is so powerful.<\/p>\n
apEX: <\/strong>For me, it’\u0099s really similar to CS:GO, but I didn’\u0099t try the game enough so I can’\u0099t say much.<\/p>\n
apEX: <\/strong>I think if people keep doing tournaments in CS:GO it doesn’\u0099t make sense. We cannot have two scenes, we need to have one and that’\u0099s what matters. So I hope it’\u0099s going to be on CS2 and fuck CS:GO after all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"