Vitality’s CS:GO in-game leader apEX took a load off his chest when Vitality defeated GamerLegion 2-0 at BLAST Paris Major on May 21 to lift the trophy in front of the fans at the Accor Arena.
The French veteran didn’t hold back when stage interviewer James Banks asked him about how he felt after the victory and delivered a strong and emotional speech to all the CS:GO fans that criticized his calling ever since he became Vitality’s captain in March 2020 following Alexander “ALEX” McMeekin’s departure.
“I don’t know how to describe right now, it’s so much joy,” apEX told Banks with tears in his eyes. “You know I’ve been criticized from day one being an in-game leader, but now I win a fucking Major, so fuck you all. Last year has been rough, really rough, but this year we told ourselves that we have the Major in Paris and that was the big goal for us. The goal was to come as good as possible here, and we can see that many teams had a lot of trouble coming here. The most important thing is the win for us, we gave everything for the last five months.”
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ApEX recalled how tough Vitality’s year was looking after lackluster performances at IEM Katowice in February and ESL Pro League season 17 in March, but said that all the disappointing helped Vitality to grow up as a team and win the BLAST Paris Major, which is the final Major for CS:GO before Valve switches to Counter-Strike 2 in 2024.
Not only apEX led Vitality to an undefeated run in Paris, finishing off with a 10-0 record in maps, but he also had a great performance against GamerLegion in the grand finals. The veteran got 42 kills and just 27 deaths, which netted him a 1.27 rating, according to HLTV. He only got six frags less than ZywoO, who was the MVP of the event.
With the BLAST Paris Major’s trophy added to his galore, apEX now has two CS:GO Major titles under his belt. The French captain also won DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca Major in November 2015 with EnVyUs.
