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Vitality put up a clinical run at the CS:GO Blast.tv Paris Major 2023 to lift the game's final major trophy on home soil. In the Grand Finale that concluded on May 21, 2023, the team showed its prowess to secure a convincing victory over GamerLegion on Overpass and Nuke to win the best-of-three to be crowned the champions.
After missing out on the Championship Stage during the previous CS:GO Intel Extreme Masters Rio Major 2022, Vitality displayed incredible performance in Paris as the French organization did not drop a single map during the event. At the same time, the team took down the likes of G2, ENCE, Monte, Into the Breach, and Apeks to win the coveted trophy.
"We just did not have the solutions, and I think we have found that now": Danny "zonic" Sørensen, Vitality's CS:GO coach
After the CS:GO Major victory, Vitality held a press conference on its Twitch channel attended by five players and coach Danny "zonic" Sørensen. The team shared its tournament experience and answered several questions.
During the press conference, Sportskeeda Esports approached the five-time CS:GO Major winning coach, zonic, with a question about the key factor that led to his team's success in the Paris Major that had been lacking in previous tournaments.
Zonic addressed various aspects in his response, including the non-partnered team and their previous role issues:
"To be honest, I think we managed to fix the issues of the role that we had, and that was nothing against Kevin (misutaaa), our former player. He was a very talented player and still is but there was just a role clash issue within the team. We had to have Peter (dupreeh) or someone else in an awkward position, and that was just not productive."
He further elaborated on the work with Lars Robl as well as the journey of building an international CS:GO roster, as they gave their best shot at this tough task:
"Then, of course, the whole work we have had with Lars as well. I think you are not just going to create an international team with two coaches, a sports psychologist, and five players who have never tried it before and then expect everything to click. We try our best to work out our issues and to prepare for this moment, but it is just a tough task."
During the press conference, Danny "zonic" Sørensen also revealed he had talks with Finn "karrigan" Andersen, his former CS:GO in-game leader, about building an international roster. He went on to share the following on this aspect:
"I asked him a little bit about an international line-up and how he works with it, and he said it takes him at least one year to build an international line-up and imagine that is with players who have tried it before. Here we had five players who had no experience with it, including myself. So, there are just so many layers and dynamics and things where you really want to make the team as good as possible when it comes to teamplay, but it's simply not possible because of the communication, and then you have to focus on something else."
Vitality's CS:GO coach added that they found the right balance and that the team has been very productive in the last few months. They strived to get the most out of anything to become better. He was quoted saying the following:
"It was just, I think we have found a great balance, and I think the way we have been working, I mean we have been so productive. I have never tried to be so productive, I would say. I think that is one of the keywords, the last six months, then what we did last year or even before in my career. Every time we did something, we really tried to suck every experience or everything that we could in order for us to make us a better team."
He also explained how their failure against Team Liquid at IEM Katowice 2023 helped the team to improve and get them to believe their playbook. During the event, Vitality lost close maps on Overpass and Mirage to bow out from the single elimination bracket. The coach explained the following:
"It includes the choke against Liquid. That made us do crazy comebacks a couple of months later, and that also made us always believe in our playbook. In terms of the playbook, we are sometimes even confused about what to pick ourselves because we have four really good maps right now, and that is just for me; that just comes from hard work."
Danny "zonic" Sørensen also spoke at length about the non-partner team and how good these teams were. He further argued that they should not be called tier 2 teams, and his claims can be supported by the performance of the non-partnered teams, including Monte, Into the Breach, GamerLegion, and more at CS:GO Blast.tv Paris Major 2023. Sørensen elaborated:
"It's been a really big topic in our team, especially at the RMR, not to underestimate lower opponents or tier 2 teams, which they should not be called, in my opinion. They should just be called non-partner teams because they are really good, to be honest. Nevertheless, we have talked about how to approach it because we had this game against 9INE where we saw some of the reactions from the players were not the same as if we were playing against big teams like G2."
He added this about their performance against these non-partner sides during the CS:GO major and that he is also proud of the team. He stated:
"And then it is a little bit funny to see that we go up in the quarterfinals against one of these non-partner teams and the semi-final and the final. That is all the experience that we have gained throughout as a team. I'm really proud, and for me, yes, we can talk a lot about last year, but we were also working hard last year."
During 2022, Vitality only managed three podium finishes, including a first-place result at ESL Pro League Season 16, a second-place finish at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022, and a 3-4 place at BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2022. However, the team has won two tournaments this year, and the CS:GO coach explained the changes between the two years.
"We just did not have the solutions, and I think we have found that now. Now we're working in the right way. But we also know all the learning experiences we had from last year, how to work as a team, how we should melt the team in, how we should approach the game, and with the preparation and all these things that we are doing, that is something that also made us stand now here with a major trophy."
With this Major win, Vitality has etched its name in the game's history. They have become the last team to win a CS:GO Major since the next Major will be held in the upcoming Counter-Strike 2.
