Team Vitality came out victorious at the Counter-Strike BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023 and ended FaZe Clan’s 18-row win streak with the leadership of apEX. Both the teams have shown immense performance during the entire tournament and didn’t lose a single match, which was impressive until one prevailed after the Grand Finale. However, fans have been skeptical about the team, after their key member Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen left the squad.
Nonetheless, the team was able to able to pull it off under the leadership of Dan “apEX” Mdesclaire, the oldest member of the squad. The IGL of Vitality has pulled off great feats and marked his fourth tournament win in 2023 with different rosters.
The final battle between two Counter-Strike giants also seemed one-sided as Team Vitality took it all flawlessly. This comes as shocking because the team recently renounced their coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen. Even with multiple changes in the roster during 2023, the team has secured multiple wins under the leadership of apEX.
Vitality apEX takes charge to lead an ever-changing roster to greatness
Team Vitality saw a major revamp in early 2022 with the joining of Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Emil “Magisk” Reif. This new roster came with a $50 million investment to build a European powerhouse. However, as addressed by Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, the new roster faced language barrier issues among teammates, which they had to overcome. However, improvements were made regarding the matter which led the team to win ESL Pro League Season 16 at the end of that year.
As the team slowly became comfortable with each other to ensure better communication, further improvements were noticeable. However, following ESL Pro League Season 16, Vitality didn’t win any tournament, which was a setback. Thus in April of 2023, the team came in strong to win the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023 and redeemed themselves.
With the same roster as Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023, Team Vitality was back in action with apEX as the front face. Without surprise, they managed to win the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 just the next month to secure the grand-scale tournament victory. However, this roster saw some changes as dupreeh was benched before Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023 to make place for Shahar “flameZ” Shushan. Even that endeavor led to a failure and the team saw an early exit from the tournament.
Although the team faced such a humiliating defeat, the same roster was kept for the Gamers8 2023 tournament. This decision was well made by apEX as they managed to win against ENCE to bag a prize of $400,000. While this solidified the team at first, further improvements were still needed. Following this loss, the squad observed the return of Remy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam to the team as the head coach.
So, just a month after losing zonic, and making a place for XTQZZZ, the squad made a strong comeback. apEX also put together a new band by integrating William “mezii” Merriman into the roster by benching Magisk. These changes led to the most eye-catching moment for the team as they earned a victory in BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023.
During the entirety of the tournament, things mostly looked in favor of FaZe Clan as they were going through a long win streak. With the progression of the tournament, the professionals were worried about the finals as both teams were at par with performance. Overcoming all odds, Team Vitality managed to win under the leadership of apEX without dropping a single map. With that, fans rejoiced in this victory and appreciated how apEX managed to present a performing team when it matters despite all the roster shuffles.
From a primary fragger to suddenly leading a team, apEX’s decision to become an IGL was highly doubted three years ago. He admitted that it was not an easy journey, there were many ups and downs and a lot of mental stress pushing him to the edge. However, he overcame such criticism despite facing his own emotional issues and did wonders with the help of their mental coach Lars Christian Robl. All the hard work and sheer passion for the sports made everything possible. That is all that led him and the shifting roster of Team Vitality to four tournament victories in a single year.
From fighting his own battle to fighting for the good interest of the team, apEX presented his capabilities as an IGL in front of the world. With Team Vitality winning the recent BLAST Premier Fall Final 2023, he has etched his name in the history of Counter-Strike and esports in general.
