ZywOo: Although ropz “stole” an MVP from me once before, it’s still very difficult for my teammates to “steal” my MVP.

After Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Vitality beat MOUZ at EPL S24 to claim the title, he secured the 34th MVP award of his career.

Speaking to Dust2 Brasil, the CSGOAT discussed his latest MVP medal, the race for individual honours within the team, and how the roster operated at PGL Masters Bucharest without Dan “apEX” Madesclaire.

Q: You went unbeaten throughout the event, dropped only three maps, and claimed a dominant win in the final. How does it feel to be champions again?

“It feels great, because before apEX leaves, we wanted to win at least one title like this. We did it, and we did it in convincing fashion. We’re very happy. Like you said, we only dropped three maps, and we’re proud of that, because it’s very difficult to stay consistent in this game. I think we did a good job of that. I’m really happy with this win, and I’m also happy to be playing on stage again. It’s been a while since StarLadder, so we’re happy to get the win.”

Q: 34 MVPs, and your sixth MVP of the year. Once again, you’ve shown everyone that you’re the best player in the world—perhaps even the best in history. Does this medal feel any different today, or is it more like, “Alright, time to add another one to the collection”?

“Honestly, it feels like we’re just here to stock up—there’s no pressure at all. Even though we’re at Spodek Arena, it’s still EPL, so there’s no pressure on us as a team or on me personally.”

“We just played well because we want to win something with the team. At the end of the day, I didn’t think too much about my MVP. I already have a lot of them, so I’m not as focused on it anymore. I just play my game, enjoy it, and see what happens in the end. Honestly, that’s my mindset before every event.”

Q: You and flameZ were incredible again at this event. Of course, the whole team was. But once again, you took the MVP home. When are you going to give one of your teammates a chance to win an MVP medal?

“It already happened once: ropz ‘stole’ my MVP, and I wasn’t happy about it (laughs). I won’t give anyone another chance. I’ll try to win every MVP. If they play well—really well—they’ll get one. But if I’m there, I’ll always try to make it as difficult as possible for them, so they have to challenge me for that MVP. There’s always very little room to get ahead of me in the MVP race. So yeah, it’s always difficult for them.”

Q: You’re now heading to Bucharest without apEX. mezii said it was important to win a trophy before this event. What do you think it will be like playing another tournament with jL?

“It’ll be a little strange not playing with our captain, but with jL, I think it’s more of a responsibility than pressure for us. We’ll see where we stand in terms of communication and what we need to deliver as players.”

“It will be a good gauge of where each of us stands, what we need to do individually, and what we need to improve in terms of team play. I think it will be good for mezii, because he’ll try to take on the in-game leader role. But all of us will try to help him find his rhythm and build chemistry. I think we can try more things, but we also can’t lose confidence. We’ll give it everything at the event. Of course, we want to win. That will be the goal.”

Q: You won the last IEM Katowice. Today, you picked up another title at Spodek Arena. The crowd loves cheering for you, but they also love rooting against you. How did you feel about the crowd today?

“The crowd is always with us, but they’re also always split into two camps. We know people like us, but they also like to boo us because we win too much. That doesn’t surprise us. In fact, we kind of like it, because we’re like the villain.”

“Everyone wants to see us go down; they want to see us start losing. For us, it doesn’t matter which side they’re on. We don’t really care about that—we sometimes even joke about it, especially apEX; he likes that. We’re happy about it. The crowd was great today, and the arena was packed. They enjoyed the show. It felt really good to play in front of all of them again.”