Dan “apEX” Madesclaire has revealed that Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken was Team Vitality’s primary target to replace Emil “Magisk” Reif. Speaking with Duncan “Thorin” Shields in a recent interview, the Team Vitality in-game leader detailed the roster decisions that took place following Magisk‘s departure in 2023.
Role conflicts prevented the signing
While Twistzz was the initial choice due to his impressive track record and recent major win, the move did not materialize because of overlapping positional preferences within the squad. According to apEX, the Canadian rifler was not looking to take over the specific anchor positions left vacant by Magisk.
Well, first of all, when back in 2023, when Magisk left the team, Twistzz was the first choice of the team,” apEX explained. “He was fitting pretty well the Magisk roles, but he didn’t want to play this anchor. He wanted to have like Spinx roles most of the time.
Given Lotan “Spinx” Giladi’s high level of performance at that stage, the organization opted not to alter their fundamental role structure to accommodate the new signing. apEX noted, “At that time Spinx was probably a better player than Twistzz, and I didn’t want to change the role stuff.”
mezii proved to be the perfect fit
Following the decision to move on from Twistzz, William “mezii” Merriman was selected as the team’s next option. The British player brought a level of versatility and a team-first mentality that apEX found highly valuable for the roster’s overall balance alongside stars like Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.
Mezii came as second, and I think a lot of people were surprised,” apEX stated. “But what I love with mezii is that in all the roles he did in his career, he knew how to do everything. He played support. He played an entry. He was an IGL. He could be a second voice for me.
The addition of mezii ultimately contributed to a highly successful period for Team Vitality, with the player stepping up significantly in high-pressure situations. Reflecting on mezii’s crucial statistics in major championship matches like the BLAST.tv Austin Major, apEX admitted, “That’s crazy to see that if mezii didn’t perform like that in the final, maybe we’ll have lost that one.”
