When we last spoke to ropz in Budapest, it was right after Vitality’s semi-final win. The job was not finished yet, but he still looked relieved, like the hardest part of the Major was already behind them.
Looking back now, that feeling makes sense. For ropz, the semi-final against Spirit ended up being the real breaking point, before Vitality closed out the Budapest Major with a final that also carried some extra weight, because it came against his former team, FaZe.
The BLAST Premier Bounty S1 is the second BLAST CS event hosted in Malta as part of their multi-year deal with GamingMalta. Vitality will take on GamerLegion on Friday in their first playoff match.
A heads up: this interview was recorded before Valve released the new update with updates to Anubis.
“The semi was the hardest match for us”
ropz said the relief in Budapest was not about looking ahead to a trophy, it was about surviving what he viewed as the toughest match of their entire run.
“I think the semi was probably the hardest match for us in the Major… it was a big comeback and it was a relief to win that game for sure.”
In hindsight, he even felt the final itself was more straightforward than what they had just been through.
“The final was a bit easier, in hindsight.”
A perfect storyline
Vitality’s opponent in the final was FaZe, ropz’s old home, which made it a rare combination of personal storyline and the biggest title in Counter-Strike.
ropz did not hide that it felt good to win it, especially in that specific matchup, but he also admitted it comes with complicated emotions when you know exactly what the other side is going through.
“It feels good obviously to win a Major… it’s a nice storyline for myself to depart from the team and then meet them in the Major final and get the better end of it.”
“It’s a good feeling and a sad feeling as well… you do know the guys on the other side and you know what it feels to lose a Major final.”
Even with that, he was clear that, from a career perspective, it is hard to draw it up any better.
“The storyline couldn’t be better for myself, so I’m just very happy with it.”
A small drop was enough for other teams to catch up
ropz also pointed to the contrast between Vitality’s first and second half of 2025. Winning a Major makes the year a success, but he still felt the team’s level dipped just enough for the rest of the scene to punish them more often.
“The first moment you’re falling off a little bit, 5% in one side, then every other team is going to catch up.”
For him, it was not about one big problem. It was small things, a little less sharpness, slightly worse decisions, and suddenly the margins disappear.
“The moments like we were slightly worse individually or making slightly worse decisions, that’s when other teams got the better end of us.”
He framed it as form more than anything, something you cannot fully control across a long year, even if you do everything right.
“We weren’t maybe as sharp individually as the first season… that’s just form, which comes and goes.”
A short off-season, on purpose
After winning the Major, Vitality had a short turnaround into BLAST Bounty, and ropz admitted their preparation was minimal compared to teams that were already bootcamping early.
“We got into CS quite late… we had probably two or three days of practice before the actual first match.”
But he also explained why that choice was deliberate. After a season where they consistently went deep, they wanted real rest more than another long grind.
“That was the point, to get more rest… it was good to have that.”
The team also plans to keep scheduling breaks, but ropz explained why that kind of calendar only stays clean if you keep reaching the late stages. If you bomb out early, everything shifts and it gets messy fast.
“If you end up going out in groups… you have to make some slight changes to your plans… and then it might get a little bit chaotic.”
apEX brings match energy into practice
One of the more revealing parts of the interview was ropz describing apEX’s intensity, and how it shows up even when there is nothing on the line.
“He is as intense in practice… if it’s not in person then in the practice he’s gonna talk in the chat some weird stuff.”
ropz said that edge helps close the gap between practice and officials, because it creates pressure and urgency even on regular days.
“When you have a leader being as passionate and unique as that, it affects everyone and wants everyone to do better in practice as well.”
ropz calls Anubis “the worst map I played in my career”
Map pool talk quickly turned into ropz being brutally honest about Anubis. From his perspective, it is not just flawed, it is fundamentally bad, and he wants Valve to change the layout, not just rotate it back in as-is.
“The state of Anubis is the same as it was when it was removed… it is really bad.”
“I think the layout is probably the worst map ever… the worst map I played in my career.”
His criticism was that the map forces repetition. Executions look the same, CT sides are predictable, and rotations feel too slow to create real variety.
“Every execute on B looks the same. Every execute on A looks the same… the CTs are very predictable and they don’t have much to work with.”
When the conversation shifted to Train, ropz made it simple: if he has to choose, he keeps Train every time.
“I would rather keep Train than Anubis… it will be Train for sure for me.”
