Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut is one of the most hyped names rising in the CS:GO scene. The young phenom has electrified audiences with his skill and flair despite only entering the pro CS:GO scene near the end of 2018. He is already close to attaining superstar status.





Fans laud him as the next Richard “shox” Papillon or Kenny “kennyS” Schrub. It is easy to get drawn in by his raw individual skill and assume the team plays around his individual skill. That is far from the case, as while ZywOo is their superstar and most important player, he still plays a role within a defined system.





The Vitality System





To understand how ZywOo fits into Vitality, it's important to first look at the team as a whole. The lineup is: Nathan “NBK” Schmitt, Dan “apEX” Madesclaire, Cedric “RpK” Guipouy, ZywOo, and Alex “ALEX” McMeekin. Three of the five players are veterans. While ALEX is a relatively new name to the top pro scene, he has played since late 2014 on smaller teams. ZywOo is the only rookie.





As that’s the case, the player profiles of the other four are established. ALEX and apEX play a similar style, as they like to make space while apEX is on the more aggressive side. RpK is a tank—someone who plays his best as an anchor, trading, and at times taking the point. NBK one of the most versatile players in the world and can play any style the team requires of him.





Then we come to ZywOo. At 18-years-old, he has a fairly complete game. He’s great on both the AWP and rifle. He has a high mechanical ceiling backed with great instincts. He can play for the opening picks in the 5v5 or close out the round in post-plant situations. His biggest weakness is his lack of experience and game knowledge.





These were the pieces that Vitality had at the end of 2018. However, they didn’t have time to explore their options since the Major was the first event of the year, so they plugged and played ALEX into Vincent “Happy” Schopenhauer’s spot and hoped for the best. It was only after the Major, and a shift in leadership where ALEX took over most of the T-sides, that the team saw a fundamental shift in strategy and identity.





ALEX realized that he, apEX, and RpK created a strong front line of entry fraggers that were willing to jump in to either get the kill or be traded. He then used the front line to get ZywOo into favorable trade/frag scenarios as the fourth player. If ZywOo had a rifle, he could trade the kills. If ZywOo had the AWP, he could trade the kills and post up on positions after they had take control of the area.





NBK rounds out the team as the primary lurker (though they sometimes switch this depending on map or position). NBK is the perfect fit for this role, as he has the ability and versatility to play either the passive or aggressive lurking styles to a high level. Additionally, he has the game knowledge to be an effective secondary caller from that position.





Their other style of play is the typical default. They can play a slow default and give ZywOo the extra time to find a pick, or they can play a map control style where they emphasize taking quadrants of the map and reacting off of what they see.





The CT-side follows a similar idea. NBK and RpK are the two anchors of the squad, ZywOo is the AWPer, apEX is their aggressive CT-side rifler, and ALEX supports the main offensive. Vitality like to play aggressively, with 3-4 man stacks in critical map areas to trade out men. ZywOo has the freedom to go for individual picks, but in general has some level of backup that either supports him or creates space for him.





ZywOo on the T-side





Now that I’ve explained the system, it’s time to bring up some concrete examples of how ZywOo works inside of it. At the CS Summit 4, Vitality played Team Liquid in the group stages. On Nuke in the 6th round used deep yard smokes.













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In this play, Vitality use their three man front line to push into garage and sneak into yard. The entire time ZywOo holds the angle so that no one flanks them. Eventually both apEX and ALEX get the opening frags which break open the round. While not glamorous, it shows how Vitality don’t have to rely on ZywOo to open up their rounds for their T-side when using the 4-1 style.









This video links to the 21st round of the semifinals between Vitality and ENCE on Mirage. In this round, Vitality do a four man take od mif and proceed to go for a fast split on B. What makes this round interesting is ZywOo is the first man to jump through the smoke with the other players following him. While theoretically a bad call (all ENCE needed to do was hit their shots as they had the right setup), it shows that ZywOo doesn’t play for kills, but for the team. If he needs to jump through the smoke to create space, then he’ll do it.









This last clip comes from the finals of CS Summit, in the 26th round on Overpass. Vitality call for a B hit, and in this round you see Vitaliy’s 4-1 style come into play. ZywOo gets his kills off of the space his teammates create, plants the bomb, and then becomes the aggressive point man in the post-plant position.





ZywOo on the CT-side





The following three clips come from Mirage against Liquid at CS Summit 4. In the first, Vitality play against Liquid in the group stages.









In this video, Vitality try to funnel the B players into ZywOo’s AWP. To do so, they have two players take control of the B halls and have ZywOo take control of mid early on with his AWP from short. After Vitality take control of B, Liquid have no choice but to take mid. Then ZywOo uses his smoke top mid to cover himself while he takes an angle for underpass. He gets the pick on Jake “Stewie2K” Yip and falls back. This is a good example of how even though ZywOo is the star player of the squad, what he does is in the tactical framework of the team. Even if ZywOo loses the duel, Vitality have taken enough space that they can do a three man stack on A.









This video comes from the semifinals of CS Summit 4. In this video, Vitality use stack four players toward the A-site and ENCE do a fast hit on A. In this sequence, apEX takes first contact at T-main, kills one, and is traded by ENCE. ZywOo, in turn, gets the follow up kills. When Jere “sergej” Salo tries to swing on ZywOo from palace, RpK is there to hold the angle. While RpK loses the fight, it gives enough time for ZywOo to adjust and win that trade as well.





France’s Hope





It's clear that ZywOo is the best player on the team, one of the best in the world, but Vitality don’t rely on him as a crutch. Vitality knows this as well, based on the answer ALEX gave to HLTV when they asked about ZywOo.





“It's a tough question because he's really good, and he can just carry a game by himself, so there's obviously some truth to it,” ALEX said. “The main thing that people don't understand is that he plays a certain role in our team. He doesn't just go out and kill five people. He has to do what I and NBK tell him to do as in-game leaders. It's not a case of: ‘Hey, ZywOo, do what you want and we'll try and win the round behind you.’”





The team does not live or die off of ZywOo. For a long time through the latter half of 2018 to early 2019, ZywOo looked to be the only hope in France. That singular hope is no longer alone. Vitality have built a strong team around him, and French CS is once again competing for the titles of the biggest LANs in CS:GO.