Vitality With Shox: A New Chance for French Counter-Strike.

How the 27 year-old rifler could unlock the potential of players not named ZywOo.

At the time of writing, the new-look Vitality roster has defeated karrigan’s Mousesports mix in the quarter-finals of Dreamhack Masters Malmo 2019. Thanks mainly due to the extreme fragging output of one Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut, and the high clutch rate of the timeless Richard ‘shox’ Papillon.

However, the final map of Dust_2 showed the true potential of this Vitality roster, the chance for players other than the aforementioned superstars to win games for the French squad. During this map, ZywOo was not his usual self, and though he managed 20 kills shox had little impact on the game, with the exception of a key quad-kill on the B site early in the map. Instead, it was the oldest member of Vitality that showed up on this crucial third map. Cédric ‘RpK’ Guipouy managed 27 frags in the 29 rounds that were played on French Counter-Strike’s permanent home-map, earning himself a 1.28 HLTV.org rating and ensuring Vitality’s victory in Sweden, despite the incredible efforts Robin ‘ropz’ Kool.

This performance is unusual for Le Tank, who in the previous (NBK- included) Vitality lineup, resigned himself to being towards the bottom of the scoreboard, though occasionally placing higher than his now ex-teammate. While this level of fragging could be a fluke, the new role composition on display certainly gives the impression that this Vitality squad has the makings of a successful team.

With shox in his classic role as the player given the responsibility to close out rounds for his team away from the pack, there is space on the T-Side for a second entry ‘bang your head’ kind of player. RpK perfectly fulfils this role alongside fellow veteran Dan ‘apEX’ Madesclaire. The two switch amongst themselves as to who enters the bombsite first and second, though the majority of rounds have apEx first in, allowing himself to be traded by any one of his teammates. This was seen on Dust_2, not only through the eye test, but also the 26 year-old’s 79.3% KAST rating, the highest in the server despite his fragging numbers being similar to that of both shox and the uncharacteristically underperforming ZywOo. This hard entry style of apEX’s is paramount in ensuring success on Vitality’s offense, as he creates the space required for either ZywOo or RpK to trade and gain control of the bombsite. This in turn creates space for shox to find kills on unsuspecting rotating players and finish rounds with the occasional clutch.

Previously, Vitality had no true clutch player, and the responsibility to close was left to ZywOo, who also had the responsibility of finding openings, and the responsibility of throwing utility for his team. The problems were evident. Now with shox, the French powerhouse have a high-fragging lurker capable of using the space given to him by the incredible ability of ZywOo and the workmanlike entry consistency of apEX to win rounds that were previously impossible without a bit of magic from Vitality’s 18 year-old AWPer. And thanks to the fear imposed by the possibility of shox lurking, rotating players are far more cautious, giving players like RpK and ZywOo free reign to trade apEX and convert rounds in the post-plant.

Currently, this system is only clearly in effect on Dust_2, a map renowned for it’s prominence in French Counter-Strike. This roster is new however, and with time, it is likely that Vitality’s in-game-leader, Alex ‘ALEX’ Mcmeekin and coach Remi ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam can expand this playstyle across the map pool and potentially lead Vitality to a second chance at becoming a team capable of winning titles and continuing 2019’s mini French renaissance into the next decade.