The year 2020 was a difficult period for the French Vitality team: after its leader Alex «ALEX» McMikin suddenly left the squad last spring, explaining that his travel schedule was too demanding, the team had every chance of ceasing to exist. However, the players managed to cope with the situation and, led by their new leader, who was Dan «apEX» Madeskler, adapted to the new format of online competitions and took several major trophies. However, the beginning of 2021 was not too successful for the team: the team failed to make the playoffs at IEM Katowice or BLAST Premier Spring.
In an interview with HLTV apEX talked about the reasons for the failures and how the team plans to build the game further. Vitality faced several problems at the same time, he said. First, the team was fined a hefty sum by ESIC in January due to infractions at two BLAST Premier Global Final matches. Second, Valve decided to take points off teams for substitutions in RMR tournaments, which proved particularly frustrating for Vitality, which effectively utilized a six-man roster. In addition, several players faced personal problems during this period, and apEX was even forced to take a short break.
Now the team has to train hard to compensate for the impossibility of substitutions, as well as to look for new opportunities to distribute roles in the team. In addition, apEX said he hopes to see other French teams appear on the professional scene.