Vitality have dropped down to Group C's lower bracket at EWC 2026 following a surprise 2-1 loss to B8, their second straight defeat of the season in series after an upset by Liquid in the Round of 32 of BLAST Bounty.
Speaking to HLTV after the match, Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam put the team's struggles down to a loss of confidence.
"I can see so many rounds we hesitate to make a decision, not even the right decision, but to play with more courage, I would say," he said. "And I don't know why, because as I said, we have no excuse. I think we had really good preparation. That's why it sucks right now because I think we did a good job. But mentally we are not there."
The French coach commented on the choice of Justinas "jL" Lekavicius as the stand-in for BLAST Open Porto and PGL Masters Bucharest but was coy when asked who will be taking over as IGL for the Romanian event.
It's do-or-die for Vitality from now on in Paris, and XTQZZZ said that he hopes the team will step up its game.
"First, think about what happened today, have a big talk and finally show what we are capable of, because so far it just has not been the case," he said.
"The first game was best-of-one, so for me, it doesn't count. I know we had a good preparation. I believe in our preparation. Now it's mentality-wise and how we want to react as a team and prove we can still compete."
You can listen to the interview here.
You're down to the lower bracket here at EWC. A loss to B8 in three maps. Give me your thoughts on the series, first of all.
I'm really disappointed. We played really badly overall. On the first map, the CT side was okay. We had the pistol, then they had a good plan. We didn't make the right calls at the beginning, then it was better. The second side was really awful at the beginning. Then we finally started to play a bit more what we prepared, and it was better. At the end, we won.
And then Inferno, it's tough because I think we played super well on the CT side. We had a good plan. On the T side, I think we were a bit stubborn on what we wanted to do, and then we lost some stupid situations, and we never came back for Dust2, even though we had a start because we had the pistol. So no excuse at all. We should have been aware of what they wanted to do, especially early on, but still, entry kills again, again, and again. And then we lost the second pistol, so it was over.
Before the match, you said that you didn't expect them to go for Mirage. You ended up winning that game only in overtime. You lost your map pick, then you lost the third map, it was not even close. Was there anything surprising about their approach to the game?
Honestly, no. We played them in practice on Dust2, and they played kind of the same. On Inferno, we knew them as well, so no, no, no. We have absolutely no excuse at all. No excuse. We just didn't show up today. We need to have a big talk tonight to understand how it was possible and to step up for the next game. And that's it.
It's been a bit of a slow start to the season for the team. You lost to Liquid in the first round of Bounty. Now you're down to the lower bracket here at EWC. Why do you think that the team seems to be struggling so much at the start of the season?
I think we lost confidence, for sure. I can see so many rounds we hesitate to make a decision, not even the right decision, but to play with more courage, I would say. And I don't know why, because as I said, we have no excuse. I think we had really good preparation. That's why it sucks right now because I think we did a good job. But mentally we are not there.
A few days ago, Vitality announced that you'll be playing two events with jL as a stand-in. Why him? Was he your number one option? Did you consider other players for those tournaments?
Yeah, we had some options. We could have taken a player from our academy. But after the Major, I watched them and I considered that they were not ready yet. Justin will play at BLAST, but at the beginning it was only for the playoffs maybe, so putting a player from the academy if you are in the playoffs, if you go to the stage, is not so perfect. And jL, because with the roles, with how we have seen the stand-in [situation], we thought it was, not the perfect fit, but the best fit at least. We had two, three options, and he was the best.
It will be just two events, right? But the impact will go beyond those two events because you have players coming in and out of the team. When the team came back from the break, what targets did you set? Because this is not going to be a normal season, right? And there will be moments when you will not perform to the best of your abilities because of circumstances outside of your control, right?
Yeah, I think it's our main issue right now. We have to accept the situation. I don't think it's still the case. So for us it was basically, EWC is a big goal for the organization and also for us it's a big tournament, so we just wanted to focus on this tournament first. And we want to take one tournament at a time because after that, as you said, it's going to be weird. But we have to accept it and move forward.
What about the IGL situation once apEX takes a bit of a break? Who's taking over?
[smiles] We will see.
Okay, a bit of a mystery. You still have one more chance to make it to the playoffs. Now it's Lynn Vision. You are expected to win that match, but I guess the big question is, do you think that we'll see the best Vitality in this tournament?
I hope so. And we have to; otherwise, it's going to be a huge fail. So first, think about what happened today, have a big talk and finally show what we are capable of, because so far it just has not been the case. The first game was best-of-one, so for me, it doesn't count. I know we had a good preparation. I believe in our preparation. Now it's mentality-wise and how we want to react as a team and prove we can still compete.
B8
Alexey 'alex666' Yarmoshchuk
Andrii 'npl' Kukharskyi
Artem 'kensizor' Kapran
Dmytro 'esenthial' Tsvir
Danylo 's1zzi' Vinnyk
Ivan 'maddened' Iordanidi
Vitality
Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire
Robin 'ropz' Kool
Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut
Shahar 'flameZ' Shushan
William 'mezii' Merriman
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam
Justinas 'jL' LekaviciusPast 3 months
Liquid
Keith 'NAF' Markovic
Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Johnny 'JT' Theodosiou
Georgi 'Jorko' Mitev
Viktor 'flashie' Tamás Bea
Rémy 'XTQZZZ' Quoniam