Stat check: How will flameZ fit into Vitality?

“It felt like we were a really solid family, and lifting the trophy is super nice obviously but the journey there was extremely unforgettable.” A rejuvenated Vitality arrived at BLAST Fall Groups, a 1.19 average rating by flameZ and overall elevation by the team seeing them bounce past GamerLegion and Astralis (twice) to provide some much-needed confidence ahead of the next Super-Elite event of the year, IEM Cologne. FlameZ found immediate success upon his move, making it to the semi-final of IEM Cologne in only his second event with the team and lifting a trophy at Gamers8 immediately afterward, where he was also named an EVP with a 1.12 rating. The roster led by Aleksi “⁠Aleksib⁠” Virolainen immediately made an impression, finishing as runners-up at IEM Summer and reaching the semi-final of ESL Pro League Season 14. FlameZ mustered 1.10 and 1.20 ratings in those efforts, showing he could perform against the best European teams, and slowly OG inched up the world rankings. “But to be honest, I loved sitting behind shushan and watching him play. And later on when I got a PC, it was my place to be social with people, to talk, share experiences, and have a common goal. Also to some extent, it was an escape route that made me feel really at peace.”

• By the time 2023 rolled around, flameZ was on the wishlist of many organizations and his contract with OG was running out.
• “I just know we didn’t push ourselves and just expected to win. It was something big for us that we worked on a lot in the end, just giving energy no matter the opponent.”
• And although the kills flameZ got were more impactful than most, leading to round wins 70.5% of the time (2nd) and multi-kills 83% of the time (6th), he had the lowest fragging output of players in the top 20 (0.68 KPR).

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• The move to Endpoint offered flameZ his first true shot at regular tier-two competition, and with them he won ESEA MDL Season 35 Europe (averaging a 1.25 rating over 29 maps) and qualified for his first season of ESL Pro League.

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• Known for his aggressive play, pinpoint aim, and sharp utility usage, he helped Vitality win IEM Cologne 2024 and multiple BLAST events.
• His consistent showings against the best teams, 1.25 playoff rating, 1.02 KPRW, and 99.5 ADRW sealed the case for his second EVP of the year, but Vitality still went into the tournament break without lifting a piece of silverware.

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• FlameZ is young, still ready to be moulded by apEX and Danny “⁠zonic⁠” Sørensen into the type of entry fragger they want him to be.

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flameZ CSGO In Game Settings

“The Dallas one, well we obviously had this game against G2 and lost to a comeback, but this did not make me lose any belief in the team,” flameZ says. “It was very weird,” flameZ says of how winning two trophies at the end of the year set up expectations coming into 2024. “We just got mezii and had a staff change and it instantly clicked, we were all hyped and won these back-to-back BLASTs.

apEX

• The team was hamstrung early into their effort, however, when illness befell ZywOo and left Vitality with a deflated superstar when it mattered most.

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• Playing alongside his brother was not without its difficulties either, with flameZ recalling how team issues could be hard to resolve.

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• “He was really sick and playing badly, but he kept giving energy, hyping us, and doing everything he could. For a player who expects and everybody expects him to do well, it was really nice to see him this way, and it made me believe more in the team.”

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• Stay up-to-date with the latest developments in Counter-Strike 2 with our dedicated news and coverage hub.
• “But to be honest, I loved sitting behind shushan and watching him play. And later on when I got a PC, it was my place to be social with people, to talk, share experiences, and have a common goal. Also to some extent, it was an escape route that made me feel really at peace.”
• The Israeli actually has a lower overall rating than dupreeh over our sample size of MVP events in 2023, coming in at 1.02 compared to dupreeh’s 1.03.
• The coronavirus pandemic then allowed flameZ to fully focus on Counter-Strike, and he continued to grind FPL-C while playing for Adaptation.

The Israeli rifler had two stand-out maps against the eventual champions — once in the group stage on Dust2 (1.82 rating) and another in an overtime victory on Anubis in the grand final (1.49) — but also suffered from a few lows in the group stage and on the decider in the final. He improved from a 1.06 rating in groups to 1.14 in playoffs, but it wasn’t enough to make up the difference and edge him past teammate mezii for the final EVP. It started with the Israeli spacetaker tallying his highest-rated map of 2024, a 2.47 rating in a 13-0 over Astralis, and was followed by five maps with a 1.23 rating or better (three above 1.40). His only negative map (0.90 rating) came in the decider against G2 in the semi-final, which Vitality lost in overtime to bow out of the Spring Final in 3-4th place. It’s an interesting change and perhaps harsh on the five-time Major winner, who finally looked like he had adapted to what Vitality’s system required in the last few tournaments before the break.
“We lacked closing some of the close games back then, and working on that helped us acquire the trophy in Cologne.” Vitality returned to action at Esports World Cup in July after the break but were cast out early after a loss to Virtus.pro in their second match, with flameZ missing out on a VP or EVP mention for the first time in the year after finishing with a meager 1.00 rating and three out of five maps in the red. His consistent showings against the best teams, 1.25 playoff rating, 1.02 KPRW, and 99.5 ADRW sealed the case for his second EVP of the year, but Vitality still went into the tournament break without lifting a piece of silverware. FlameZ led the server in the win over The MongolZ (1.49 rating) and against Complexity in Vitality’s qualifying series (1.19 rating), with his K-D, 116.9 ADR, and 1.79-rated performance making all the difference on the Anubis decider to edge out a narrow victory. FlameZ and mezii headed to Copenhagen for the Major proper looking for their first Major titles, with the added pressure of Vitality fighting to defend their status as reigning Major champions.

FLAMEZ CHICKEN INC

FlameZ wields his aggression differently, without ego and with a teammate nearly always ready to trade. Whether that is personal preference or OG’s style doesn’t really matter; either prove that he is willing to sacrifice himself for the win. FlameZ was Vitality’s third-best player with a 1.24 rating in the Elimination Stage, just 0.01 below Spinx, and he carried that through into the playoffs with a team-leading 1.54 rating on Nuke for a 1-0 start to the series. He was the only one to go positive on Vitality (1.22 rating) in an 8-13 defeat on Mirage, but dropped off on the decider (0.68) as FaZe stole away the victory and brought Vitality’s season to a dismal end.

Vitality extend flameZ contract through 2027

Some of that concern can be allayed by the fact that, despite nominally being a lurker in passive defaults, he was OG’s dedicated entry fragger. In OG, Nemanja “⁠nexa⁠” Isaković, Nikolaj “⁠niko⁠” Kristensen, and Adam “⁠NEOFRAG⁠” Zouhar were on map control in defaults but because those spread out defaults were so rare, it is unlikely flameZ will be too uncomfortable slotting into Vitality’s pack with apEX and Mathieu “⁠ZywOo⁠” Herbaut. The duo have been on NAVI’s academy roster since October 2023 and put up impressive numbers in 2024, with makazze averaging a 1.19 rating (1.34 impact) over 189 maps and Krabeni averaging a 1.10 rating (1.17 impact) over 203 maps. FlameZ named NAVI Junior rifler Drin “⁠makazze⁠” Shaqiri as his Bold Prediction, becoming the second player to do so after Helvijs “⁠broky⁠” Saukants, and also gave a nod to makazze’s teammate, Aulon “⁠Krabeni⁠” Fazlija. His 1.13 rating in arena matches is once again even better than his average and even on par with the next group of players above.
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EVENTS

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“I got different positions and ruggah and kakafu wanted me to have more responsibility which was very valuable for me to explore myself, and the org was always seeking improvement and added people to try to help us in the mental aspect which was very beneficial to me.” OG barely missed out on qualifying for PGL Major Stockholm, the first after the pandemic, and exited in groups at IEM Winter to end the year on a sour note. Aleksib was traded for Nemanja “⁠nexa⁠” Isaković at the start of 2022, but a last-place exit at IEM Katowice and failing to qualify for PGL Major Antwerp brought about more changes with Maciej “⁠F1KU⁠” Miklas, Adam “⁠NEOFRAG⁠” Zouhar, and Abdul “⁠degster⁠” Gasanov joining mid-way through the year. Playing alongside his brother was not without its difficulties either, with flameZ recalling how team issues could be hard to resolve. Join our Discord community to discuss CS2 utility strategies, share experiences, and get the latest updates with https://www.flamezzcasino.ca/ fellow players. There is an argument to be had over whether he deserved more space in OG; when we manually counted bombsite entry attempts at BLAST World Final last year flameZ was going in first more than anyone except Rasmus “⁠HooXi⁠” Nielsen and Finn “⁠karrigan⁠” Andersen.
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Shahar “flameZ” Shushan

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By the time 2023 rolled around, flameZ was on the wishlist of many organizations and his contract with OG was running out. He played at one last Major with them, finishing 12-14th at the Challengers Stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major, and after IEM Dallas the newly-crowned Paris Major champions Vitality came knocking for his services. “Not making the Majors and being very inconsistent in the important games made me realize I had to start exploring myself and get better at the mental game,” flameZ says. “Then when the new roster came around with F1KU, NEOFRAG, and so on, it became a grind together and I was very committed.” “I was really happy that it was my first team in the professional scene and super happy the organization didn’t take advantage of my inexperience. They treated me fairly and were super helpful during the whole period.” The move to Endpoint offered flameZ his first true shot at regular tier-two competition, and with them he won ESEA MDL Season 35 Europe (averaging a 1.25 rating over 29 maps) and qualified for his first season of ESL Pro League.
FlameZ ended the tournament with a 1.08 rating and a VP mention despite Vitality’s immediate exit thanks largely to him having a few solid maps without any real disappearances. “To be honest I’m not so sure [what went wrong], it feels like so long ago,” flameZ says of the result. “I just know we didn’t push ourselves and just expected to win. It was something big for us that we worked on a lot in the end, just giving energy no matter the opponent.” Vitality started 2024 as the top-ranked team in the world, riding the wave of their Fall and World Final trophy lifts into the new year, but would soon find themselves washed ashore in a deflating start to their season. “Before the season started it felt really good, we came with confidence and I was already thinking ahead of time that this was our year as a team, but I’m not sure if it was the pressure or just that our effort didn’t match our expectations.”