Vitality's captain, Dan "apEX" Madesclaire, ahead of the match against Team Spirit in the semi-final of IEM Dallas 2024, paid tribute to his opponent. In an interview with HLTV, he admitted being excited about the first encounter on the server with Danil "donk" Kryshkovtsev, whom he hailed as a phenomenal player.
"It's going to be the first time we play against them. Donk is a phenomenal talent. Tomorrow will be interesting: if we play several maps, I'll have several duels against him. I'll have to play a bit smarter or just try to be more crazy, so let's see how it goes.
They're a good team, and Donk, as I've already said, is phenomenal, but we know that if we focus on ourselves, we can win, and that's important for us. We've had two good tournaments, in the last two tournaments, we reached the semi-finals and the final. We're still in the semi-final, and that's not bad, but we're here to get trophies. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to play against them, and hopefully, after that, I'll get the trophy."