Vitality’s sniper Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut has shared how the temporary substitution at the BLAST Premier World Final 2024 will impact the team. Due to family reasons, William "mezii" Merriman will miss the tournament, with French player Audric "JACKZ" Jug stepping in to join the team in Singapore.
“We’ve already played with [JACKZ] at the ESL Pro League, and it’s always enjoyable having him in the lineup. He brings great energy to the team and has a fantastic character for team play.
For us, it doesn’t matter as much whether it’s JACKZ or mezii; it’s more important that we play together more and bring out our best game as a team. We need to focus on playing better as a unit rather than individually.
I wouldn’t say there’s less pressure on us, but we do have fewer expectations to win this tournament. JACKZ is still a strong player, and we can still take down top teams. We’ll be doing our best to deliver our strongest performance regardless.”
The French esports star also reflected on his team’s form and the aspects of their gameplay that need improvement.
“We can beat anyone if we’re in good shape; we’re not afraid of anyone. But we do need to work more on playing as a team. Every time we start a tournament, we play very well, but when it comes to the playoffs and decisive matches, we make more mistakes and aren’t fully ready to fight together. That’s an issue, and it’s something we need to fix.”
The BLAST World Final 2024 will take place from 30 October to 3 November in Singapore. Eight teams will compete for a one-million-dollar prize pool.