FlameZ missed out on an EVP again in Dallas, where Vitality came up short in the title decider to a G2 who completed a fairytale run to the trophy with Jake „\u2060Stewie2K\u2060” Yip as a stand-in. 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. „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.” „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.”<\/p>\n
„So it was a big boost to my motivation. He was a big voice in and outside the team, always down to talk about CS, life, or anything else and share his mindset and his view on things. I liked him a lot and still like him a lot, he is a player that I have always wanted to compete with at this high level.” Focus in Israel soon turned to international competition and on making a name for yourself in FPL, but flameZ was still under 16 and ineligible to compete in qualifiers for most big events. He had to step back any time the team wanted to compete in big qualifiers, which at one point caused him to quit playing CS for several months. „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.”<\/p>\n
Winning Cologne could have marked a new period of success for Vitality after a difficult start to the year, but any momentum they hoped to ride off of the victory was brought to a grinding halt after they were cast out in the quarter-finals of ESL Pro League Season 20 by Eternal Fire. 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. „The Major was a big struggle with the ZywOo situation, but it showed me a lot of character in him,” flameZ says. „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.” 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.”<\/p>\n
FlameZ joined Vitality in mid-2023 on a free transfer from OG and quickly established himself as an X-factor player for Vitality. He has earned seven EVP nods for his highlight performances in that time, including four in their title runs at Gamers8, BLAST Premier Fall Final and BLAST Premier World Final in 2023 and IEM Cologne earlier this year. 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 „\u2060makazze\u2060” Shaqiri as his Bold Prediction, becoming the second player to do so after Helvijs „\u2060broky\u2060” Saukants, and also gave a nod to makazze’s teammate, Aulon „\u2060Krabeni\u2060” Fazlija. FlameZ averaged a 1.33 rating, 1.54 impact, 1.08 KPRW, and 117.2 ADRW over seven maps, but the team missed another shot at a title and flameZ couldn’t ride the individual high of his performance for long.<\/p>\n
Vitality then reached back-to-back grand finals at ESL Pro League Season 19 and IEM Dallas, but were stopped short of lifting the silverware by MOUZ and G2. ZywOo was back to his best in Malta and helped his team romp through the group stage undefeated with a 1.71 rating over six maps, with flameZ’s own efforts good for a 1.19 rating ahead of the playoffs. Local LANs offered flameZ and other youngsters the opportunity to prove themselves, but the Israeli scene remained isolated, focused mostly on forming the best teams to win the few local LANs held each year.<\/p>\n
„Krabeni deserves a shoutout as well, I feel like they will be super good as a duo. But I was also very happy to play with both of them individually and was super impressed.” 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. FlameZ recovered to a 1.08 average (1.14 playoffs), which was good enough for another VP mention before the team traveled to Shanghai for the Europe RMR. FlameZ missed out on a VP or EVP mention for the second Flamez<\/a> time this year with a 0.99 rating, but wasted no time in entering a renaissance at BLAST Fall Final where he had his best event of the year. „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.<\/p>\n The Israeli rifler had two stand-out maps against the eventual champions \u2014 once in the group stage on Dust2 (1.82 rating) and another in an overtime victory on Anubis in the grand final (1.49) \u2014 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’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. IGL Dan „\u2060apEX\u2060” Madesclaire started to use him as more of a brute-force entry fragger on T side, and he was even moved to spots like B Anchor on Mirage. 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).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FlameZ missed out on an EVP again in Dallas, where Vitality came up short in the title decider to a G2 who completed a fairytale run to the trophy with Jake „\u2060Stewie2K\u2060” Yip as a stand-in. FlameZ ended the tournament with a 1.08 rating and a VP mention despite Vitality’s immediate exit thanks largely to …<\/p>\n