ZywOo says Cache is still one of his favorite Counter-Strike 2 maps

Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut said Cache remains one of his favorite maps after Vitality beat MOUZ in the final of ESL Pro League Season 24, where he averaged a 2.03 rating on Cache and collected the 34th MVP medal of his career.

Vitality’s win gave them a second trophy in a row after a slow start to the Fall season. It also came before Dan “apEX” Madesclaire steps away for PGL Masters Bucharest because of the birth of his child. Speaking to HLTV after the match, ZywOo discussed the team’s stage form, the current map pool and why Cache has fit him so well again.

Vitality backed up their return to form on stage

ZywOo said the title felt important because Vitality had already won in the studio at StarLadder, but wanted to prove they could deliver in front of a crowd as well. He said the team handled that pressure well in this event and was happy to do it in the Spodek.

“It feels great,” ZywOo said. “We wanted to play good on stage, and I think we did it great this tournament.”

He also said Vitality were not focused on the “Katowice curse,” but that it still felt good to finally win in the Spodek after six years of quarter-final exits there. In his view, the team’s performance at ESL Pro League showed they had settled in after the earlier studio win and were now playing with more confidence on stage.

ZywOo said the run through playoffs came from the whole roster clicking at the same time. He pointed to strong play from ropz and flameZ, and said his own form helped them play better too. The opposite was true as well, in his view: when his teammates were sharp, it gave him more room to dominate.

“It’s like a team thing,” he said. “When everyone is in sync, whenever we are doing anything, when the communication is good, good individually, we know what everyone’s going to do on the server, I think it makes everyone play good.”

That shared understanding was part of why ZywOo said the team felt so comfortable during the playoff run. He also suggested that several Vitality players had MVP-level cases over the course of the event, which matched the spread of strong ratings across the lineup.

Cache gave ZywOo another huge tournament map

Cache was the map that drew the most attention from ZywOo after the final. He said he has liked it for a long time, going back to 2017, and that the current return of the map has let him show that comfort again. Over three maps on Cache this tournament, his 2.03 rating helped power Vitality through the bracket.

“I always like this map,” ZywOo said. “It’s such an amazing map. I know what to peek, I know what to swing, I know how to help my teammates on this map.”

He added that he is the A player on Cache, which he described as “kind of weird to say,” before repeating that he loves the map “too much.” That comfort mattered for Vitality after they lost Overpass, because Cache helped them keep their map pool strong enough to continue their run.

ZywOo said the map pool has been mostly stable overall, but Vitality were disappointed to see Overpass removed because it had also been one of their best maps. He said Anubis could be better, but otherwise felt the pool was in good shape.

The return of Cache has not only helped ZywOo statistically; it has also given Vitality another weapon in vetoes and another place where their star player feels completely at home. His comments made it clear that the map still suits his instincts, from peeking angles to helping teammates set up on the server.

apEX’s Bucharest absence does not change the goal

The other major topic in the interview was apEX’s upcoming absence at PGL Masters Bucharest. ZywOo said the team will keep chasing titles with jL in the lineup and does not believe the captain’s break changes what Vitality are trying to do.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s there or not,” ZywOo said. “We’re going to try to win the tournament.”

He said the team still needs confidence and wants to keep building on what it has already achieved, no matter who is in the lineup for a given event. ZywOo also said the group learned from earlier events with jL, including Porto, where they were still trying to win the tournament with him in the lineup.

That point carried over into how he described responsibility inside the team while apEX is away. William “mezii” may take on more of the in-game leadership work, and ZywOo said the rest of the roster will also need to speak more and help keep the calls sharp.

He did not frame the absence as a setback. Instead, he treated it as another test of the team’s structure and communication, with Vitality determined to keep winning even as the lineup changes for Bucharest.

A 34th MVP to go with another trophy

ZywOo’s MVP medal in the Spodek was his 34th, and it came after a final in which he looked comfortable from start to finish. He said it felt especially good to win back on stage after Vitality’s earlier studio success, and he was pleased with both his own level and the team’s performance.

The title also reinforced how well Vitality have recovered after their slow start to the Fall season. Back-to-back trophies, a strong playoff run and another standout event from ZywOo have left the team in a confident place heading into Bucharest, even with apEX unavailable.

Before the roster change, though, the message from ZywOo was simple: the trophy hunt continues, and the team believes it can keep producing the same level even with a different voice in the server. For a squad that just lifted ESL Pro League and got another huge event from its star AWPer, that confidence now looks well earned.

That lines up with what ropz said before the playoff run, when he made it clear Vitality were still pushing for more. ZywOo’s performance on Cache and his comments after the final showed that belief was backed up on the server, not just in the buildup.