ZywOo after Paris Major victory: "It’s the best thing I've ever felt"

The French superstar, elated after winning the Major and his first Major HLTV x 1xBet MVP medal, spoke to HLTV about conquering the feat.

Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut, the now 15 time MVP, has finally added a Major MVP to his collection as he and his Vitality lifted the BLAST.tv Paris Major trophy on home soil after defeating a group of underdogs in the playoffs. It was agaist GamerLegion in the all-important grand final, 2-0, after leaving Into the Breach and Apeks in the dust in the previous rounds of the playoffs with the same scoreline.

ZywOo posing with his BLAST and HLTV MVP trophies

The French superstar, in a crowded mixed zone after the grand final, took three minutes to speak to HLTV about adding a Major title and the prestigious MVP medal to his repertoire, what it was like doing it undefeated against underdogs, and to express his happiness and desire to celebrate with his family. "I just want to see my family and hug them, kiss them," he said, "it’s because of them actually, because of my family and because of the fans around us."

So you did it, you got the one that was missing! Tell me your first thoughts, you just became a Major champion on home soil, what’s running through your veins right now?

A lot of emotion, of course, we just did it! Actually I don’t think I have a good word for what I am feeling right now, because that’s the best thing I've ever felt. We fucking did it, we just won the Major, we just won the final, and I just want to see my family and hug them, kiss them, it’s because of them actually, because of my family and because of the fans around us.

Yeah, we fucking did it. I don’t know what to say!

And you did it without dropping a single map, you haven’t lost a map since winning your last tournament. Tell me a little bit about making it cleanly through this event in Paris, and what did it take to do that?

Actually we didn’t think about that all during the two weeks we have been playing. We never thought, "We have been undefeated," or, "We didn’t lost a map in the Champions Stage." We just kept thinking about what we need to do for tomorrow, what we need to do for the next game. We are actually not thinking about being undefeated.

You played some teams that you don’t usually play here in the playoffs, tell me what challenges you had facing different teams like GamerLegion, Into the Breach, or Apeks?

It was… not weird to face them, but it was a big surprise because obviously we didn’t expect to play Into the Breach, Apeks and GamerLegion, but that’s also our job because they beat good teams. They are really good individually, they are also good as a team, so it was kind of a trap because underdogs don’t feel the same pressure as us, we are the favorites. We kinda knew before they were going to rush on us, they’re going to do something aggressive and take the timing, but we just played our game. We knew what playstyle they were going to play, and we just didn’t overthink, because that’s how we are now.

How did you prepare mentally knowing you were going to be favorites in every single playoff match that you played?

We prepared a lot about our mindset before every game, because like I say it’s a trap to play Into the Breach, Apeks and GamerLegion, because it’s tier two, they have new things, they are really good individually, they are not scared to play and have really good courage. I don’t know what to say — it was really tough to play, but we did it.

You were born the day CS came out, now you win the last CS:GO Major and get the MVP: Are you the chosen one?

I don’t know if I’m the chosen one. Every time I saw on Twitter that I was born on the same day as CS, and today it’s the last CS:GO Major and we did it, maybe I am the chosen one but I am not thinking in this way. I am just playing with my team and enjoying every single moment with them, that is my mindset right now.

Vitality #1 Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautDan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen GamerLegion #22 Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandMihai 'iM' IvanNicolas 'Keoz' DgusKamil 'siuhy' SzkaradekIsak 'isak' Fahlén Ashley 'ash' Battye Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 22 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 1153 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.61 Apeks #19 Martin 'STYKO' StykJoakim 'jkaem' MyrbostadTim 'nawwk' JonassonJustinas 'jL' LekaviciusDamjan 'kyxsan' Stoilkovski Jakub 'kuben' Gurczyński Into the Breach #28 Karol 'rallen' RodowiczJoey 'CRUC1AL' SteuselThomas 'Thomas' UttingCai 'CYPHER' WatsonSebastian 'volt' Maloș Gustavo 'Juve' Alexandre