Insider Gaming spoke to Team Vitality Head Coach, Rémy ‘XTQZZZ’ Quoniam, prior to the start of BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026, as the Vitality roster aims to continue to dominate the Tier 1 Counter-Strike scene.
Dispelling the mystery about the coaching role, the Frenchman outlined how he sees his contributions to Vitality, with team cohesion a central element.
XTQZZZ also spoke about how he sees Vitality’s competitors, the roster’s process for managing the competitive calendar, and the lessons the roster took from a difficult 2024.
“I couldn’t say we played completely our A game, but I feel like the other teams are playing their B, C games right now.”
XTQZZZ on the 2026 Counter-Strike scene
You guys skipped Pro League. What were you working on when the event was taking place?
Well, just because we just did three tournaments in a row, and I think for the VRS, we think we wanted to skip this one, to have time to take some rest and think about what we want to improve for the next three weeks.
Can you give any insight into what things you were looking at?
As usual, I did the new strategies, fixed a bit our map pool, Mirage especially, and we also had some maps we didn’t play that much lately. Nuke, for example, so it was good for us to work on it.
Vitality has been praised in the past for managing the calendar so you can prioritise certain events. What are you prioritising this season?
For us, basically, before starting the year, we think about what we want to win, where we want to pick.
For us, we have different blocks, so the block was with Kraków, Cluj, etc., and we needed to adapt a bit because if we won Kraków, we were like, ‘Okay, we need to pick now for the Grand Slam, right?’
We changed the plan a bit. We tried to figure out all the time if it’s the right moment to have some time off, if we need to do our best for the tournament, etc. So we planned for at least for six months to make sure what the plan is, and allow players to have a view on it.
Of course, now we have the chance for the Grand Slam, so we needed to adapt because if it weren’t the case, everything would be for the Major, but we have the Grand Slam before that now.
Did you see any of Pro League? Is there anything you can take to adapt to teams that are going to be coming to this event?
Honestly, no, for two reasons. First, 50% of the tournament was online. It doesn’t have to take something from it. And second, yeah, of course, we watched a bit, the quarter, semis, and the final.
Not quarters,, because we were in practice actually, but yeah, we saw maybe two, three things, but it doesn’t change anything for us at least.
I don’t think we have seen the best version of Vitality yet.
XTQZZZ on Vitality’s 2026 form
You were talking about map pool, but you’ve only lost games on Inferno and Mirage this year. You have a 100% win rate on five maps, because you played against Aurora on Ancient.
Even Ancient, 100%. That’s true.
You guys played Train before it was removed, you beat NAVI in Budapest on Train. So how is it that Vitality came into the season as if nothing had happened?
Yes, that’s true. We beat NAVI on Train, but before it was tough for us on Train, actually. So when Anubis came, we were happy actually. It doesn’t change anything.
Also, we want to make sure we don’t have only one pick. So, okay, we are the best team in the world on Dust 2, but it’s not the only map I pick. I want to make sure we have a good map pool.
Sometimes, maybe it will happen for this tournament, I can surprise a bit. I want to try another map on an official, even though it’s an elimination game or whatever.
If it’s a big tournament, we want to win, that’s clear. We respect the veto completely, but, for example, PGL and even this tournament, I can try different things with the map pool because you need officials If you want to improve your map pool, you need officials.
If you have a bad map, let’s say, but you try to skip all the time, you cannot improve, even though you have theory, you fix your mistakes, etc.
Lately, we have changed a lot of the map pool after each major. So I want to make sure, even if, let’s say, the next change is Dust 2, okay, it might be tough for us, of course. But if at the same time we work on the map pool, and I can change my pick, it will not affect us that much. That’s the goal behind.
In terms of the chasing pack, it feels like maybe you guys are maybe more ahead this year than you were for in late 2025 and FURIA on events. Why do you think they’re a step behind in 2026?
I don’t know. For me, okay, we won two events in a row. I couldn’t say we played completely our A game, but I feel like the other teams are playing their B, C games right now. I don’t know.
Maybe they’re trying new things. Maybe lack of confidence as well, for a team like Spirit. MOUZ are still the same; they are still strong in group stage. But in playoffs, they have something really, I don’t know how to explain that, but tough to deal with, apparently.
So I think it’s more about confidence for the other teams.
I don’t think we have seen the best version of Vitality yet, in my opinion. It can be weird to say that, but it’s just because the opponents right now are struggling to find their A game, trying new things.
Of course, when you have a team dominate like us last year, you have to try new things, right? If you don’t change the roster.
So maybe they are, I don’t know. For me, it’s a bit weird right now, the scene. You can see with Pro League, even without us, the results were a bit weird.
I feel like everyone can beat everyone, and we still think it’s the same for us. Maybe we can lose a game, the first, the second game. We are just trying to give our best.
But I don’t think we are ahead that much in terms of tactics or whatever. It’s just the other opponent needs to find a way to be consistent right now.
“I’m more about prepping the game and the big picture, helping the players to improve, and also to getting everyone on the same page.”
XTQZZZ on his Priorities as Vitality’s coach
You won Coach of the Year HLTV awards. There were discussions at that time about how we don’t get to know a lot about what coaches do, so I want you to describe your vision of the game. What are the principles that you believe in that you want Vitality to have?
It’s tough because I don’t want to give everything [away]. But it’s just because I’m not talking usually, so people think I’m doing nothing. But my mission is Head Coach. So, as a Head Coach, first of all, I have a staff, and if you have a staff, you need to use it.
So I’m trying to use my Assistant Coach and my Performance Coach as much as I can. That’s the first thing. I think it’s really important because they have some good qualities that can help the team, right?
Second, I’m already working on the big picture, managing the schedule. I think it’s something really underrated nowadays, the schedule, to be honest, especially right now with the VRS system, you need to think about a lot almost every single day.
My philosophy? Basically, when you have an in-game leader like Dan [apEX], Dan needs to manage a lot of things in-game, especially details.
Me, I’m more about prepping the game and the big picture, helping the players to improve, and also to getting everyone on the same page.
It’s easy to say, but it’s really hard to do it because maybe one game, one guy has a bad game, and then, ‘Okay, guys, I don’t think it’s a, map for me anymore. But we just want the map maybe, et cetera. Everything can change.
People think I’m just a cheerleader. It’s weird because I’m not at all, actually. But it’s a lot of human things to make sure we can have a good group, we can live together for a while, and about the game.
I have different ways to think about the game. I like to antistrat, but also to outplay our opponents. I think we proved many times how we can be good at antistrating our opponents, especially against Parivision, for example.
It’s a lot of work. Of course, at home, it’s a bit different. We have a lot of talks with my in-game leader and my Assistant Coach, how we want to improve our strats.
For example, me, I’m doing the pistol rounds, et cetera, how we want to improve our energy. So it’s a lot of things. But at the end of the day, what I want is just to make sure we feel comfortable.
I want players to have autonomy to bring their ideas and me behind with my staff to make sure we can be connected in how we can add things.
Because when you have in-game leader like Dan with strong convictions, also the other players, when you have stars like ZywOo, ropz, etc., they also need space to do moves. So you want to make sure they can be connected together.
Dan can feel comfortable as an in-game leader doing these things, his philosophy, but at the same time, do not forget, you need to use your players as well. It’s a lot of things.
It’s tough to explain with one, two words, but at the end, it’s all about the balance, I would say.
You said apEX has strong convictions about the game. So are there times where you think, ‘Oh, this could be like an interesting thing to do?’ And he goes ‘No, that’s not how I play’?
Yeah, but when you have star players plus an in-game like that, it means egos, and you have to deal with it. That’s normal, egos.
I mean, we are competitive. It’s a competitive game. So yeah, you have to deal with it no matter what. It doesn’t mean it’s easy all the time. That’s why we are behind.
If you are not behind, I think it could be really different, and it’s not only Vitality, it’s everything. As a team, we have 30 weeks together. That is it, 30 weeks together [in a year]. so you need to create something as a group.
We like to say we are a family. So it means as a family, you can have some conflict, but the only reason you have conflict is because you want to be better, and that’s it.
It’s not because you want to use your ego, or because you want to prove something to someone else. No. You just want to improve as a team. Like a family.
We tried to have a lot of talks, but sometimes I think we were not completely honest, and that’s the mistake, because people sometimes think it’s bad to have a conflict.
XTQZZZ on difficult 2024
In 2024, when Apex said that we’re not a team right now, what do you think changed that meant you have that camaraderie where you can get over those disputes?
Basically, what I said two minutes ago. It’s just because at some point we were more focused individually about shining or whatever, or some players wanted something different.
It’s not just because they didn’t trust what we wanted to do, but sometimes you think more about what you want to achieve individually, and it was the main issue.
We had a lot of talks after this bad year in 2024, just to make sure no matter what deal we have with other players, we need to think about what we want to achieve first as a team.
Of course, what you want individually will come for sure, and if sometimes you don’t feel it, you just need to talk. We tried to have a lot of talks, but sometimes I think we were not completely honest, and that’s the mistake, because people sometimes think it’s bad to have a conflict.
I don’t think so. You need conflicts if you want to improve. For me, it’s a key. I think it’s the main reason.
Also Dan improved as an in-game leader and as a captain. Me, I was only with the roster for one year, so I understood more things. Maybe it was too late, especially the second part of 2024. At the end of the day, I cannot say one thing. It was a lot of things.
But the main reason was more like, ‘Okay, we need to be connected and honest together now.’
I think a lot of teams in Tier 1 at the moment can learn from that.
I mean, I said that, but maybe, you know, let’s say in three months, we have bad results, no trophies, maybe no playoffs. You never know. It will happen again.
It’s not easy, what I said. It’s just you have to work for that every single day. It’s a part really tough as a coach because you want to do different things sometimes, you know, tactically or something else.
But if you are not focused on these parts, you will have some issues maybe in two, three weeks. Right now, it’s okay. Of course, it’s easy for us. We won everything, right? But after one and maybe two losses, everything can change. So you have to be ready for that.
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Check out our BLAST Open Rotterdam Tournament Guide for the full team list.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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