“I can call a lot better and a lot more versatile right now than I did in Acend.” Interview with Team Vitality BONECOLD

Santeri "BONECOLD" Sassi answered our questions after Team Vitality’s win over Team Heretics in Red Bull Home Ground. He talked about how he is different right now compared to his days with Acend and his thoughts on Vitality’s future in the 2023 season.

THESPIKEGG: You guys had great performances on both sides throughout the series, for example, your excellent defense in the first map. What do you think about Vitality’s strengths, how far do you think you'll go in this tournament and in the first split of the VCT 2023 league?

BONECOLD: Well, I feel like our biggest strengths are that we play together extremely well, the way we play really resources around activating every single player on the map. I feel that what we have going on right now is the gameplay where we can have the most consistency. For this tournament, it's all about just putting in all the groundwork, putting in the fundamentals. When we go to Brazil for the first VCT season tournament, that's when everything's going to be polished. That's when everything's going to come into place. For now, it's just all about finding the synergy in the team and just finding out how we can perform the best.

THESPIKEGG: You faced some of your EMEA opponents here in Manchester. There probably wasn’t enough time to analyze other teams but looking at the rosters, could you give us an opinion on the current level of the EMEA teams compared to other regions? As you know, there has also been a lot of top talent left out of the franchise teams.

BONECOLD: It's unfortunate because there are limited places in the teams. So there have to be some players left out. We haven't seen much of the Europeans team play yet. I feel like we're in a really good spot and I I feel like it's only going to be, like the next year to be telling us, you know, if there's going to be any changes to be made to any teams. From my point of view, every single European roster seems extremely strong right now. We need to see how they're going to be like in Brazil, seeing how they perform because some of the rosters went over really huge changes. So it's all about, can some of the cores of the previous teams keep their consistency and their level. Let's see how it goes.

THESPIKEGG: How do you think the new changes will affect the game? Chamber nerfs, map changes, etc.

BONECOLD: For us, the Chamber nerfs and the changes coming next year in January, don't really hit us at all. I feel like we can totally manage to go and play without a Chamber, for example. I feel like we're adaptive enough. I and the head coach SALAH do enough work for all the changes that are coming in. We feel extremely confident that when the change comes, we'll be ready for it. We'll adapt and be one of the fastest teams that adapt to the changes and we'll be totally ready for Brazil.

THESPIKEGG: What do you think about the new league system? Could you compare it to the recent one and evaluate the changes stating the pros and cons?

BONECOLD: It's hard to say. I mean, I just love the fact that, like for myself, being selfish here, I just love the fact that we can go to different places. For example, we have a Brasil Kickoff Tournament. I love traveling, I love competing in tournaments. So I just find it really nice that we can start it off with a banger. I will go to Brazil and then we're going to get the VCT season started. I think it's really good for the first year to have that. I feel like it'll set out the standard, and some storylines, and I feel like, for next years to come, it's going to be more strict on being in the league type. It's going to be a league played in Berlin. So I feel like later on in the years, it's going to be more consistent and I find it really nice. I think it will get an extremely good storyline from Brazil going into the next few years.

THESPIKEGG: After winning the Champions trophy, you spent the majority of 2021 in the French league. How do you evaluate this experience? In what ways did you benefit from it?

BONECOLD: In Acend, it was a totally, uh, what is it? How would I say it? I feel like in a sense, I was just thinking of myself as a player. Everybody was doing their own thing. After joining Vitality on the first split, there wasn't that much evolvement for me. When Salah joined and we made the roster changes and we got the franchising spot, that's when I really started working out what are my strengths and weaknesses, that’s how I feel right now. I feel a lot more like a leader rather than just a player for the team. I can call a lot better and a lot more versatile right now than I did in Acend.