XTQZZZ: "Personally, this is the most painful loss for me"

XTQZZZ: "Personally, this is the most painful loss for me"

Vitality lost to Spirit in the quarterfinals of the EWC 2026 with a score of 1-2. The French team took Anubis but lost Nuke and Mirage, leaving them outside the top four.

Vitality 's coach Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam, after the team's elimination by Spirit at the Esports World Cup 2026, spoke to lasource about the reasons for the defeat, veto decisions, upcoming roster changes, and emotions following the performance in front of French fans.

Vitality deliberately avoided Dust2

According to XTQZZZ, the decision to leave Mirage as the third map was not a mistake. The team deliberately avoided Dust2 because Spirit felt most comfortable on it, while Vitality had not shown a confident game there recently.

We weren't incredible on Dust2 lately. We've made significant progress on Mirage. Unfortunately, we showed nothing on the third map.
Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam

Minor mistakes cost Vitality the victory

One of the main problems for Vitality , according to the coach, was minor mistakes and poor timing. He mentioned that the team often made decisions either a second too late or acted too hastily.

Particularly painful was the round on Mirage at a score of 2:1. Vitality gained a numerical advantage, planted the bomb, but failed to secure the round. After this, Spirit managed to seize the initiative.

We made a good call, moved out, had the numerical advantage, planted the bomb—and then got reset.
Rémy "XTQZZZ" Quoniam

XTQZZZ also noted that the team was well aware of Spirit 's preparation on Anubis, but the lack of speed in executing their plans became an issue.