ropz on ZywOo: “At this point, he’s surpassed s1mple.”
Team Vitality rifler Robin “ropz” Kohl spoke on the organization’s YouTube channel about his role as a lurker, compared Mathieu “ZywOo” Erbo and Alexander “s1mple” Kostylev, and also assessed the form of Shahar “flameZ” Shushan.
On using the AUG on the Nuke ramp
I think it’s a pretty useful position for using the AUG. You have a lot of blind spots at long range. So the AUG, in my opinion, falls somewhere between the M4 and the AWP. You can stay in aim and just use those angles to your advantage, and sometimes it’s very easy to get kills when people are slowly checking you. You can’t do this too often, though, because then it becomes a bit predictable. So when you’re playing against high-level players, you need to stay unpredictable.
On his role as a lurker
A lot of experience, a lot of experience, I’d say. You know, I’ve been playing at a high, top-tier level for almost 10 years now, and I wasn’t always this good. Again, to be a really good lurker, you need a really good team. Besides that, obviously, you need good mechanics. You need to understand timing. You need to have a good feel for your own timing. You need to know when to start moving and when not to move. There’s no single specific thing that makes you good. It’s just a lot of things that, taken together, allow you to understand the macro—how teams play, what tendencies different players have—as well as find positions where you’re comfortable using your own abilities to exploit openings and be effective in those positions.
On Superstar Status
It’s not for me to say. I’ll leave that to the community. Obviously, I’ll be modest and won’t say much about it. You know, I think your stats and results usually speak for themselves, so I’ll leave it at that.
On Comparing ZywOo and s1mple
I once wrote: “In my opinion, s1mple is the best player to ever play CS.” That was true six years ago. I think now we have ZywOo, who has surpassed those achievements and all those awards. What I mean is that in recent years, ZywOo has clearly kept up the pace, and yes, in my opinion, he has now surpassed s1mple. That was true six years ago. Now, I’d say it’s ZywOo.
On flameZ’s form
I think flameZ’s form in the first few months of this year was just as good as donk’s, or even better, in my opinion. I think there’s no doubt about it if you look at the stats and results we’ve had, and at his individual level of play. The way he played was at a very, very high level, and if he continues in the same vein, I think it’ll be a little easier for us to win trophies. And he had a truly, truly incredible first season. That’s why I said that, and I think it was true.
At the recent StarLadder StarSeries Fall 2026 Counter-Strike 2 tournament, Team Vitality claimed the championship and earned $200,000 in prize money. In the event’s grand final, the “Bees” defeated Aurora Gaming 3–1 in a best-of-five series.
Photo: StarLadder.
