This young French talent will take the place of IGL Alex, who recently announced he would be stepping back from professional play for personal reasons as he could no longer handle the pressure of constantly traveling to attend LAN events around the world.
Misutaaa is considered one of the most promising young talents in the EU region; he previously competed in two small LAN events, Louvard Game and ASUS ROG JTR Community Challenge, and although he only finished in 3rd-4th place overall, he still achieved impressive ratings of 1.37 and 1.32 respectively. At the end of last year, he helped Viva Algeria qualify through the closed qualifier for the Africa region, earning a spot at the WESG Finals with an impressive rating of 1.29.
Shortly after Vitality made the official announcement, apEX, Misutaaa’s new teammate at Vitality, wrote a Twitlonger sharing about the team’s recent experiences and future plans. He also announced that he will be the new IGL for the team, not shox as previously rumored.
“The past 6 months have been terrible for me; I felt really lost and didn’t perform well at all. Therefore, the biggest challenge will be to regain my form from the past, and I am ready to give everything to achieve this.
That’s why I feel ready to become the captain of the team. I have thought about this position for a long time, but before I always felt that I wasn’t ready. As many people know, I have issues with emotional control, but over the past time, with the help of a mental health professional, I feel much better. I believe Vitality can once again return to the top of the world.”
apEX also shared some thoughts about his new teammate:
“The emergence of young talents is something that the French CS scene really needs, and I believe Misutaaa deserves this position. We will strive to create the best conditions for him to showcase his abilities.”
The new lineup of Vitality will debut at the ESL Pro League Season 11, the next S-tier tournament of the year, starting on March 16. In May, they will begin their journey at ESL One Rio Major from the New Legends stage, after qualifying for the playoffs at StarLadder Major and earning the Legends title.
Vitality will now consist of 5 members:
Cédric “RpK” Guipouy
Dan “apEX” Madesclaire
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
Richard “shox” Papillon
Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier
Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam (coach)