Vitality signed Counter-Strike coach Rémy “XTQZZZ” Quoniam on Oct. 13 to fill the void left open by the departure of zonic to Falcons earlier this month, the org announced today.
The move marks the beginning of XTQZZZ’s second stint with Vitality as he previously coached the organization’s CS:GO division between 2018 and 2021. During that period, XTQZZZ helped Vitality build a successful project and won important online and LAN tournaments such as cs_summit four in May 2019, ECS season seven in June 2019, and BLAST Premier Fall in December 2020.
The French skipper left Vitality to coach G2 in January 2022 following the arrivals of Aleksib and m0NESY but ended up leaving the project only nine months later as they hit a slump. He was last seen coaching TSM over the past two months but now returns to Vitality to coach the No. 1 team in the world and the reigning Major champions after zonic’s departure.
The arrival of XTQZZZ was confirmed by Vitality mere days before the team’s debut at IEM Sydney, which will be the first big event for CS2. The organization said he is unable to fly to Australia but will assist the players remotely and assistant coach Mathieu “MaT” Leber will stand behind the team throughout the event. On top of that, Vitality also renewed the contract of captain apEX until 2026.
XTQZZZ said in a statement he’s proud to return to his Parisian origins and is confident in his ability to keep Vitality on the winning track.
“I’m proud to work alongside the best team in the world, and I’m eager to embark on this exciting new chapter in the world of Counter-Strike 2,” XTQZZZ said. “While this year has already been remarkable for the team, I have full confidence that we can push the boundaries even further.”
Vitality will debut at IEM Sydney against BetBoom on Sunday, Oct 15 at 9:30pm CT. The rest of Group A features FaZe, GamerLegion, Natus Vincere, Apeks, MOUZ, and Vertex.
