Vitality ropz at IEM Kraków: “At this point you try to win everything again”

Bruno Sobieraj Published February 6, 2026

Vitality are the reigning IEM Katowice champions, and they are hoping to retain their title in Kraków.

We had the chance to speak with Robin “ropz” Kool, ahead of the playoffs.

Bruno: Hello ropz, congrats on making it to the playoffs.

What do you think of your team’s performance so far?

ropz: I think the performance is good. Yeah, not much else to say.

Bruno: You obviously played at BLAST Bounty, you lost to Falcons, unfortunately with a stand-in.

What did you take away from that event?

ropz: I think from BLAST Bounty we just took that we’re still getting into the season, just warming up, it’s the beginning of the year, things are a bit rusty, and yeah, going to the next event.

Bruno: Last time you joined the team in the last winter break, so…

How different was this winter break in comparison to last year’s?

ropz: This break for me was completely different, obviously a very chill one, you know, no stress, no switching teams, it’s a completely different vibe, so you don’t need to worry about those things. Yeah, we’re just looking forward to the next year, obviously a successful 2025, so hopefully another exciting year like last one.

Bruno: Obviously this year we’re in Kraków instead of Katowice.

Is your approach to the event the same?

ropz is still on the hunt for more trophies. Credit: © Team Vitality

ropz: I think the approach is probably mostly the same. Obviously it is a different location, I think it’s nice to see the same trophy, it’s a very nice looking trophy here. It’s been in Katowice and now in Krakow, bringing it over, so I really enjoy the trophy, the design here, so it’s nice to keep that. But I think overall, you know, it’s a fairly close location to Katowice, but it’s just a different city. It’s going to be exciting to see how the story becomes in Krakow.

Bruno: Into this year the map pool changed with Train going out and Anubis coming in.

What are your thoughts on the map changes?

ropz: I don’t know, a bit weird to see Train go after such a short time of it being in the map pool. But yeah, I mean I was not the biggest fan of Anubis, so a bit of a disappointment for myself, but hopefully there are some changes on the map, and there already were small changes, but I hope to see a bit more.

And is Ancient now a part of your map pool?

ropz: Yeah, yeah it is. Ancient is, yeah.

What are you focusing on personally this year?

ropz: I don’t know, I don’t really have any personal goals.

I think I’ve achieved a lot in my career, and I think at this point you try to do everything again, and I guess that is the goal, to win everything once again the third time, because I’ve won many things twice by now with FaZe and Vitality. So I think just finding that motivation, because it gets harder and harder once you succeed in certain things.

So yeah, just finding the motivation to do everything again, and we have a very good team, a very exciting team, I really love the team we have, and just looking forward to playing each match with them.

Bruno: Good luck in the playoffs, and thank you.

ropz: Thank you.

More from IEM Kraków

• Spirit magixx interview: “Once I see that we are playing good, I can expect us to win anything”
• Aurora woxic interview: “When I was in mousesports, I was like molodoy.”
• FURIA FalleN interview: “Lifting the trophy here would be special”
• IEM Kraków 2026 playoffs: Quarterfinals odds, preview and predictions
• MOUZ Brollan interview: “Train was our best map, but it is what it is”
• G2 SunPayus interview: “When we are good, we are really good”

Feature image credit: © BLAST