Shahar "flameZ" Shushan shared his emotions after winning the grand final of BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025, which happened to fall on his birthday. He spoke about the key moments of the match, the team’s preparation for the final, the decisive impact of Inferno, and the inspiring speech from coach Dan "apEX" Madesclaire before the third and final map.

First of all, happy birthday. You won the Major on your birthday! What feelings do you have right now?

I'm feeling amazing. Everything aligned today — the Major, my birthday, the 22nd Major, my 22nd birthday, the 22nd of June. Too many things. It felt too good, and I'm very happy to be a part of something this great. That's what we showed this season.

Major, Grand Slam, Katowice — it all came together.

How did you prepare for the final? What things worked since the semifinal, and what did you improve?

I think we prepared more for the team we played against. We didn’t really change too much, but since we were playing The Mongolz, we needed to approach it a bit differently. We had to alternate our style in some rounds and add some new setups, but nothing too concrete. You still play your game — you just adapt when needed.

You started Mirage very well, but something went wrong. What happened?

On Mirage, we lost a lot of clutches. That was tough, because you can’t get back into the game when you keep losing those one-on-ones or two-on-twos. I think we just didn’t hit our shots. They hit some really good ones, and they capitalized on that.

What did apEX, your coach, say after the second map, after Dust2, going into the decider?

He said, “Guys, it's f***ing Inferno. We know how good we can be.” Even though we lost some maps this Major, we know what we're capable of. “Let’s play our f***ing A-game — they have no chance.” And that’s exactly how it went.

Yeah, it looked like it. Inferno was fully under your control. Obviously, you worked on it since yesterday, and it really showed. What do you want to say to the fans out there?

Thank you very much for watching. I hope the final was fun to watch. Thank you for the support, and have a good one.