Virtus.pro used to be the second-best team in Eastern Europe. Apart from Natus Vincere, nobody could defeat them. But in 2024, they went from being ranked in the top 10 and winning tournaments to being ranked just 15th and mostly struggling.
The first sign of weakness came early, in February, at IEM Katowice, where VP finished 17th – 20th. Then, at PGL Major Copenhagen, they did a bit better, finishing 9th – 11th. But this result was far from the organization’s ambitions.
In the next four months, VP’s situation seemed to improve: 5th – 6th place at IEM Chengdu, 5th – 8th place at ESL Pro League S19, 3rd – 4th place at BLAST Premier Spring Final, and 3rd – 4th place at Esports World Cup 2024.
Had they continued on this path, VP would have likely kept their CS2 roster intact. But they didn’t. The second part of 2024 was mostly a disaster. At the three most important events, IEM Cologne, ESL Tpro League S20, and the Shanghai Major, VP played poorly, finishing 13th – 16th, 13th – 16th, and 20th – 22nd respectively.
So it’s no surprise that the atmosphere inside the team went from good to bad and the management decided to start making changes.
Who Is Gone
In September, VP benched Andrey “XomA” Mironenko after less than three months and promoted Pavel “PASHANOJ” to the head coach position.
In October, Dastan “dastan” Aqbaev was released. He had been benched at the end of May.
In December, two more players were benched: Dzhami “Jame” Ali, the famous AWPer, and more recently, David “n0rb3r7” Daniyelyan.
So far, only one player has been signed: Timur “FL4MUS” Maryev. He’s only 20 years old and used to play for GamerLegion. Before that, he was a member of Nemiga Gaming. Back in 2021, he played for Team Spirit Academy, so it’s not like he came out of nowhere.
VP will need to sign one more player in the coming weeks. The situation doesn’t look good but maybe it will improve in 2025.
