Virtus.Pro seem to be taking major strides in refreshing their squad following the recent departure of assistant coach, Xoma and their Russian rifler Nikolay “mir” Bityukov announcing his entry into free agency.
His decision to go into free agency comes as no surprise to anyone that has been following his activity in the past few months, which has not been a lot to begin with. For the past three months Nikolay “mir” Bityukov has been on the bench for Virtus.Pro having lost his spot to the team’s latest player acquisition Denis “electroNic” Sharipov.
This announcement comes barely a few days after the team’s recent departure of coach Andrey “Xoma” Mironenko who had barely been with the team for three months. The problems surrounding Virtus.Pro seem to stem from a stylistic mismatch within the squad which has led to numerous subpar performances in the past few months.
The following public announcement was made by Virtus.Pro on their official page X (formerly Twitter) page:
“Nikolay “mir” Bityukov is leaving the Bear dan.
Today we want to thank Nikolay for his time with our club, his hard work and great performances with the team. Hats off to you for your incredible work ethic, responsibility and representation of our tag in competitive CS:GO and CS2. We wish Nikolay good luck in his future endeavors “
Nikolay "mir" Bityukov is leaving the Bear dan.
Today we want to thank Nikolay for his time with our club, his hard work and great performances with the team. Hats off to you for your incredible work ethic, responsibility and representation of our tag in competitive CS:GO and… pic.twitter.com/dCf0hn8wUG
— Virtus.pro (@virtuspro) September 13, 2024
Virtus.Pro are a team very far from their best with the steep decline being especially evident after their acquisition of Denis “electroNic” Sharipov. A lot of fans believe that his acquisition further destabilized an already shaky team that was struggling to perform. It is clear to see that there is a massive problem in the team that needs urgent attention that goes far beyond just a few players or the coach.
The team is now under the leadership of their analyst, Pavel “PASHANOJ” Legostaev, who has been with the team since 2023 and has assumed the position of acting coach for a second time. It seems that the words of Virtus.Pro CEO, Nikolai Petrossian are beginning to take shape as earlier he had stated that he was aware of the current challenges in the team’s roster and that the organization would be actively focusing their efforts towards sorting it out.
The current Virtus.Pro lineup is as follows following recent updates:
- Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
- Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev
- Dzhami “Jame” Ali
- David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan
- Petr “fame” Bolyshev
- Pavel “PASHANOJ” Legostaev (coach)
Header: img: Mir at IEM Cologne 2021 – src: (ESL | [Photographer, Stephanie Lieske])