kuben: "Not easy to play when you know you are going to change your line-up again"

Virtus.pro coach Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński has opened up about the team's current struggles following an early exit at the ZOTAC Cup Masters.

The Polish giants crashed out of the $300,000 event in the quarter-finals following a 1-2 defeat against MVP PK in what was their first tournament since picking up Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki.

On Saturday morning, Virtus.pro revealed that Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński will step down from the team after the Major by mutual consent, leaving the team on the lookout for a replacement for one of their longest-serving players.

In a statement, kuben spoke at length about the issues the team has faced in recent weeks, explaining that they had only two days to integrate snatchie into the squad before travelling to Hong Kong for the ZOTAC Cup Masters.

"For two months already, we've been struggling with our line-up," kuben wrote. "In a difficult moment for us, Snax left the team. At that moment, we had a really limited choice of a fifth player for a stand-in.

"However, we managed to find a really good player – morelz. He's an extremely skilled and smart player, but we knew from the very beginning that it was just a temporary change, while our main goal was to get snatchie into the team.

"The Shanghai tournament was sort of a lifebuoy for us. With it, we could get points for the HLTV ranking, the points we're currently missing to make it to the top-15 (or even higher), which is required to get tournament invitations.

"When we went to Shanghai, other teams were already on holidays, and they started practicing earlier than we did. MVP, our opponent, had already been training with this line-up for two or three months, and this was their first LAN together, so, obviously, they were also really hungry for success.

"I am not looking for an excuse, I'm merely explaining why two days of practice after a ten-day break and a total unavailability of PCs were not enough for us to get into the zone.

"Despite the fact that we are trying our best, it's not easy to play when we know that we are going to change our line-up again after the next tournament.

"Our team can be called a family not necessarily because of the relationship inside, but for understanding each other as teammates, inside and outside the game."

Having failed to qualify for DreamHack Masters Stockholm, Virtus.pro have now set their sights on the FACEIT Major, where they will be competing in the New Challengers Stage.

kuben stated that the team will be aiming to secure Legend status - which would earn them a spot at the next Major, in Poland - and rejected suggestions that his players have lost the hunger for success.

"After returning to Poland, we will have five more days of practice and we'll try to play as much as possible to assure ourselves of a spot at the next Major, in Katowice," he added.

"The fact that we are not jumping on our chairs after winning a round doesn't mean we don't put our hearts into the game. We still have a passion for the game and we are still hungry to win.

"We still want to win just as much as you want us to win. The fact that we were the very top team in the past doesn't mean that we are not fighting to become a top team again, because we really are.

"We have been struggling for some time and we are not losing our faith. We're optimistic, and we believe that, one day, we will at least return to the top 10."