Virtus.pro General Manager: "I regret not making the changes earlier"

Roman Dvoryankin, the General Manager of Virtus.pro, gave HLTV.org an exclusive statement regarding the CS:GO team's last two years, explaining the recent changes and events behind the scene.

Earlier this month, Virtus.pro announced that their CS:GO roster would cease competition after a long period of subpar results. The Polish squad finished second at the ELEAGUE 2017 Major and won DreamHack Masters Las Vegas at the start of last year, but has been on a downward trend since.

The final nail in the coffin, which prompted the management to rebuild the roster, was a loss to x-kom in the Europe Minor qualifier for the IEM Katowice Major. Ten days later, Virtus.pro unveiled their new roster which features Michał "⁠MICHU⁠" Müller and Michał "⁠snatchie⁠" Rudzki, returnees Paweł "⁠byali⁠" Bieliński and Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski, and Mateusz "⁠TOAO⁠" Zawistowski, formerly of AGO, as the in-game leader.

To give insight into the decisions Virtus.pro made, Roman Dvoryankin, the General Manager, gave HLTV.org an exclusive statement about the team's last two years and building the new lineup. You can find the statement in full at the end of the article.

Dvoryankin started the statement with Virtus.pro's last high point, the start of 2017:

"On February 19, 2017, we won DreamHack Master Las Vegas, beating Astralis and SK Gaming, two of the world's best teams back then. A week later, Jacob Wolf from ESPN [predicted Virtus.pro to win IEM Katowice 2017]. Back then, no one would have imagined that that was actually the top of the hill and we would only go down, struggling to win a single premiere title since."

After going over some of Virtus.pro's failures early in that year, Dvoryankin turns to the Summer which "seemed more promising with a title at Adrenaline Cyber League and a top-4 finish at the Krakow Major", but he admitted that "looking at the Major playoffs seeding and our opponents, the title was ours to take and the disappointment was devastating".

First conversations about a potential roster change happened at ESL One New York and continued at the WESG EU&CIS Finals in Barcelona, with the final against SK at EPICENTER characterized as just "a flash" of form, eventually leading to the first roster change.

"The evening when we parted ways with Taz, after going 0:3 in the group stage of the Boston Major, was the hardest one of my whole esports career. We all thought that bringing in fresh blood in form of the most talented young Polish player MICHU would revitalize the team.

"Despite the promising start, it did not. We lost two finals in Budapest (V4 Future Sports Festival) and Shanghai (CS:GO Asia Championships), the spirits within the team were growing worse and worse and then we were approached by mousesports and FaZe about a Snax transfer. Janusz decided to go for it and although it was a shock for the team, deep in my heart I understood and accepted his reasoning."

Dvoryankin then states that they did not put a restrictive price tag on Snax and allowed byali to freely play in Polish mixes as he believes that "putting players in a golden cage by benching them" doesn't do any good, before turning his thoughts towards the latest roster with snatchie and Piotr "⁠morelz⁠" Taterka:

"The latest lineup had potential and some optimistic signs, but as the days were passing by everyone realized one simple thing — these players can achieve something only when they stop playing together. EPICENTER, the tournament in Malta and MDL in Dallas only proved the point. This was the end."

After their latest fumble in the Minor qualifier, Virtus.pro "decided to build the new roster around Snatchie", keeping MICHU, bringing back Snax and byali, and finalizing the roster with TOAO:

"Most importantly, all of our five players have something to fight for — their reputation, their name, their potential. So do I as a General Manager. This is the group of people I wanted to have. It is hard to realize, but Snax is now the oldest guy in the team, being the same age NEO and TaZ were back in 2014 when the lineup joined Virtus.pro."

Jakub "⁠kuben⁠" Gurczyński will also be staying with Virtus.pro "despite having a lucrative offer from another team", with Dvoryankin explaining that he "deserves a chance to show his best":

"Many people blame kuben for the slump we had, to be honest, I had my doubts as well. However, he carries the same responsibility as I and rest of the players do. I regret not making the changes earlier, trying to stick to the past. Things might have been different if I had been more proactive. Players could have stepped up more. Kuben is not the one to blame. This is why we have made a joint decision with the new lineup that he deserves a chance to show his best. He has our full support. Despite having a lucrative offer from another team, he decided to stay with us and prove that Polish CS is still worth something."

Lastly, Virtus.pro's GM said his farewells to the two legends of the team, Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski:

"We’re parting ways with an ultimate legend, NEO. We all knew this moment would inevitably come, but I hope he’ll show us all that this isn’t his final chord. I would like to thank him for his dedication and all he has done for us and CS:GO fans around the world. As for pasha, stay tuned for the updates in 2019!"

You can read Roman Dvoryankin's statement in full below:

"On February 19, 2017, we won DreamHack Master Las Vegas, beating Astralis and SK Gaming, world’s two best teams back then. A week later, Jacob Wolf from ESPN posted this tweet: [Virtus.pro will win IEM this weekend]

"Back then no one could even imagine that this was actually the top of the hill and we would only go down, struggling to win a single premiere title since.

"Spring of 2017 has been a complete disaster: we could not make it out of the groups at IEM Katowice and the StarLadder event in Kiev, got eliminated from ESL Pro League. The summer seemed more promising with a title at Adrenaline Cyber League and a top-4 finish at the Krakow Major. However, looking at the playoffs seeding and our opponents, the title was ours to take and the disappointment was devastating.

"At ESL One New York we’ve had our first conversations about potential roster changes that continued in Barcelona where WESG EU Finals were held and we failed again. An epic final against SK in St. Petersburg was a flash, but our skies remained dark.

"The evening when we parted ways with Taz, after going 0:3 in the group stage of the Boston Major, was the hardest one of my whole esports career. We all thought that bringing in fresh blood in form of the most talented young Polish player MICHU would revitalize the team. Despite the promising start, it did not. We lost two finals in Budapest (V4 Future Sports Festival) and Shanghai (CS:GO Asia Championships), the spirits within the team were growing worse and worse and then we were approached by mousesports and FaZe about a Snax transfer. Janusz decided to go for it and although it was a shock for the team, deep in my heart I understood and accepted his reasoning.

"When Snatchie came onboard we instantly knew that he’s a gem, his potential and talent is enormous. At the same time, we saw byali leaving as he no longer had the motivation to carry on. I firmly believe that putting players in a golden cage by benching them does not do any good, this is why we did not put a restrictive price tag on Snax and byali was released to freely play in mixes and local Polish tournaments.

"The latest lineup had potential and some optimistic signs, but as the days were passing by everyone realized one simple thing — these players can achieve something only when they stop playing together. EPICENTER, the tournament in Malta and MDL in Dallas only proved the point. This was the end.

"After careful examination of our options, we decided to build the new roster around Snatchie. During his first couple of months with us, I felt really bad about not being able to keep the promises I gave to him when he was transferred from AGO. Same applied to MICHU. These guys deserve more. The combination of Snatchie and Snax as our core players seemed a perfect fit, both of the players regarded very high of each other. We needed an IGL and hints about TOAO were given by several players from the world’s best teams. Most important, he has a point to prove. MICHU has been the most consistent player in our lineup and so was byali before his departure, so having this couple as entry/support players is a blast. Most importantly, all of our five players have something to fight for — their reputation, their name, their potential. So do I as a general manager. This is the group of people I wanted to have. It is hard to realize, but Snax is now the oldest guy in the team, being the same age NEO and TaZ were back in 2014 when the lineup joined VP.

"Many people blame kuben for the slump we had, to be honest, I had my doubts as well. However, he carries the same responsibility as I and rest of the players do. I regret not making the changes earlier, trying to stick to the past. Things might have been different if I was more proactive. Players could have stepped up more. Kuben is not the one to blame. This is why we have made a joint decision with the new lineup that he deserves a chance to show his best. He has our full support. Despite having a lucrative offer from another team, he decided to stay with us and prove that Polish CS is still worth something.

"We’re parting ways with an ultimate legend, NEO. We all knew this moment would inevitably come, but I hope he’ll show us all that this isn’t his final chord. I would like to thank him for his dedication and all he has done for us and CS:GO fans around the world. As for pasha, stay tuned for the updates in 2019!"

-Roman Dvoryankin, Virtus.pro General Manager