Virtus.pro eliminated from EU RMR after surprise swap backfires

8-4-2023 16:08

The reigning IEM Rio Major champions will not be able to defend their crown in Paris.

Virtus.pro have been eliminated from contention for a spot at the BLAST.tv Paris Major after an uninspired 0-2 loss to MOUZ. The Russian team shockingly brought in David "⁠n0rb3r7⁠" Danielyan in place of Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin ahead of the do-or-die match in a switch that backfired as the team failed to reach double digits on either of the maps.

Virtus.pro swap out Kair0N- for n0rb3r7: "Young players do not immediately adapt to the pressure of LAN events"

MOUZ thoroughly outplayed the Russian side with 16-9 and 16-5 victories on Mirage and Ancient, in which Ádám "⁠torzsi⁠" Torzsás and David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský led the way with superb performances. Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's team now moves into the 2-2 pool, where they join OG and Apeks, to play for a berth in Paris.

Jame's squad didn't improve with their sudden roster change

"I'm sorry for letting everyone down," said Petr "⁠fame⁠" Bolyshev in the post-match interview, during which he unsurprisingly seemed very emotional.

Virtus.pro struggled on the offense against MOUZ and posted just three rounds on both Mirage and Ancient. They were able to put together a small comeback on Mirage and got up to nine rounds on the CT side, but fared even worse on Ancient after dropping the map 5-16 to end a discouraging defense of their Major title that included losses to underdogs Into the Breach and B8.

It is currently unknown what the future holds for the Virtus.pro roster and KaiR0N- in particular after the surprise swap saw the 19-year-old sit out the elimination match and the team miss out on a spot at the Paris Major.

The organization has not commented on the long-term future of the roster and whether the lineup they used in the match against MOUZ will be the one they stick with going into IEM Rio, which kicks off in just over a week's time on April 17.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR ABest of 3

Virtus.pro

Matchpage

8th April 2023

MOUZ

Mirage

Ancient

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Jame	29 - 34	-5	60.6	63.0%	0.84
David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyan n0rb3r7	27 - 38	-11	83.6	56.5%	0.82
Evgenii 'FL1T' Lebedev FL1T	23 - 39	-16	66.7	56.5%	0.75
Petr 'fame' Bolyshev fame	25 - 37	-12	61.8	60.9%	0.75
Aleksei 'Qikert' Golubev Qikert	25 - 37	-12	59.6	58.7%	0.72

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Ádám 'torzsi' Torzsás torzsi	47 - 20	+27	107.9	80.4%	1.74
David 'frozen' Čerňanský frozen	51 - 20	+31	105.4	82.6%	1.68
Jon 'JDC' de Castro JDC	34 - 29	+5	84.6	84.8%	1.23
Dorian 'xertioN' Berman xertioN	33 - 28	+5	80.5	73.9%	1.14
Christopher 'dexter' Nong dexter	20 - 33	-13	46.2	65.2%	0.73

Group Swiss

3W - 0L

Natus Vincere

fnatic

2W - 1L

Into the Breach

2W - 2L

1W - 3L

0W - 3L

SAW

Viperio

You can check out more of HLTV's coverage of the RMR and the Paris Major in the dedicated coverage hub.

They just got farmed

2023-04-08 16:12

4 replies

Ah yes let’s put in a stand in on our ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE MAJOR

2023-04-08 16:15

2 replies

VP management smh, would've never happened with Outsiders

2023-04-09 00:24

1 reply

True

2023-04-09 01:22

LMAO

2023-04-08 17:32

Lol from winning major to this xD

2023-04-08 16:14

Lmao

They should’ve not made any swaps this just destabilises a team possibly more, but who knows maybe they would’ve lost anyway. They didn’t seem strong in this tournament I think James calling style is outdated.

2023-04-08 16:16

I don;t know man, but winning a major then not even qualifying for the next one it's a big difference. It makes me think that their major win was a fluke.. Maybe i'm wrong and they will prove it in the next tournaments.

2023-04-08 16:17

7 replies

You are not wrong, everyone knew they didnt deserve major, just fluke 100%

2023-04-08 16:22

it was known before but this solidifies it that it was a fluke. only delusional Zs would argue otherwise.

2023-04-08 16:23

based and true

2023-04-08 16:47

why major winners even need to attend qualifier? stupid af

2023-04-09 00:20

I think this is a prime example of the reason previous major winners need to attend the qualifier.

well, this thing shows that they didn't even deserved to play for this major, because they just lost the qualifiers. It would be just a wasted spot if they would've gave them a spot in the major. EDIT: If VP is a good team, then they should've won those qualifier matches easily.

2023-04-09 08:07

Dude, BLAST finals just after Rio literally proved every1 that major win was a fluke and they're tier 1.5 at best. They got destroyed by Liquid with 2 times 16-8 and by G2 with 16-1 if I remember correctly. It was like a month after Rio. About Rio - Outsiders didn't play a single TIER1 team apart from Heroic. They played against mouz twice, fnatic and thats it. and You needed 6 months to realize that was a fluke?

2023-04-09 10:22

Are they the first team to win a major only to not qualify for the next?

ye 100% thats kind of a history right there :D

2023-04-08 16:26

funny enough its even on the last csgo major too :D

2023-04-08 17:16

not hard when usually major winners get automatic invite

2023-04-09 00:23

ah yeah forgot they changed that

2023-04-09 04:02

ah yes was bad idea bring back VP brand got deleted in script

2023-04-08 16:25

+1 outsiders would never

Deserved, not because of that after-major drama with norbert. VP played some wierd-ass CS entire RMR, i didnt see the game plan on t side, no slow rounds with fake nades and rotations in usual Vp style, Jame didnt even save the awp, can you believe that! Just 5 random invidiuals put on a team. They tried to play like g2 or faze with loose playstyle but failed miserably. For the ct side, problems in communication were visible in games against b8 and ITB. Back to drawing board. Fame fell off since major, qikert needs to go.

2023-04-08 16:29

2023-04-08 16:50

yeah forget about Mirage for a sec, Ancient was a bigger disaster. Picking T side first, losing streak but didn't play eco, kept choking. Rio was an accident

2023-04-08 20:33

JAJAJAJAJAJA KKKKKKKKK HAHAHAHAHAHA XAXAXAXAXAXA international vp laughing reply.

2023-04-08 16:33

major winners

2023-04-08 16:34

Kairon saying adapting to tier 1 was somewhat 'easy' and then perform like this, and in some way substituted in their most important game so far, is really a back fire. Kid got humbled.

2023-04-08 16:36

facts xD hltv.org/news/35592/kair0n-on-tier-one-i..

2023-04-08 16:39

KairoN about 52 times better than qikert

2023-04-08 16:46

ez 4 sexter

I think, this whole VP debacle was orchestrated by US govt, so that Valve does not have to pay a russian org(i knw VP is not russian anymore , but still). CIA made sure kairon visa will not be renewed on time. hence the replacement hence the loss

2023-04-08 16:51

5 replies

2023-04-08 18:04

+1 most reasonable comment in HLTV

2023-04-08 21:02

most mentally stable HLTV user

2023-04-08 21:08

Somebody give this guy a cigar!

2023-04-08 23:54

+1000 lowkey, this was 100% a CIA operation coordinate with valve in order to subvert russia

2023-04-09 04:04

Worst major defense. Swappin kairon so stupid

2023-04-08 16:56

current major kings

2023-04-08 16:59

This is again the proof how bad the swiss system is...

2023-04-08 17:04

its not like vp itself lost against ITB and B8 at all right. Its always swiss fault that the "major winners" threw the easy matchups

2023-04-08 17:21

Jame just saved KaiR0Ns career.

2023-04-08 17:11

rio must be replayed, how the fuck did they even win it

2023-04-08 17:17

Because every other team was literally awful.

Their major win was a fluke. I often forget they even won.

2023-04-08 17:26

Outsiders would never

2023-04-08 17:40

flukest major winner ever.

2023-04-08 17:48

SLAVA UKRAINE!!

2023-04-08 18:18

excellent news

2023-04-08 18:37

yea, no more boring major final

2023-04-08 19:43

Indeed

2023-04-08 19:44

winning a major with that other logo cursed them

2023-04-08 19:19

Kinda embarrassing for the entire scene, tbh. Can you really win a major on a fluke? Or does the RMR system not work? Or are top teams/players really that inconsistent? Either way, not a great look for CS.

2023-04-08 19:27

Its not about RMR system. Problem is in players. These generations of FaceIT players are totally awfull, lost ; ofcourse with exception of 5% like and nothing more. What can you expect from unsocialised, uneducated people or addicted gamblers, puggers with run & shoot tactic ? Imagine my friend, you winning Major and after 3 weeks you make changes in your roster ; you must be totally retarded. uneducated, braindead, selfish, stupid, lost in this planetarium to do that whatever is the reason. I hope CS2 will bring some fresh air, and those CS platforms will be shutdown forever because they are trully cancer for proffesional CS.

2023-04-09 04:42