Virtus.pro's new season slump continues with Cologne exit

Jame and electroNic's team have lost five matches in a row as the team toils with merging the duo's styles.

Virtus.pro's losing streak has been extended by Falcons to five, condemning the Russian squad to a 13-16th placed exit from IEM Cologne.

Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali's squad ended last season with a top-four finish at BLAST London and began this one with the same result at Esports World Cup, but have endured a torrid run since that semi-final with losses to G2, Liquid, BIG, Complexity and now Falcons.

Date	Matches
Esports World Cup 2024
20/07/2024	G2 Finished 2:0 Virtus.pro	Match

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024
31/07/2024	Virtus.pro Finished 0:2 Liquid	Match
01/08/2024	BIG Finished 2:1 Virtus.pro	Match

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
10/08/2024	Virtus.pro Finished 1:2 Complexity	Match
12/08/2024	Virtus.pro Finished 1:2 Falcons	Match

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov's signing to Virtus.pro aroused significant fanfare, slotting in for Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov in terms of positions perfectly, but as the 2021 Stockholm Major winner bedded into his new team the clash of styles between himself and Jame have upset the boat.

"When he joined, we realized we couldn't play our system anymore, so we had to either combine our systems or do as he wants because he has a strong voice," Jame said last month.

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Jame: "There is an option where electroNic becomes the captain"

That power struggle is ongoing, and the future is murky for the team based on the results. electroNic mustered few words for his exit interview, but his body language told the true story.

That divide has left Virtus.pro in limbo: Losing what made them unique, yet lacking the firepower and synergy to compete as a five more in keeping with the European international meta.

The transfer also occurred at the worst possible time for VP. Their home map, Overpass, was removed for Dust2, and the team has struggled on the latest addition to the map pool with four losses in their last five games.

Clip: dupreeh finds both kills in a 1v2 with time running out on the bomb

None are more damning than their latest, a 13-8 loss to Falcons where they won both pistols but were thoroughly outclassed in the gun rounds.

With a different decider, there might have been plenty of positives for VP. They started the series with a 9-3 T side on Vertigo (which has a 68.7% T side win rate after three maps in Cologne), exploiting Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen on B with perfect set pieces.

On Mirage, they showed a strong mentality to recover from 8-4 down and go 9-0 in the second half to secure a decider.

But that would be missing the forest for the trees. That Virtus.pro's 9-3 T half on Vertigo came from set pieces on B tells the true story, of a team that has lost faith in its defaults and is forcibly changing its style. The Mirage comeback was impressive, but they had a helping hand from Falcons' persistent force buys to do so.

Clip: Snappi punishes a Jame overpeek with a clean 1v2

The team are now at a crossroads, with early elimination from two events in a row in disappointing fashion. Jame spoke of "options" in the break — perhaps now they will be exercised.

Falcons, now, can take confidence from their performance into what will surely be a tougher test of the team's mettle against the loser of Vitality against FaZe.

Date	Matches
IEM Cologne 2024
13/08/2024	Falcons 13:30 FaZe	Match

In-game leader Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer blamed his own performances for some of the team's results earlier in the year, but ended up second top of the scoreboard after some confidence-boosting eco fragging on his trademark SMGs and a key 1v2 clutch on Vertigo to keep the comeback rolling.

Their dominance in the gun rounds on Dust2 was also telling of an improved if not free-flowing team, as Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García went 5-0 in opening duels and dupreeh took over proceedings with a 1v2 clutch of his own in the first half and some key multi-frags down the stretch.

Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković dominated Mirage despite the loss with a 1.73 rating, and Magisk was crucial to Vertigo's comeback: All five players had their moments, and will need to again for Falcons' run to continue.