Perfecto: "Many think that no one comes back after a year. I figured that this is all nonsense"

449 days since Perfecto's last match for Cloud9, he is confident that any ring rust will be shedded quickly.

Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy was made to wait for his comeback, patiently waiting for a move he thought befit his status as an Anchor of the Year and Major winner.

When his Cloud9 contract finally expired in April, five offers came his way from three separate continents.

But the international offers were all declined. Instead, Perfecto plumped for another Russophone project with long-term teammate Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov and Virtus.pro.

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Perfecto completes Virtus.pro roster

"I can't really say that my choice was to join electroNic, specifically," he tells HLTV, "but I'm really happy to reuinite with him. I hope it will all work out."

Replacing Timur "⁠FL4MUS⁠" Marev means that Perfecto has access to his natural anchor-lurker roles (ones he sometimes didn't have in Cloud9's AWPer-less system), and he also stressed that he has seen improvement in electroNic's leadership since the pair last played together:

"I see more of him being able to get a hold of the chaos inside the team, telling us to focus straight away. So these sorts of IGL things that he perhaps lacked when he was on Cloud9, but now they are on a very high level."

The team's first test will be against TYLOO on July 15.

Date	Matches
FISSURE Playground 1
15/07/2025	Virtus.pro 18:00 TYLOO	Match

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This interview was translated from Russian.

Last April, you went to Cloud9's bench. You are returning to the game after skipping more than two seasons. How would you sum up your period of inactivity?

It was hard watching everyone play because I really wanted to as well. I thought a lot through, rethought a lot, so I'm fully ready now. It's better late than never, as they say.

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Perfecto: "I had many good invites, but sometimes it's about buyouts, sometimes it's about roles"

You mentioned having offers before that you were ready to accept, but they fell through through no fault of your own. Were there any offers that you refused, but you could have taken them and joined the team?

Recently, when I became a free agent, I made a post stating that the buyout is no longer needed. After that, I received like four offers other than the one from VP, so one could probably say this, yeah. All of these offers were from European teams, so that's it.

But there were no offers before that that you would turn down?

There was no such conversation that they were ready to buy me and "[let's] go". I was asked whether I wanted to play, and I've always said that I just want to play. And at that moment, there was no certain choice for me on where I could go. Which is why I waited until I became a free agent so I could really choose my team.

Can you tell more about the offers that you received?

I will not name teams because that would not be appropriate. There were two offers from each of the Americas, so to speak, and two offers from Europe. And the fifth was VP.

There were rumors about you possibly going to G2. Did they have anything to do with the reality at any point?

Yes, we did have full-fledged talks - well, since this is already out. I will not say when, but they did take place, and yet again, due to some reasons, they didn't work out. But they were almost completed, sort of.

Ever since you got benched, there have been talks about whether you could join VP. Did you have such opportunities or maybe talks before?

Theoretically, there were. I also won't say when, but it all happened the way it happened. What matters is that it [the offer] came now, and I'm ready to play. So that's it.

This year, you managed to play for Roler Coster and EGOISTO mixes. How would you rate this experience for yourself?

It was just an opportunity to play, not just FACEIT but something similar to officials. I can't say that they were really... Well, Roler Coster was indeed real officials, but I just wanted to play. I liked it, overall. I also played quite well. So this was just like, you know, just so I could come back to regular officials more easily. It was sort of an experience for me, and I just wanted to play CS. That's it.

Did it help you with your confidence regarding your ability to jump back onto the server and show the level that you used to show before?

Overall, yes. When I was playing for Roler Coster mix, I won over some okay teams, like we won against PARIVISION, and lost to NAVI Junior and BIG in the end. So I felt that the competitiveness is similar to what it used to be before, I only need to readjust. Many think that no one comes back after a year, it's very hard, but for myself, I figured that this is all nonsense. The way you think and your level of confidence are the only things in play, not what others say.

You took the place of FL4MUS in VP. FL4MUS had to adapt a lot to his new role, which may have been the reason for his poor performance. How much did you have to adapt to the team relative to your preferences?

I had become a good, talked-about player when I was playing anchor roles and also lurker on T-side. In Cloud9, I had mixed roles, which didn't allow me to control my gameplay. I was switching back and forth between being AWP and doing something else; it was really bad for me.

Now I'm back to my anchor plus lurker roles, so obviously these are not stat farming roles, but I believe I can bring a lot of use to my team. Even if I have the rating of 0.90 or 1.00 but we will be winning, I don't care about that. Just like it was in NAVI.

You're reuniting with electroNic. How much did it matter to you that this team that you joined had him, and what is your impressions of playing with him now?

Actually, I've always had a good relationship with Denis [electroNic], I know that he has great potential and who he can be. I also see now that he's done a lot of work as an IGL after Cloud9, and I could really see it in the first praccs.

Not that I really got surprised, but I can see the difference between Cloud9 and now, he’s an IGL of a very decent level. I see more of him being able to get a hold of the chaos inside the team, telling us to focus straight away. So these sorts of IGL things that he perhaps lacked when he was on Cloud9, but now they are on a very high level.

We haven't really practiced a lot yet, because this is the very first event, but I liked everything that I saw. And I hope this tournament will help us become stronger.

So I'm happy to have a player on my team with such a colossal understanding of CS, who can set players up and help them. I can't really say that my choice was to join electroNic, specifically, but I'm really happy to reuinite with him, and I hope it will all work out.

Soon, you're going to play your first event, FISSURE Playground. Your team is among the favorites ranking-wise, so what are your expectations?

I personally will be trying my best to win, but a roster change is a roster change. There is a lot of things we haven't had time to discuss. But I hope we will grow during the event and maybe be able to win it. And I will be doing everything I can.

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