Virtus.pro captain Jami "Jame" Ali summarised his team's performance at the recent Esports World Cup 2024 in Riyadh. Ali stated that he sees progress in his team's play but noted that he and his teammates have yet to find the "keys" to defeat certain opponents.
"The preparation for this championship was an 8 out of 10. We had enough time to integrate our new coach. We are still in the process of finding a new structure—how everything should look to make it easier for everyone. But that is the least of what could have affected the result.
Vitality is a top-2 team. We can now consistently beat at least one top-5 team. Against G2, it didn’t go well. On the first map, everything seemed to be under our control, but then they broke us, and we couldn’t make a comeback. There are problems, and they need to be solved.
I rate our performance 3.5-4 out of 5. We are moving in the right direction. Our progress has been from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals. We need to keep working, finding the keys we lack against certain teams. That’s the whole point."
Jame also spoke about the upcoming BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024 tournament, which starts at the end of July. He mentioned that their improving results motivate him to continue working hard.
"Our next tournament is BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024. Our first match is against Liquid; we need to strengthen some maps. We already have some foundation, and we need to continue developing it, patching up holes. The match will be tough. They are a new team, and new teams are always in an endless zone of progress—they analyse, they are motivated. But we need to find our fire, continue working, because as long as the results are improving, it motivates us to keep going."
Virtus.pro finished in 3rd-4th place at the Esports World Cup 2024, earning $85,000 in prize money. In the playoffs, the team defeated Vitality 2:1 in the first round but lost to G2 in the semi-finals without taking a map.