Virtus.pro CEO about changes in the lineup

The CEO of the esports organisation Virtus.pro, Nikolai Petrosyan, announced that the club will not make any changes to its Counter-Strike 2 roster at least until the end of the upcoming Major in Shanghai, which will take place from 30 November to 15 December.

"Since 7 September, roster changes for RMR participants have been completely off the table due to the roster lock. Secondly, we aim to operate on a six-month cycle. This means the roster goes through a cycle, competes at the Major, we assess the journey, and then decide on the future and with whom we move forward. There's nothing new in this approach; we’ve always done it this way, whether before or after electroNic joined.

We’re not in a state of panic or looking to blame anyone right now. At the moment, we are steadily preparing for the RMR, and then, hopefully, the Major. We will compete at the Major and, regardless of the outcome, as is our tradition, we'll sit down together to discuss what happened and reflect on our journey. What went well, what went poorly, where we could have performed better, where we exceeded expectations, and so on. After this collective discussion, we may make personnel decisions.

How much will the Major’s result influence these decisions? It will have an impact. It’s one thing if you win and want to build on that success, making sure it’s not just a one-off victory. It’s another thing entirely if you fail, and then you start searching for the reason behind that failure and make appropriate decisions. But once again, we will play at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, then evaluate and decide what comes next."

Petrosyan also explained the decision to part ways with coach Andrey "XomA" Mironenko, who was replaced by Pavel "PASHANOJ" Legostaev in September.

"XomA is a great specialist and loves CS, but after evaluating the team’s results and its regression, we concluded that there was a lack of trust in the ideas and processes Andrey brought to Virtus.pro. It's not his fault, nor is it ours. Mistakes are part of sports, and everyone makes errors in transfers.

I can’t recall exactly when the doubt first appeared. The issues were not baseless, but nothing was happening behind Andrey’s back. CS is dynamic, the season only lasts five months, and the cost of a mistake could be too high. That’s why we made this decision."