Banner Image: Virtus.pro
Russian team Virtus.pro has signed DED Inside’s Yaroslav “FMX” Kurzin and ex-HellRaisers player Kirill “SmashByAsh” Belozerov. Anton “ViKiNG” Shevchenko, who coached ex-HellRaisers, has also joined as coach.
HellRaisers reached last season’s Challenger League final as the roster lost to eventual Six Invitational 2022 participants MNM Gaming. Later on, the Russian squad would fall to Team Secret in the European League relegation match.
SmashByAsh was the best HR player in the European League relegation playoffs, where he finished with a SiegeGG rating of 1.10.
Him and ViKiNG were also part of the roster that won the Russian Major League Season 7, where they defeated Virtus.pro once and Team Empire twice.
Meanwhile, FMX is a well-known player in the Russian scene. Since Season 3, he hasn’t missed a single edition of the RML. He joined DED Inside back in Season 6 and his best results as a player have come in recent times, as the squad defeated both Virtus.pro and G2 Esports at the Six Invitational 2022 Open Qualifiers.
These signings come after Virtus.pro announced Eugene “karzheka” Petrishin, Artyom “wTg” Morozov, and Alexander “KaMa” Chernyshov’s departures. Back then, the team stated its desire to “build a team that will be able to fight for the top spots at EUL once more.”
Virtus.pro had a rough 2021. The team couldn’t attend the Six Invitational 2021 after some of its players tested positive for COVID-19. Despite not being in the relegation battle, the Russian squad couldn’t get near to the top four places in any of the stages played throughout last season.
After a year of being in no-man’s land, the roster aims to shake up the European League and finally represent the team at an international event.
The Virtus.pro roster is thus:
Pavel “p4sh4” Kosenko Alan “Rask” Ali Andrey “m1loN” Mironov Kirill “SmashByAsh” Belozerov Yaroslav “FMX” Kurzin Anton “ViKiNG” Shevchenko (coach)
