Building a legacy is difficult in a volatile industry like esports. In Rainbow Six Siege more specifically, we have seen plenty of players transitioning to other roles, retiring because of a lack of passion, exhaustion, or simply because newer generations swept them out of the game's top flight.
While years go by it's more difficult to find players who have been professionals for over five years. Comparing the Six Invitational 2019 with the Six Invitational 2025 is a hard taste of reality: only seven players that competed in Montreal, Canada, will compete as players in Boston, Massachusetts. Curiously enough, out of these seven, Troy "Canadian" Jaroslawski is the only one to have lifted the hammer; and he has done it twice.
Perhaps, resiliency is what keeps these players in the game for so long. Spending years between four walls and behind a screen, grinding to become what they have always wanted to be: world champions. Lifting the hammer is what fuels them and probably won't stop until reaching the goal.
Out of those remaining six players, it's important to highlight two names: Artur "ShepparD" Ipatov and Danil "JoyStiCK" Gabov as they are different to the rest. Unfortunately for the duo, they are the only ones that have lost two Six Invitational grand finals — 2019 and 2022, against G2 Esports and TSM, respectively.
If that wasn't cruel enough, the Europeans finished in third place at the Six Invitational 2024 after being knocked out by the eventual world champions, w7m esports, as the Bears lost the fight against the Bulls after a maximum overtime loss on Border, the third map of the series.
"They like to do crazy gun fights, go into the building and try some crazy stuff and we were not prepared for it," JoyStiCK explained in an interview with SiegeGG. "I think we like slower playstyles and they play more chaotic, we can’t even understand what they are doing," he added.
While the European powerhouse clearly struggled against w7m esports in São Paulo, Brazil, Virtus.pro was the only non-Brazilian team to win a map against one of the locals in the tournament's finals. "It was good to see that we were the only team that made the crowd silent," he remembered.
However, the team's defeat against the eventual world champions is just an example of the team's difficulties when facing Brazilian teams. Since the start of the 2023 season, Virtus.pro have lost eight of the eleven matches they have played against Brazilian sides.
In fact, Virtus.pro's only three defeats at the Six Invitational 2024 came against Brazilian sides: against Team Liquid in the group stage and against FaZe Clan and w7m esports in the tournament's finals.
“I think we like slower playstyles and they play more chaotic, we can’t even understand what they are doing,” JoyStiCK explained.
When talking about Virtus.pro in Rainbow Six Siege it's also important to highlight the team's issues when playing against Montagne. While the Europeans focused on banning Ying throughout Stage 1 they eventually swapped to a default Montagne ban, no matter the opposition. Needless to say, it worked.
After finishing in eighth place in the Europe League 2024 Stage 1 and missing out on the BLAST R6 Major Manchester, the Bears qualified for Montreal and reached the semifinals as they were knocked out by the eventual champions w7m esports. However, the team's performance was enough to qualify for the Six Invitational 2025.
"I think we understood we could counter Ying with Warden, but we can’t counter Montagne, in some maps he’s so strong he can just enter the site and plant, and you can’t do anything," JoyStiCK explained.
With the nerfs to shields introduced with Operation Collision Point one would think Virtus.pro could be one of the benefited teams. Unfortunately, the Six Raleigh Major champion doesn't think it's enough. “I honestly think it’s not a nerf for the shields," he said.
"You’re not even dying a lot of times versus melee, especially in my opinion you can only die from melee when you’re playing 1v1 versus Montagne or when you’re playing versus Blitz, but Blitz has flash so he can EDS and kill you with a pistol, so it doesn’t matter actually, they are still strong operators, Blitz, Montagne, Blackbeard, really so strong," the player explained.
Regarding the arrival of Blackbeard's rework, JoyStiCK still put the American below the French attacker. “I think Blackbeard is not the same as Montagne for us, it’s playable, you can kill him with a gun fight, Montagne is just a wall, he sits in front of you and you can’t do anything.”
Shields aren't the only aspect to consider when talking about Virtus.pro's chances to win the Six Invitational 2025. Before Stage 2, Ubisoft made a crucial change to the map pool as Oregon was removed and, instead, Lair was added.
Historically, Virtus.pro is known as a team that struggles to adapt and to create. They perfectly know what they do, and, most importantly, they know exactly what their flaws are. Regarding Lair, we're still yet to see Virtus.pro playing in Operation Deadly Omen's map.
"We’re not playing it too much, we try to adapt in other maps, of course we liked Oregon so much and we don’t like that they removed it, but I think, right now, map pool is okay," JoyStiCK explained.
When asked about how can this change affect their chances of winning BO3 series in Boston and even a potential BO5, JoyStiCK was honest. "I think we have all the time problems only in Finals when it’s BO5, because we struggle with our map pool in BO5, but in BO3 I think it’s okay."
However, when talking about a team, it's important to not ignore what happens outside the server. Players, as any other human being, and even Cyborgs, have their worries: and the future is one of them. Luckily for the players and staff, despite not being part of the R6 Share 2025 program, Virtus.pro extended their contracts for two years.
"You feel a little bit safer, you can work and don’t think about what you’re going to do in one year," JoyStiCK explained. "We are happy about this announcement, especially that it’s two years," he added.
Moreover, the player also talked about the decision to sign Eugene "Karzheka" Petrishin as the team's new head coach. The Estonian had competed alongside JoyStiCK under Team Empire.
"It will be our first tournament with Karzheka, he will stay as a coach behind us, so we want to try something new, we still don’t know what it will bring for us on stage, but I hope it works," he explained.
"We were struggling before the Six Invitational, during the stages in our league, so we understood we needed to try something new," he added.
The Six Raleigh Major and PL Season 9 Finals champion will have another shot at lifting the hammer in two weeks. After going through the frustration to lose two Six Invitational grand finals and being denied a third last year, the Russian Cyborg is extremely hungry to finally get rid of the uncrowned world champion tag.
After almost eight years in the esports circuit and after having gone through so many ups and downs, it's normal that a player questions their decisions. What did go wrong, what could we have done differently. At some point, according to the player, retirement also becomes an option.
"When you’re losing in the grand final or you have third or fourth places all the time, it’s really so sad,” he said. "I think when you are playing a lot of time in the same game, every player has sometimes these feelings."
"I had pretty bad times when I think it’s going to be my last year in career, a lot of times I thought about this," he explained.
However, that's part of the past as JoyStiCK is extremely motivated to continue his career. "Right now I am motivated to play in this tournament and to show the results," he concluded.
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