posted by Supafida,
After a quite successful run of two years, ru Virtus.Pro* parts way with their carry ru Ilya 'Illidan Stormrage' Pivtsaev. Illidan has been a part of Virtus Pro since what seems like the beginning of time. Hop in to find the reason for this change and find out who is replacing him.
Illidan at the Frankfurt Major - Source


Shortly after the Frankfurt Major, team shuffles are underway and this time, ru Virtus.Pro* – one of the most stable rosters in the scene – did not escape change. However, the results of the Major and the current transfer window has led to the decision to part ways with ru Ilya 'Illidan Stormrage' Pivtsaev after two years, and to replace him with former Team Empire player ru Airat 'Silent' Gaziev.

Illidan has nothing short of a historied past with the VP organization. After a disappointing performance at The International 3, he left the team but was picked up a second time. After another disappointing TI4, Illidan was kicked again but joined the organization for the third time as his team ua Nam Vezet - Mi Igraem* was picked up by VP and competed under the tag Virtus.pro Polar before becoming the main squad. In total he played 936 games under the VP banner (figure taken from datdota)

Virtus Pro taking first place at Dream League Season 3 - Source


Illidan has had respectable success during his stay with VP. Under the leadership of by Artem 'fng' Barshack, the team managed to place 5-6th for The International 2015, 5-8th for ESL New York 2015 and most recently 7-8th for Frankfurt Major 2015. Considering the high level of competition, these achievements are indeed commendable. Nonetheless, it was cited that the 5-6th place became a "stumbling block" for the team, and change was necessary.

Illidan’s replacement is no stranger to the CIS community; former carry from ru Team Empire Silent. With the departure of ru Maxim 'yoky' Kim, Empire underwent further change and parted ways with Silent, who received and accepted an offer from VP during the Frankfurt Major. With this refreshing change, VP looks forward to reinvigorating the squad and establishing dominance in the scene.

New VP lineup - Source


Current ru Virtus.Pro* lineup:
by Artem 'fng' Barshack (captain)
ru Sergey 'God' Bragin
ua Ilya 'Lil' Ilyuk
ua Olexandr 'DkPhobos' Kucherya
ru Airat 'Silent' Gaziev

The original announcement in Russian can be found here.

What do you think about this change? Will Virtus Pro be able to compete with the likes of Team Secret, EG or OG?



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