Virtus.pro Roster Rumor Shocks CSGO Community

An article by DBLTAP on January 25th reported that Polish esports organization Virtus.pro was looking to replace Viktor “TaZ” Wojtas on their Counter-Strike: Global Offensive active roster with Michał "MICHU" Müller of Team Kinguin. The buyout for MICHU was reported to be around 250,000 Euro or $310,000 and if the two teams could not come to an agreement over MICHU then Virtus.pro would look to sign a player from AGO Gaming. It was also reported that Virtus.pro warned Filip "NEO" Kubski that he will replaced if the team did not improve their performance.

The news sent major shockwaves through the community, as it shone light on the possibility that the longest standing roster in CSGO history could be breaking up. Reactions from the community ran the gamut, including understanding of the decision due to the team’s recent performances, disappointment of fan favorite TaZ possibly leaving, and shock at how expensive a potential buyout of MICHU might be for Virtus.pro.

TaZ has been a part of Virtus.pro’s legendary roster since 2013 and the team has enjoyed a large amount of success over the years with their biggest accomplishment being their ESL One: Katowice 2014 Major Championship win. 2017 looked to be a potential great year for the team with a second place finish at the ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta and a first place finish at Dreamhack Las Vegas to mark the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, that would be the high point of the year for the roster, as they would not win another event for the rest of the year. In light of the roster rumor, many people pointed to the team’s last place finish at the recent ELEAGUE Major: Boston as the likely last straw for the current roster. It was the second time that Virtus.pro had been eliminated from a Major in the group stage with their first being at Dreamhack Winter 2013.

I want to be totally clear with our fans that speculations like this are just random accusations. No one contacted me or VP asking for comments, most of the assumptions are just fantasies. We’ll give an update when there is an update.https://t.co/Hd9v84G99z

— Roman Dvoryankin (@dvoryrom) January 25, 2018

After the report had made its way through the community, the General Manager of Virtus.pro, Roman Dvoryankin, issued a statement on Twitter addressing the TaZ roster rumor. The other side of this proposed roster deal, Team Kinguin, also addressed the rumor in a statement to HLTV by their COO Giovanni Varriale.

"It is hard to comment on something we know from 'internet rumors'.”

"All we can say right now is that we are happy with the current team setup and we have no intention to sell any of our players."

Roster changes in esports are very commonplace. This is why the Virtus.pro lineup having the ability and willingness to stick together and win championships for years made them so popular with their fans and the CSGO community as a whole. No matter a player’s history with an organization, poor performances can easily cause an organization to take a hard look at their team and decide to make groundbreaking moves. In some cases, an organization can decide this course of action in moments of celebration and victory. This was the case with DOTA 2 player Khoo “Ohaiyo” Chong Xin and his departure from Fnatic. Officially, TaZ is still a member of Virtus.pro and the CSGO community will have to wait and see if any future news on the situation develops.  

With the world of esports growing bigger every year and the pressure for organizations to field as competitive of teams as possible at an all-time high, no player is safe from roster moves.