ESEA Season 30: Premier Division is one of the oldest online competition of the CS: GO competitive landscape. The competition offers some of the best and emerging teams a chance to prove their mettle. 18 teams compete in the competition to finish the first stage in the top eight. Here all matches are played in the best of one format.
We picked this game to analyze on the fallen teams of the CS: GO world, Virtus.Pro who have lost their dominance and are now starting from ground zero. So, it will be interesting to study the changes that the side underwent in the past few months and give a verdict if they can beat their upcoming opponents, Izako eSports.
Virtus Pro
Much Needed Renovations
On December 13th, Virtus.pro temporarily suspended its performances in CS: GO tournaments with the underperforming squad. This was reported on the official club website. By the end of the year, the organization revealed that they will announce further plans for roster and discipline.
Poor results all over
This unexpected announcement was made when Virtus.pro was eliminated from the qualifiers of European Katowice Major on December 12. The side didn’t last for long in the competition since they played two games and lost both of those. In the first game, Team Vitality ran over the side, while just a few hours before this announcement, the team unexpectedly lost to x-kom team. After these results, it was ensured that Virtus.Pro will not compete in Katowice. This was the first time since 2013 that the team was unable to participate in a Premier level competition.
The composition of VP at that time was formed in September 2018, when Peter morelz Taterka joined the team. During this time, the team performed at several LAN tournaments but failed to claim a finish in the top three in any of the competitions.
The rumors came true!
A week after this temporary suspension, Virtus.pro started negotiating with mousesports and AGO Esports on transferringJanusz Snax Pogozelski and Mateusz TOAO Zavistovski to the team. This was reported by an insider Jarek DeKay Lewis, who is a content developer at VP esports.
Earlier, DeKay said that the organization plans to build a new CS: GO lineup around Michal snatchie Rudski and Michal MICHU Muller. He was right about everything since the team first recruited their old stars Snax and Byali. The side then recruited Michal “snatchie” Rudski and Michal “MICHU” Muller. While Mateusz “TOAO” Zavistovski of AGO Esports became the new in-game team leader. This news was officially announced on December 24, when Virtus.pro’s manager introduced a new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.
NEO and Pasha leaving the team
That’s it ! I grew up in esport , I will stay in esport I will die in esport… your papito 💪❤️ pic.twitter.com/mcmg6BPKzB
— paszaBiceps (@paszaBiceps) December 13, 2018
As a consequence of this news, Philip “NEO” Kinsky and Yaroslav “pashaBiceps” Yazhombkovski left the composition of Virtus.pro. The duo was not initially removed from the first team and was dropped to the inactive roster. However, they left the organization permanently in February. Together with the organization the duo won DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017, DreamHack Bucharest 2016, ESL One Katowice 2014 and won prizes in many other tournaments. Another consequence of the roster change was that The Virtus.pro CS: GO team was ranked 119th on the HLTV.org ranking after the lineup was updated. The side currently sits at 50th place which is a huge improvement but does not meet the expectations of its fans.
The duo of Snax and byali
On June 27, Snax moved from Virtus.pro to mousesports. Chris “chrisJ” de Jong picked up Snax where this team got a 9-12th place at ESL One Cologne 2018, 3-4 places at ELEAGUE CS: GO Premier 2018 and DreamHack Masters Stockholm 2018. The side also competed in the group stage FACEIT Major – London 2018 without a win and lost a slot on the next major. Later, mouz became the champion of ESL One New York 2018, and two weeks later transferred Snax to the reserve.
For almost 5 years, from January 2014 to September 2018, Byali represented the VP side. After a series of terrible results, VP management decided to let him go with almost two years remaining on his contract. The reason for his early dismissal was the inability to qualify for the Katowice Major along with Neo and Pasha.
Snax and byali have already performed under the tag Virtus.pro from 2014 to 2018. Together with the team, the players won at EMS One Katowice 2014, ELEAGUE Season 1 and DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017.
The final results
Since the Snax and Byali have been united with the team, the new lineup hasn’t shown much potential. They might have risen to 50th place in the ranking but to be honest they are no less than a tier two team. This team participated in Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV – Sydney: European Qualifiers where the side was once eliminated by Runtime.gg the first time around. On the second occasion, they were defeated by Expert eSport. During that time, the side also participated in the WePlay! Lock and Load, where the side did defeat the like of Gambit eSports in the group stage but was eliminated in the first game of the playoffs at the hands of the Optic Gaming.
In the ESEA Season 30: Premier Division – Europe, the side has not been displaying decent performances. They are currently sitting at mid-table with six wins and seven losses. This is not what you expect from one of the most veteran teams in the competitive landscape of CS: GO. They might be slow on their way to progress to improve their communication and gameplay.
Final verdict
VP side is far better off the team they will be competing against, Izako Boars. The side has played 10 games in the MDL, out of which they have won only two and lost eight. Therefore, VP will be looking to make 7-7 on their tournament statistics.
Virtus.Pro Victory
Odds on bookmakers
| Bookmakers | Virtus.Pro Odds | Izako Boars Odds | ||
| European | American | European | American | |
| GG.bet | 1.41 | -243.90 | 2.75 | +175.00 |
| 1Xbet | 1.42 | -238.10 | 2.73 | +173.00 |
| Bet365 | 1.44 | -227.27 | 2.63 | +163.00 |
| Betway | 1.45 | -222.22 | 2.55 | +155.00 |
Shehryar is a professional eSports analyst with a particular affinity for CS:GO, LoL, and DOTA. He covers major eSports events across the world for WagerBop.
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