eletroNic Makes Surprise Transfer To Virtus.Pro

Considered one of the greatest riflers of all time, Denis “⁠electroNic⁠” Sharipov has made an unexpected move to Virtus.Pro, leaving his old teammates in Cloud9 behind. He will be replacing Nikolay “⁠mir⁠” Bityukov.

The Cloud9 Project Is Marked As A Failure

Last year, North American organization Cloud9 decided to make a huge gamble, signing a new Russian superteam including three Major winners: Perfecto, electroNic, and HObbit. The two remaining players matched the same caliber, being sh1ro and Ax1Le, two Top 5 players in 2021 and 2022. 

However, the firepower on the roster did not meet its expectations. Star AWPer sh1ro was the first to realize the team wasn’t going to go anywhere in the near future. To fill the empty slot, Cloud9 hired Boombl4 to become the team’s in-game leader. However, one apparent thing was off: Cloud9 did not have an AWPer. 

With the Big Green being less-impactful in Counter-Strike: 2, Cloud9 became one of the few teams to experiment with an AWPless roster. Though the roster seemed promising, they weren’t able to convert any runs to anything meaningful.

Since the formation of the roster, Cloud9 only had one Top 4 finish in S-Tier events, and that was as far as they got. The team has been given enough time to work with, and electroNic decided to jump ships.

Is Virtus.Pro The Right Move For electroNic?

Virtus.Pro was the next-best Russian team after Team Spirit and Cloud9, so it isn’t too crazy to hear electroNic would be transferring there. 

However, it was a big shock that the 25-year-old would transfer after a Top 8 finish at the Major, which Virtus.Pro didn’t even achieve. Additionally, Virtus.Pro is known to have a very unique playstyle, which consists of a lot of weird buys and slow play. Not all players can join the team and adapt to their “ratty’ play style, so it will be interesting to see how the veteran would fit in. 

In an official blog post, electroNic shared the following words:

“Virtus.pro is a top team. The core of the roster has won a Major not while ago, and all the players are in their prime and ready for victories right now. We share the same ambitions and goals. Besides, I’m also excited about the idea of playing with Jame, as he’s one of the most unique IGLs in the game. Can’t wait to adapt to my new team and start doing what I came here for — winning trophies.”

All the points brought up in his statement make sense. Virtus.Pro has always been on the cusp of making deep tournament runs, but falling a little short. In the Copenhagen Major, all fans can agree that they should have defeated G2 to advance to the Playoffs, but an unfortunate crash on Jame’s PC cost them the series.

Virtus.Pro are also a group of Major winners, and he’s right about this lineup potentially being a title-winning squad. On paper, we can see this roster become a consistent Top 5 team in the world, but will they defeat the likes of FaZe and Na’Vi? It’s definitely possible.

The current Virtus.Pro roster is as follows:

• Dzhami “Jame” Ali (IGL)
• Evgeny “FL1T” Lebedev
• David “n0rb3r7” Daniyelyan
• Petr “fame” Bolyshev
• Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
• Dastan “dastan” Akbayev (Coach)
• Pavel “PASHANOJ” Legostaev (Analyst)
• Nikolay “mir” Bityukov (Sub)

What’s Next For Cloud9?

Prior to the previous Major, rumors were already spreading that m0nesy could join Cloud9. He hasn’t been winning much with G2, and is a top-tier Russian-speaking AWPer that deserves to play with Major winners. The experienced roster can also use an uprising rookie and teach him a lot of new things.

Overall, the 18-year-old seems like the perfect fit for Cloud9, as he will surely solve the team’s biggest problem of not having an AWPer. At this point, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Cloud9 announced m0nesy into the team.

Header: Virtus.pro