RAMZES666 out: What happens to the Virtus.pro lineup?

Russian Dota 2 carry Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev has parted ways with Virtus.pro after both sides decided not to renew the player’s contract. The contract ran until The International 11, and the Russian organization failed in the Last Chance Qualifier stage. Now, it is questionable how the rest of the line-up will continue.

The decision to part ways with RAMZES666 doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, considering the player’s return to Virtus.pro came after spending almost three years with other teams such as Evil Geniuses and Natus Vincere.

A statement from Virtus.pro said: 

“Roman came back during a tough time for our club, when we really needed a carry with experience. Together we managed to achieve success, with victory in the third DPC tour being a good example. But the global goal, the one which the players set for themselves, has not been achieved. Sometimes a group of highly skilled players does not add up to a strong team. Therefore, we made a joint decision to end our cooperation, fully confident that both parties will benefit from it.” 

RAMZES666 also commented:

“It felt good to go back to the familiar den for a while, but now it’s time to move on. I wish the guys good luck and hope to meet them again in the tournaments.”

What’s next for the player?

The 23-years-old Russian player joined Virtus.Pro for the second time in his career in May 2022, when he replaced Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko in the wake of the “Z scandal.” 

How things will continue for RAMZES666 is not clear. However, it is likely that he will find a home in Eastern Europe in the next DPC season when the line-ups get revamped in the offseason. Even if not, he has left the region to play for other teams before, so there could well be a chance he’ll take the plunge again if the right situation arises.

Rumors about the dissolution of the entire team

After parting ways with RAMZES666, it now seems that the organization might end up releasing the rest of the roster as well. Only a few hours after the official announcement, the first reports emerged, speculating that the current version of Virtus.pro will be completely dissolved before 2023.

The reason for this is supposedly not only the lack of services, but apparently, things didn’t work within the team and a “destructive and toxic atmosphere” was common.

This decision also finally resolves another issue for Virtus.Pro, with ex-captain Vitalie “Save-” Melnic also being released after staying on the organization’s inactive list for almost a year. It’s unclear if this move will also remove Illias “illias” Ganeev from the team’s inactive roster, but more details should emerge over the next month as the post-TI11 lineup transition begins.