Dota 2 superstar Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev has officially been released from Virtus.pro. Again.
The Russian esports sponsor confirmed his departure on social media late on October 18, 2022. The move follows the team’s poor run at The International 2022. VP failed to qualify for the main event at the Last Chance Qualifier. The post-TI shuffle is an honored tradition in Dota 2 esports, but where Ramzes will end up for the 2023 DPC season is anyone’s guess.
The kick is explicitly a result of the squad’s poor performance at The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifier. Virtus.pro reached the upper bracket final of the LCQ but lost to Team Secret and again to Team Liquid in the lower bracket. As a result, VP’s bear logo is absent among the 16 TI11 playoffs teams. He averaged a 3.20 KDA with 627 gold per minute throughout the bracket.
This is the second time that Ramzes has been kicked from Virtus.pro, but it comes under very different circumstances. Ramzes previously played for VP during its golden era, where it claimed five majors in just over two years along with millions in prize money. While the squad’s run at the top earned Ramzes more than $1.5 million, it couldn’t last forever. After earning 12th place at The International 2019, the player jumped ship to Evil Geniuses.
Ramzes joined Virtus.pro shortly before the third tour of 2022 to replace Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko. Throughout his career, he has never shied away from controversy. He was the driving force behind Viktor “GeneRaL” Nigrini’s brutal kick from Natus Vincere in 2021. Ramzes also left that team with little fanfare after an unsuccessful TI10 qualifier run.
While not quite as esteemed as he was a few years ago, Ramzes is still a top-level Dota 2 esports player.
Much of Ramzes’ reputation comes from the multi-Major Virtus.pro roster from 2017 to 2019. The squad remains of the most dominant rosters in Dota 2 esports history with five Dota Pro Circuit Majors all of which featured Ramzes. That team’s core continues to hold heavy sway in the Eastern European Dota 2 scene.
As for how good Ramzes is in 2022, he played a pivotal role in CIS Rejects’ lower division championship at the first tour. As Outsiders, Virtus.pro won the upper division of the second tour with eighth place at the Arlington Major. Ramzes’ most frequent tournament picks in patch 7.32 are Luna, Chaos Knight, Bloodseeker, Razor, and Phantom Assassin.
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