Virtus.pro kicks AdreN, takes RMR hit ahead of IEM New York Online

Virtus.pro announced it has parted ways with CSGO veteran as CSGO Major MVP Dauren “AdreN” Kystaubayev after seven months with the organization.

VP acquired AdreN and the rest of the AVANGAR roster in a transfer in December 2019 following a string of success.

After winning the 2017 PGL Major with Gambit, AdreN spent time with FaZe Clan before his transfer to AVANGAR. His gunplay and veteran savvy were key in the roster’s stellar run to the grand finals of the StarLadder Berlin Major. Things quickly went downhill after its players were transferred to Virtus.pro, which was looking to rebuild after dropping its Polish roster and returning to the CIS region. From the time of its transfer in December 2019 to May of 2020, VP failed to place any higher than fifth in any competition. Their play was worse at the top levels of play, where it dropped out of both ESL Pro League Season 11 and IEM Katowice 2020 in 15-18th place.

Since then VP has gotten better, but AdreN has continued to struggle despite the team’s four top-five finishes over its last five tournaments. In that time, AdreN has a combined kill-to-death spread of -203. His now-former teammates, Alexey “qikert” Golubev and Sanjar “SANJI” Kuliev, also posted negative K/Ds of -11 and -68 over that the same period.

Virtus.pro’s main AWPer Dzhami “Jame” Ali and rifler Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis have carried the famous organization in the past three months. YEKINDAR’s average rating has hovered around a respectable 1.1  at +43, but Jame is still the roster’s true talent with an impressive +203 scoreline since ESL’s Road to Rio.

The move leaves Virtus.pro without a fifth player ahead of the recently announced CIS Regional Ranking tournament IEM New York Online, which is set to start in October. It also means that VP, currently in third place in the region’s RMR rankings, will suffer another 20% deduction in RMR points due to Valve’s roster penalty.

VP previously forfeited 20% of its holdover from its StarLadder Berlin placement for switching out players during and between tournaments after benching Timur “buster” Tulepov in favor of Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis earlier this year.