RAMZES666 officially leaves Virtus.pro’s Dota 2 roster
On Wednesday, October 19, the Russian esports organization Virtus.pro announced a mutual decision to part ways with their carry player, Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev, on their official website and social media.
The contract between the organization and the star player was initially valid until the end of The International 11 (TI11) Last Chance Qualifiers, as the team believed they had qualified for The International 2022 after accumulating enough DPC points, but they had not. Accordingly, both parties agreed to terminate their contract.
RAMZES666 was added to the roster on short notice following the conclusion of the 2022 DPC’s Spring Tour in May, giving them a high-level filler player with experience to work with until the season’s end. Their previous carry, Ivan “Pure” Moskalenko, was fired for drawing pro-war symbols on an official Dota 2 Pro Circuit game.
“Roman came back during a tough time for our club, when we really needed a carry with experience,” said VP in their press release. “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”.
VP acknowledged that having highly skilled players did not always add to having a strong team and decided to part ways with RAMZES666.
“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,” the organization said.
RAMZES666 was an excellent filler for VP and contributed to the team’s seventh-place finish at the Arlington Major, which was believed to be a direct invite to TI11.
After losing the previous spot to the BetBoom team, VP was forced to compete in the regional and Last Chance Qualifiers. After having dominated the LCQ, they were eventually defeated by Team Secret and Team Liquid.
VP’s Support Egor “Xakoda” Lipartiya said that the team would not be returning with the same roster after failing to qualify for TI11. Following RAMZES666’s departure, the team currently consists of Solo middle Danil “gpk” Skutin, Offlaner Dmitry “DM” Dorokhin, Support Daniyal “yamich” Lazebnyy, and Xakoda.
RAMZES666’s record
The 23-year-old returned to VP after leaving in 2019. RAMZES666’s first stint with the team saw him contribute to five Major victories and two appearances at The International between 2016 and 2019.
“VP is my home, the one I have a lot of good memories with. We have achieved a lot together, and now it’s time to make a new story,” RAMZES666 said back then. “I have had a chance to meet the guys from the current roster and we got along pretty well. We are all eager to play and win”.
He successfully assisted VP in defending their title at The Summit 7, the final tournament before The International 7. Unfortunately, VP could not advance past the top six in Seattle but made amends with a victory at ESL One Hamburg.
RAMZES666 started his professional career in 2015 when he joined ScaryFaceZ. He joined CIS Rejects in September 2015 and was quickly signed by Team Spirit. The team qualified for The Shanghai Major 2016 in January and finished 13-16 in March.
The Dota player switched from Team Spirit to Team Empire on March 5, 2016. He then qualified for The Manila Major 2016 Europe Qualifier with his new team, finishing 9-12. Later, the lineup took first place in the Global Grand Masters.
