Virtus.pro sign AVANGAR CS:GO roster

Virtus.pro has acquired the AVANGAR CS:GO roster and will continue on as a CIS lineup after six years with a Polish squad.

The Polish lineup led by legendary player Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski had one final outing at cs_summit 5 where they finished 3-4th, falling in the semifinal to G2 Esports.

The following people are no longer part of Virtus.pro's starting lineup:

• Michał "MICHU" Müller
• Michał "snatchie" Rudzki
• Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski
• Arek "Vegi" Nawojski
• Tomasz "phr" Wójcik
• Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński (coach)

Changes come after a downfall over the last two years for the iconic organisation. The popular five-man lineup slowly broke apart in 2018, starting with the benching of Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas and his split from Filip "NEO" Kubski marking the end of a decade-long era in Polish Counter-Strike.

AVANGAR had a huge surge in 2019, with a grand final appearance at the StarLadder Berlin Major followed up with a win at BLAST Pro Series Moscow in a grand final showdown against forZe.

Sitting within the top twenty as a team, this is a feat the previous VP roster had struggled to achieve or maintain throughout 2019.

While this will be a new organisation for the majority of the former AVANGAR players, Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev returns to VP seven years after his CS:GO debut under the organisation.

EPICENTER 2019 taking place in Moscow on December 17-22th will be the first outing for the new VP team.The full roster transferred and that will be playing EPICENTER is:

• Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev
• Timur "buster" Tulepov
• Alexey "qikert" Golubev
• Dzhami "Jame" Ali
• Sanjar "SANJI" Kuliev
• Dastan "dastan" Akbayev (coach)

The core also holds a spot in the ESL One Rio Major taking place in May 2020. Virtus.pro had previously lost its own spot after finishing last at the FACEIT Major 2018 in London and has failed to progress beyond the closed qualifiers for the StarLadder Berlin Major or IEM Katowice 2019.