The rebuilding at Virtus.pro continues apace, with news breaking today that AGO star Michał ‘snatchie’ Rudzki will be joining them from the ‘other’ Polish org, effective 6th August 2018. Snatchie will make his Virtus.pro debut in ZOTAC Cup Masters 2018 series, which will be held in China on the 24-26 of August. The story was originally reported by trusted CSGO journalist Dekay in late July, with the team’s General Manager Roman Dvoryankin confirming the move today, in the tweet shown below.
Snatchie will replace Piotr ‘morelz’ Taterka, who has stood in for the team since they lost Janusz ‘Snax’ Pogorzelski to mouseposrts, with a contract expected to run until 2020. There is no news yet on whether their new man will enjoy the reported $25k a month that the last VP five apparently were on, but the odds are he will have been a cheaper pick up when compared to the likes of Neo or TaZ. For the time being, Morelz remains Virtus.pro player and will be moved to reserve.
The aforementioned Roman Dvoryankin was delighted with his new capture, understandably so as his team have struggled to make an impact in the last year or so. "Michal is one of the most promising rising stars of Poland. He has already demonstrated his talent on the professional CS:GO scene. We are looking forward to the upcoming tournaments, we are certain that counting on snatchie was the right decision,” he said in a press release accompanying the announcement of the signing.
Product of collusion?
There is an interesting potential line to be drawn here between a tweet made by OpTic Gaming’s Casper ‘Ruggah’ Due recently and this move, although at this point in time it can only be speculation. Due suggested (as reported on Luckbox) that the rule change, which related to players being allowed to compete in the Minor for one team and the Major for another, was a product of collusion between the Tournament Organisers and a ‘large organisation’.
When it comes to esports, there are no bigger groups than the one that owns VP, but as we said it is hard to know exactly what he referred to. It is certain that this move would not have been possible for recent Majors, where rosters were locked around participation at the Minor, but none of that was snatchie’s doing, and we’ll never find out if it was ESForce greasing the wheels behind the scenes.
As for the new signing, he is obviously delighted to get the chance to represent VP, a legendary brand in his home land. "I'm excited to join such a renowned team as Virtus.pro. It's a whole new stage of my career, and I'm ready for it more than ever before. I'm sure we'll quickly get used to each other, and the titles won't keep us waiting,” snatchie said of his move. He also thanked his previously employers, as is only polite, for their work giving him the platform to take this next step.
It is a great sign for Polish CSGO too, as the scene had for too long held onto the ‘golden five’ in VP as an untouchable concept, rather than a sports team that needs to be updated when they are no longer able to compete. Hopefully those in Sweden and beyond can follow this lead and start to ship out some dead wood too.
