The struggle is real for Virtus.Pro, having been eliminated early from yet another tournament only one week after the defeat against PENTA at Assembly Winter.

This time an upset loss against LGB Esports sent the polish team on a downward spiral.

– We didn’t expect much from them before the match and we were in shock when we lost so this match fucked us up, Jarosław ”pasha” Jarząbkowski says.

At last weekend’s Assembly Winter, the polish powerhouse Virtus.Pro was surprisingly eliminated from the tournament after an upset loss against PENTA Sports. History repeated itself during Pantamera CS:GO Challenge where the reigning IEM Katowice champions started their tournament run with a loss 16-10 against X-Games Champions EnVyUs. They then went up against newly formed LGB Esports – and quickly got on the back foot.

– The match versus LGB was the point in this event. We didn’t expect too much from them before the match and we lost and were in shock. This match fucked us up, Jarosław ”pasha” Jarząbkowski says after the group play rounded up.

”We played without stress against Titan”

After the game against LGB which turned into a 16-11 loss on Cache, Virtus.Pro couldn’t quite find their pace and lost a lead against Fnatic to tie the game up. Against Ninjas in Pyjamas they drew once more and were eliminated from the tournament. Only then, against Titan who had a clean slate so far, they managed to secure a win.

– Everything was ok during the 2-2 games against NiP and Fnatic, but the match against Fnatic should’ve been ours. Then we played without stress again against Titan and we had full control, pasha says.

”Hope we can show how real Counterstrike looks”

In an effort to explain their recent weak results, pasha mentions that they’re trying some new stuff that hasn’t quite worked out yet.

– This try wasn’t the best. Everyone forgot about positions. And we’ve changed the call leader, from TaZ to Snax to Neo. But I think that now we’re in a good track and I hope we can show how real Counterstrike looks in Katowice.

How will you prepare for the coming major?

– We’ll bootcamp, not too long and not too short, probably around ten days. We have a coach, our friend Jakub ”kuben” Gurczynski who plays with us. He knows us and the game very well so I hope he helps us and gets to know the enemies very well so we can only focus on our aim. If we make a lot of mistakes, we have no chance to win.

You won IEM Katowice last year. Looking back, what are your memories of that event now?

– Katowice was probably the best event for my team. Every team wanted to win that event. There were a lot of people and they had fun like during a football match. A lot of emotions, and it was our home so people were cheering us, they gave us a real boost. After every kill it was very loud, it was beautiful.

Do you think it will be as great this year?

– It will be better, with more people coming, probably. And they’ll know Counterstrike better. They saw how the last event looked, and I think this event will be even more entertaining.