Virtus.Pro

mousesports

LGD.Cn

TongFu

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SK

zNation

From TechLabs Moscow, the first LAN VP attended with Ars-Art.

From left to right: Ars-Art, Illidan, NS, kSi, Crazy - Photo by virtuspro.org

Na`Vi

Team Empire

Fnatic.EU

Achievements

The Players

NS

SAY_PLZ

Rush3d

DTS

Moscow 5

Darer

kSi

zNation

Crazy / tmw

mTw

Team Dignitas

Illidan / Airman

Garaj Gaming

Ars-Art / Smile

Strategy

Predictions for the International

RoX.KiS

Previous Team Presentations

How far do you think Virtus.Pro will reach at this years International?

The legacy of Virtus.Pro in DotA goes back to the very dawn of the European competitive scene, to the year of 2007 when they achieved legendary status with players such asIgor '' Kalnysh,Vasiliy '' Pepelyaev,Ivan '' Shinkarev as well as two players from the current roster,Sergey '' Revin andYaroslav '' Kuznetsov. They were clearly ahead of the competition, while only few were able to challenge them, e.g.led byJacon '' Toft-Andersen andled byJonathan '' Berg. Possessing an extensive knowledge of the game, they utilized great map control through warding (which wasn't as common as it is today), executing aggressive yet calculated ganks with Vigoss leading the charge in a metagame which favoured their style, as prior to the v6.50 changes the Blink Dagger it was not disabled by taking damage.However, for a long time Virtus.Pro lay dormant and without a Dota team, until NS was brought back into the fold in order to form a new team for the organization in May of 2012. This first incarnation did however not work out, and the only player besides NS who ended up staying with the team was offlanerAlexander '' Koltan.It took NS another three months to rebuild the team, emerging in September with three new players, one old pubstar and two formerplayers, none of them with much competitive experience. Many were more than happy to write the team off, butSergey '' Kuzin,Oleg '' Kolensichenko andIlya '' Pevcaev as he was called at the time of '' as we more commonly know him now proved to be not just capable of learning quickly but also hard working and highly committed, with none of the issues of having to use replacements which plagued so many other young CIS teams.As VP began to experience some success in late 2012, they began to make their way to the LAN Finals of events such asSeason 3, where they had a rough time in the groupstages, coming in third in a group of death againstand. By the end of the year they did a bit better atwhere Na`Vi had a very rought time of it, but a mere week later at StarLadder's Season 4 finals VP again found themselves coming up short, ending in fourth place, as their inexperience on LAN showed itself once more.This has continued to be an ongoing trend with VP, even as they eventually removed Santa from the team, making way for Ars-Art who had left Na`Vi not long before. As their effective reunion happened at thein Moscow, it was one more dissapointment on LAN for VP who came in fourth once again. Since then they've attended another three major LAN tournaments in Europe, coming in third twice at StarLadder and ending a joint fifth at, even as they have had some significant success online, most notably defeating3-2 in The Defense 3 Grand Finals 2nd place -- $4001st place -- $5001st place -- 400€2nd place -@Kiev, Ukraine - $3,0001st place -- $7004th place -@Kiev, Ukraine - $1,0002nd place -- $2,0002nd place -- $2004th place -@Moscow, Russia - $5001st Place -- $10,0002nd Place -- $1,5003rd Place -@Kiev, Ukraine - $2,0003nd place -- $2,0003rd Place -@Kiev, Ukraine - $3,000Signature heroes: :d2_rubick: The NightSniper, these days known as NS, has been around since the dawn of competitive DotA. He started his career inback in 2006 and went on to participate in other big name teams such asand the most glorious period ofduring their 2010 run as one of the best teams in the world. As players began to move on from DTS and the composition changed, the organization eventually dropped their squad in March of 2011, at which point NS took his squad over to, with whom he played at the first International ending in joint 5th-6th place.After the disollution of M5 his path went tofor a while, but personality conflicts with CaptainIvan '' Antonov caused the team to break up. After some consideration, he accepted the offer from Virtus.Pro to build them a new team in March of 2012, returning home to the organization he had last played for back in 2007 along with long time friend Ars-Art, before they moved on to Rush3d.The first incarnation of this team did however not work out, as it was a notable early attempt to integrate a non-Russian into a CIS team, with current Na`Vi playerKuro '' Takhasomi being the lone none-Russian speaking member of the team . This team eventually fell apart after failing to qualify for the International 2012 with a modified roster, leaving only NS and Santa still looking to make the VP team work.It would not be under the middle of September that NS had completed the rebuilding of his new team. Although he initially relinquished Captain's duties to kSi, the Captainship has since been transferred back to NS, who directs their play by drawing on his extensive competitive experience. His role for the team otherwise is mostly the same as ever, playing hard support and aggressive heroes such as Disruptor. However with the addition of Ars-Art to the lineup he has also come to play some junglers in recent times, taking up Chen and Enchantress. He is also his teams Io player and used to be famous for his Vengeful Spirit as well as Crystal Maiden.Signature heroes: :d2_np: kSi is a relatively young face on the Dota scene, first appearing as the captain of Dota 2 teamalongside Crazy, although he joined not long before zNation would eventually split up and was also the first to leave, joining Virtus.Pro instead where he took on the duties of Captain along with his position as second support in game.Over time he gave up not just the role of Captain but also that of support, as after Ars-Art joined the team he transitioned into an offlane player. His initial heropool fairly limited, being an extension of heroes he had formerly played as a jungler, which worked out as the trend of dodging particularly deadly trilanes was still common.kSi still favours heroes with a jungling capability, having added Lone Druid and Dark Seer to his top choices for the offlane. However, over time he has also come to play more ganking orientated utility heroes such as Clockwerk or Bounty hunter, which synergize well with VP's aggressive playstyle. His limited heropool is still a concern, although one which VP are aware of and likely working to mitigate.Signature heroes: :d2_qop: Crazy began his competitive career with zNation, playing for them in the International 2012 Western Qualifiers in the team which eliminated the first incarnation of Virtus.Pro's Dota 2 team from the running, before themselves going out in the next round to eventual qualifier winners. He left zNation after arguments within the team, in part stemming from his competition for the solo mid position together withIlya '' Drugov. Instead he ended up joining Virtus.Pro as their solo mid player, a role which he has seldom strayed from since.During his earliest days with VP he was known for playing almost exclusively Invoker, even as the hero had been nerfed hevily after the second International. He has since expanded his hero pool, favouring aggressive heroes such as Queen of Pain and Puck as well as becoming quite adept at the obligatory Magnus during it's hayday. He was also one of the big proponents of the solo mid Warlock, and also shares the Templar Assassin withJingJun '' Wu of, who has a fairly similar flavour to him.In recent times we've seen Crazy play more Weaver and Dragon Knight, as he keeps expanding his heropool into more semi-carry territory, sometimes even being seen on the safelane these days when Illidan goes to the mid lane with particular heroes such as Naga Siren.Signature heroes: :d2_naix: Illidan was a long time familiar face from in-house leagues in Wc3 DotA, but as he kept going back and forth between DotA and World of Warcraft, he never quite committed to going professional, also in part as he doubted the viability of professional play due to the instability of CIS teams. He still managed to gain quite some recognition back in the day in the community and did at times play with established teams, even attending some large scale tournaments such as thetogether with, the name of NS's team during their transitional period between DTS and M5.When he was invited to join Virtus.Pro, it was his first real competitive team that he played for full time, and while his mechanics were very good he had some trouble adjusting to competitive play at first. He had to focus entirely on Dota 2, leaving behind WoW which he had been playing for such a long time, as well as working on expanding his hero pool and integrating his efforts with the team's.Over time his heropool has become more diverse and he is now a solid carry player for his team, still favouring aggressive heroes such as Lifestealer and Chaos Knight as well as Gyrocopter and Luna for their early teamfight ability. He is still occasionally criticized for his decision making, but in many respects he's a very typical CIS carry player, aggressive and engaged and stubborn about his excentricities, such as his famous Dragon knight without Breathe Fire.Signature heroes: :d2_lesh: Ars-Art met NS early on in his career, in the first edition of Virtus.Pro and continued to play together with him all the way until the first International which they attended together with Moscow 5. However, after the tournament Ars-Art was kicked from M5 as the team was unhappy with their own performance and blamed it on a lack of practice prior to the tournament, laying part of the blame wtih AA.He did not stay without a team for long however, as Na`Vi picked him up soon after as replacement for the outgoing Artstyle, which meant that he became a full time support player where as in the past he had played semi-carries as one of the most famous gankers of the early days along withIvan '' Shinkarev.While his start with Na`Vi was a bit rough, once the team returned to practicing he quickly re-gained his footing as well, becoming a dominant force in this new role, playing a very good Venomancer and Crystal Maiden. Over time pushing became more important, which caused him to move on to Leshrac and Shadow Shaman, two of the heroes which were his backbone by the time of Na`Vi's second place finish at the second International.However not everything was right in the Na`Vi camp, as they had lost a lot of motivation for playing together already prior to the International 2012, and things kept on slipping during the winter. When he eventually ended up leaving the team , he was unhappy with how Na`Vi were playing, feeling as if he couldn't play his own style of Dota any longer. With this in mind, joining VP was the best thing for him as he had such a close friendship with NS and would be able to play as he wanted, and the rumours started circling as soon as his exit from Na`Vi was official.Initially NS denied that VP were looking to make any changes, as they had not yet decided to let Santa go. Ars-Art implied that he might go into casting, being brought on to co-cast the Techlabs Cup in Moscow. As Santa was dropped only days before VP were due to head to Techlabs, Ars-Art suddenly went from attending as a caster to attending as the new temporary fifth for VP, which eventually became permanent as he quickly found his common ground with NS.In VP Ars-Art has once more gotten to play a lot more aggressive supports, forming an excellent ganking pair with NS. The first hero we saw him shine with was Nyx Assassin, on top of which he soon added quite a few Lina games. He has also played highly unconventional jungling supports such as Juggernaut to great effect, as he has seemed re-invigorated since joining the team and has returned to the level of play we saw from him during the Spring of 2012, the highpoint for him with Na`Vi.It's no secret that Virtus.Pro are an aggressive team, to the point where it can simply overwhelm teams which aren't expecting it. They will dive you when you don't expect it, they will go for the kills and they will succeed, because they have the skill needed to capitalize on the surprise factor. These are the basic tennents of Virtus.Pro Dota, and have been since fairly early in their development.However, VP has changed a lot since their start with this roster. Once they found their footing they had a long run of victories, rising to a household name during the early winter of last year. This whole run was predicated on a heropool no greater than 10 heroes, with several players playing the same hero every game, such as the Crazy Invoker and Illidan's Luna and often drafting the Nature's Prophet for Santa. As they eventually got the attention they deserved, this strategy stopped working, causing the team to start expanding their heropool in order to cope.After Santa left the team, they were able to bring much of their preparation to it's natural fruition, as their support play became far more dominant and the ganking of Ars-Art and NS began to direct the flow of their game. They've also become more experimental, being known to develope several strategies during their preparations for big events and diligently keeping them secret until the time comes to unleash them on the world. These strategies, while they sometimes have not worked out exactly as well as they could have hoped (such as the support Zeus from early Spring), in other cases have become fairly standard, including the widely used support Naga Siren.Expect heavily customized strategies coming out of Virtus.Pro at the International 2013. And lots and lots of aggression.Virtus.Pro is a team which has a lot of potential and creativity, stemming from a strong support duo who can open up the game for them. Their aggressive style of play and unconventional strategies may well catch some teams unfamiliar or unprepared for them off guard, and may serve them well during the groupstage. However, in order to go deep in the competition VP needs to find greater discipline and improve their decision making, moving towards taking advantages but also holding on to those advantages once acquired, reminiscent to how their CIS brethrenplayed during their break-out performances some months back. If they can find this slight balance to their aggression, they can be truly scary, capable of breaking into the top eight teams. Still, it's an uphill battle as the team has had a tendency not to perform as well on LAN as they do online, in part due to the majority of the players having still very little LAN experience.