{"id":18378,"date":"2024-12-16T15:47:53","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/?p=18378"},"modified":"2025-04-16T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T09:52:10","slug":"opinion-virtus-pro-were-wrong-to-kick-jame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/news\/cs-2\/opinion-virtus-pro-were-wrong-to-kick-jame\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Virtus.pro were wrong to kick Jame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So, Virtus.pro kicked Jame, and for some reason, everyone seems to be happy about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, we get it, it\u2019s always easy to blame the IGL or the coach. It\u2019s something that happens time and time again. They\u2019re meant to be the brains behind the system, the people who go out there and make sure the guns are facing in the right direction, so if they\u2019re not doing so, how can it not be their fault?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an easy assumption to make, and it\u2019s likely why fans, experts, and players themselves all make the decision, but this time it\u2019s a mistake – and we\u2019re about to tell you why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lack of soldiers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s move away from Jame a second and consider cadiaN, starting with the time he spent on HEROIC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HEROIC\u2019s system under cadiaN was known for being chaotic. They pressured points on the map as a unit to gain map control or information, a proactive style of play that became meta for how to effectively play aggressive on the CT side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, despite that perceived chaos, cadiaN\u2019s system was clearly very structured. It wasn\u2019t hard to figure out the roles of each member of the team, and it was clearly defined across every map they played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now consider the failed move to Liquid. What changed? Of course, the system did somewhat, but why? It was because of the lack of soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Systems such as cadiaN\u2019s, or, as we\u2019ll come to discuss, Jame\u2019s, thrive off the inclusion of soldiers. Selfless players who are not overcome by ego or a desire to look better on a statistical metric, players who will sacrifice for the good of their teammate and the overall goal, players who will shut up and get the job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those players were absent for cadiaN on Liquid, and he failed. The same happened to Jame on Virtus.pro and just look at the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On HEROIC, cadiaN had two soldiers in TeSeS and sjuush. Jame used to have that, but he lost that when Qikert was booted in favour of mir. A move that aimed to bring in more consistent results through greater firepower, it never quite worked out, but the excuse was that mir just wasn\u2019t suited to the roles or system he played in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when mir was benched following the PGL Major Copenhagen earlier this year, VP then thought the answer was to bring in electroNic, and why wouldn\u2019t they? A Major winner, regarded as one of the best rifles in Counter-Strike history, and an experienced fragger, it\u2019s a no-brainer, right? Wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signing electroNic was a huge mistake, and the opposite of what they should have done. Not only is he clearly past his best, it was VP doubling down on the real mistake that they made with mir, and it wasn\u2019t going to suddenly not be a mistake just because electroNic is a better player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Undermining the captain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the very start of electroNic\u2019s time on Virtus.pro, there was plenty of questions asked to Jame and the former NAVI man about the system and the captaincy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those questions, as much as they were designed to be headline-bait, ended up getting good answers for anyone who asked them. But that\u2019s the worrying part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the start, it was clear that the idea had been baked into everyone that the system was no longer effective, that it needed to adapt to fit their new man, and in terms of electroNic taking the reins in order to ensure that came to pass, it didn\u2019t entirely seem to have been ruled out either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that didn\u2019t worry you for the future back then, we can assure you it worried us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s never good when an IGL is being undermined on a team, and it almost always spells the end, especially when the person doing the undermining has also been an IGL in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst part is the adaptations that were made to the system. We constantly see statements that Jame\u2019s system wouldn\u2019t work in CS2 due to MR12, but how can we really know? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given when Qikert left the team in August 2023, when have we really ever seen a non-bastardised version of Jame\u2019s system in CS2? We certainly haven\u2019t since electroNic arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are the people willing to say that it won\u2019t work in CS2 also willing to say that Jame won\u2019t immediately make his next team better? We\u2019re willing to bet they\u2019re not, but that doesn\u2019t quite make sense, does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misconceptions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The final element we feel we need to talk about in regard to Jame\u2019s benching are misconceptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or rather, the one misconception that Virtus.pro were consistently that good. They weren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People seem to believe that Virtus.pro were typically title contenders, and we\u2019re not really sure where that came from. Maybe it\u2019s down to an increase in expectation due to a dark horse Major win, but suddenly there was this misconception that VP had ever been more than a top eight team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s that change in expectation that probably led to the downfall of the team. Expectations changing is what would have led the team to look for results through a firepower increase, expectations changing is what would have led to VP sacrificing what made them so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

VP may have only been a top eight team, but their run at the IEM Rio Major proved something: When they are on, their system is near impossible to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundational idea that any future moves should have been based upon was Jame\u2019s system, but for some reason, it wasn\u2019t, and that cost one of the game\u2019s greatest leaders dearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, we think that it will cost Virtus.pro dearly, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images credits: Esports World Cup, PGL, ESL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover image: ESL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, Virtus.pro kicked Jame, and for some reason, everyone seems to be happy about it. Look, we get it, it\u2019s always easy to blame the IGL or the coach. It\u2019s something that happens time and time again. They\u2019re meant to be the brains behind the system, the people who go out there and make sure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":18392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-18378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cs-2","tag-cs2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18397,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18378\/revisions\/18397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blix.gg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}