A while ago, defending champions Virtus Pro announced that their DOTA 2 roster would be skipping ESL ONE BIRMINGHAM 2019, to which they were invited.
Roman Dvoryankin, Virtus.pro general manager had the following statement to make:
We won’t be able to defend the title in front of our English fans. The best teams in the world will battle on the Birmingham stage and we were looking forward to thrilling and challenging games against them. However, the current DPC season schedule has taken its toll and as we approach the peak of the season we need to focus on preparation for home Major and The International. Sometimes it means sacrificing events. We will work hard to perform on the highest level and ensure the best results in these two tournaments.
It turns out VP withdrew from ESL ONE BIRMINGHAM to play another event called Adrenaline Cyber League, which is kind of their home event, considering that the event is organised by ESFORCE Holdings, which owns Virtus Pro.
Although VP chose ACL over ESL ONE Birmingham, they will attend the event with a stand-in.
Rostislav “fn” Lozovoy will stand-in for Pavel «9pasha» Khvastunov in Adrenaline Cyber League.
Roman Dvoryankin, Virtus.pro general manager released the following statement:
Team’s schedule for this part of the season has been formed way ahead of our ACL invite, so the team understands Pavel’s wish to spend time with his family. We are extremely thankful for Rostislav’s help – this marks the second time he plays for us as the carry this season with Ramzes performing on offlane. We expect him to show up as much as he did in the Kuala Lumpur Major qualifiers where Virtus.pro took 5 games out of 5.
VP Lineup for Adrenaline Cyber League:
- Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev
- Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko
- Rostislav “fn” Lozovoy
- Vladimir “RodjER” Nikogosyan
- Alexey “Solo” Berezin
