The Russian IGL/AWPer has been removed from the starting lineup after an underwhelming season.
Virtus.pro have moved longtime team member Dzhami “Jame” Ali to the bench, the Russian organization announced on Wednesday. The decision comes in the wake of the team’s disappointing season, which culminated in an Opening Stage exit at the Shanghai Major.
In a statement, Virtus.pro CEO Nikolai Petrossian admitted that changes were “inevitable” after the Chinese tournament.
“The discussions were long, comprehensive, and very difficult,” he said. “Ultimately, together with the players and coach, we concluded that at this stage, Jame would not be able to combine the two key roles in the roster, IGL and AWP, and that the best solution would be to bench him and calmly consider all available options for both the good of our team and Jame’s personal prospects.”
Jame has been on Virtus.pro’s books since December 2019, when the Russian organization acquired the AVANGAR roster and parted ways with its Polish lineup.
He guided Virtus.pro to victory in Flashpoint 2 and cs_summit 7 during the online era. And at the end of 2022, he led Outsiders — a neutral name after several tournament organizers banned Virtus.pro because of their apparent ties to the Russian government — to the IEM Rio Major title in an unlikely run.
However, the Russian team would not be able to live up to the expectations set for them after the Rio campaign. Virtus.pro picked up three LAN trophies in 2023, albeit all from tier-two events (FiReLEAGUE Battle and the ESL Challenger stops in Katowice and Atlanta) and reached the finals at PARI Dunav Party and BetBoom Dacha. Still, results took a turn for the worse in 2024, even after the blockbuster signing of Denis “electroNic” Sharipov in April.
The second half of the season was very turbulent for Virtus.pro. The team changed coaches twice — initially replacing Dastan “dastan” Akbayev with Andrey “Xoma” Mironenko before promoting analyst Pavel “PASHANOJ” Legostaev to a head coach role — in the hope of closing out the season strongly.
Virtus.pro began their RMR campaign with a shocking loss to Passion UA but bounced back swiftly with victories over TSM, 9 Pandas and Sashi. Their frailties were then laid bare in the Opening Stage of the Major, where they were sent packing with a 1-3 record following losses to MIBR, BIG and Wildcard.
A two-time HLTV Top 20 Player, Jame is now open to offers to continue his career.
“I want to express my immense gratitude to everyone at Virtus.pro, where I spent so many unforgettable years!” he said in a statement.
“It has been the most successful period of my career, during which I learned a lot, met many interesting people, and won significant trophies.”
Virtus.pro are now:
Russia Denis “electroNic” Sharipov
Russia Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev
Russia David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan
Russia Petr “fame” Bolyshev
Russia Pavel “PASHANOJ” Legostaev (coach)
Russia Dzhami “Jame” Ali (benched)
Leave a Reply