YEKINDAR: We could be the best team in 2022
Virtus.pro has been excellent at IEM Winter so far. But how far can they go?
- With FL1T we can be higher than the sky.
The words came rapidly and with a great deal of confidence from Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis. We met the Latvian at the PGL Major in Stockholm, where the Virtus.pro star made it very clear, that the recent addition of Evgeniy "FL1T" Lebedev was the last puzzle they needed before they could raise their game to the next level.
A month later at IEM Winter, the first glimpse of the Virtus.pro side has been very positive. With victories against GODSENT, Gambit, and ENCE, VP has made a flawless run to the Semi-Finals, where they will face Team Vitality.
- We do feel like favorites. We feel, that we are capable of winning this tournament. We are not afraid of any opposing team. But we also know, that if we are not cautious, we can lose to any of these teams, the Latvian entry-fragger told the press at a press conference before the Semi-Finals.
Here Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis repeated his high ambitions for the Virtus.pro roster, and when asked if VP could become the second-best CIS team in the world, he took it one step further.
- I think we are capable of taking first place in 2022.
The percentage game
One of the things, that Virtus.pro has been known for, is their mathematical approach to the game. The Jame-time meme is still alive and kicking.
At IEM Winter three Virtus.pro players are placed in the top four of players who have died the fewest times during a round (of course Dzhami "Jame" Ali is no. 1 on the list). Among them is Aleksei "qikert" Golubev, who immediately turned his inner calculator on, when asked if he could feel improvement from the Major.
- We have improved a lot. But it is not our maximum. I think we have improved 20% since the Major, but we still have some things, that we can work on. I think we can improve 25%, the assessment from the 22-year-old Kazakh sounds like.
Virtus.pro will face Team Vitality in the first semi-final on Saturday at IEM Winter.
