It is desperate times at Virtus.pro, who has resorted to an unusual move in the middle of the EU RMR tournament. Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin has been replaced by David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan before their match later today against MOUZ after some lackluster results.

- Young players do not immediately adapt to the pressure of LAN events, especially important ones like RMR. Therefore, David will replace Alex today, Nikolai Petrossian, CEO of Virtus.pro explained in a press statement on Twitter.

David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan was part of the team (then called Outsiders), that won the Rio Major last year, but the Armenian was benched shortly after in favor of Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin. Now all eyes are on "n0rb3r7", who has not played an official match since the end of last year.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"virtus-pro-confirms-signing-kair0n","isNewTab":true}]

Virtus.pro will face MOUZ later today at 14.45 (CEST) at the EU RMR. The loser of the match will miss the Paris Major.

n0rb3r7

KaiR0N-

Virtus.pro

Virtus.pro/Outsiders was the first top-tier organization to make a roster change in 2023 when they announced the signing of the 18-year-old rifler Alexander “KaiR0N-“ Anashkin. Bringing in the Russian talent means that David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan now has to live with a spot on the sideline on the profiled squad.

There has been a lot of talk and rumours surrounding the transfer due to it being so close to Outsiders’ impressive title run at the Major in Rio de Janeiro in November last year. Now the captain and IGL Dzhami “Jame” Ali has opened up about the move and the decision behind it.

- In fact, everything is clear in the announcement, Jame writes in a [link:{"url":"https://t.me/s/jametimetv/734","isNewTab":true,"text":"Telegram post"}]. There's not much to add. We needed a YEKINDAR type of player for our system to open up fully. 

- This decision is shared with everyone (players and org) (there is no other way anywhere else). Everything was open and without dirt. We are playing the next tournaments with KaiR0N-, and we will see there, Jame concluded.

A benching in CS:GO often means a goodbye. However, that is necessarily not the case here with n0rb3r7. Because in the [link:{"url":"https://virtus.pro/en/articles/kair0n-prisoedinyaetsya-k-sostavu-virtuspro-po-csgo","isNewTab":true,"text":"press statement"}] when they announced the transfer, CEO at Virtus.pro, Nikolai Petrossian, proclaimed that they are setting up a six-man lineup in some sense.

- By signing KaiR0N- and retaining the contract with n0rb3r7, the roster gets the flexibility it needs, the ability for rotation, and remains robust, which is unattainable with a stand-in model, Petrossian said.

With that being said, the organization is still ready to send n0rb3r7 on a loan if other teams show interest in the Russian/Armenian rifler.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"decision-kick-n0rb3r7-was-reportedly-already-made-major","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"notable-cs-go-transfers-2022","isNewTab":true}]

Jame

Outsiders

Yesterday an astounding transfer hit the news when Virtus.pro/Outsiders revealed that they are shaking up their roster with the signing of Aleksandr "KaiR0N-" Anashkin, placing David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan on the sideline for now.

Following the announcement on Sunday evening, the renowned insider Aleksey "OverDrive" Biryukov could tell that the organization already made the call to demote David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan at IEM Rio Major in November – a tournament Outsiders ended up winning.

In a [link:{"url":"https://virtus.pro/en/articles/kair0n-prisoedinyaetsya-k-sostavu-virtuspro-po-csgo","isNewTab":true,"text":"statement"}], Virtus.pro/Outsiders gave an account for the decision-making behind the transfer, however, they did not confirm OverDrive’s remark.

- This decision was made by the owners and management of the club after consultations with the coaching staff. By signing KaiR0N- and retaining the contract with n0rb3r7, the roster gets the flexibility it needs, the ability for rotation, and remains robust, which is unattainable with a stand-in model, Nikolai Petrossian, CEO of Virtus.pro wrote.

Outsiders´ David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan denied the rumors of him departing from the team. The 21-year-old told his fans on stream that his current girlfriend "Sindi" misled the community by claiming that he was getting kicked out from the Russian team. 

Nobody kicked me. Sindi can say a lot of things. She went unhinged. She doesn't control what she says at all. - N0rb3r7 said to his stream. 

The rumors didn't start at Sindi but were revealed by the CS:GO insider Alexey "OverDrive" Biryukob who states that Aleksandr "KaiR0N" Anashkin will be replacing him on the active lineup. This led to another insider Luis Mira also confirming it on this Twitter with the following post:

Despite all the rumors of N0rb3r7 getting kicked out of the squad, is the 21-year-old Major winner still a part of the team and has since then confirmed that the rumors were fake. 

Outsiders lineup looks as follows going into the 2023 season:

Outsiders are ranked as the number two team on the HLTV world ranking list. n0rb3r7 and co. shocked the whole world when the team fought their way to their first-ever Major trophy. The Russian team is currently practicing for the IEM Katowice 2023 which will be held from Jan 31st - Feb 12th. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"cs-go-insider-outsiders-bring-super-talent-place-n0rb3r7","isNewTab":true}]

HLTV have updated their ranking of the best CS:GO teams in the world, with the Outsiders now leading the ranking after winning the IEM Rio Major 2022 in Brazil.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"outsiders-win-iem-rio","isNewTab":true}]

To recap, Jame and company from Outsiders took down the Danes from Heroic in the Grand final of the event with a 2-0 result to become Major champions for the first time. This victory earned them not only the top spot in [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/ranking/teams/2022/november/14","isNewTab":true,"text":"HLTV’s World Ranking"}], but also $500.000 in prize earning and a slot to the highly-anticipated BLAST Premier: World Final 2022 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Their AWPer, Jame, also received the tournament’s MVP award, his first-ever Major MVP medal.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"jame-earns-first-major-mvp-medal-iem-rio-major-2022","isNewTab":true}]

IEM Rio Major 2022 was held from October 31 to November 13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where sixteen teams competed for a prize pool of a whopping $1.25M.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"who-were-top-performers-iem-rio-major","isNewTab":true}]

HLTV’s CS:GO World Ranking – November 14th, 2022 (Top 10)

FL1T

fame

qikert

We spoke with Outsiders' rifler David "n0rb3r7" Daniyelyan after their win against Fnatic. The CIS team will now face either MOUZ or Cloud9 in the Semi-Final of IEM Rio.

Read more about the win over Fnatic right here in the article below:

[slugORMA:{"slug":"outsiders-is-ready-play-semi-final","isNewTab":true}]

The Swedish Ninjas are in imminent danger of being knocked out early at IEM Rio.

NIP ended the first day of the Legends Stage with their second defeat of the day. A 16-12 loss to Outsiders sends NIP down to dangerous territory, where they are now only one loss away from being eliminated.

On Mirage it was a close affair against Outsiders, who again could enjoy the solid help from the two new additions to the roster, David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyan and Petr 'fame' Bolyshev. The two young riflers proved to be vital for Outsiders, who finished the match brilliantly by winning the last four rounds.

Outsiders are now 1-1, and will go up against their CIS rivals from Spirit tomorrow.

Outsiders - Ninjas in Pyjamas 1-0 | IEM Rio Major Legends Stage

16-13 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} n0rb3r7 – 1.36 Rating / 21-11 K-D / 82.3 ADR

Ninjas in Pyjamas

A well-disciplined Outsiders roster destroyed the hopes of the French CS:GO fans to see an all-French team at IEM Rio.

In the last match at the EU RMR event, Outsiders had no problems taking down Falcons, who lost their own map pick of Dust2 by 16-7. Falcons made several key mistakes, which could indicate some nerves from the French roster, where only Nathan "NBK-" Schmitt and Kévin "misutaaa" Rabier have had any experience with a Major before.

On Inferno, it looked better for Falcons. Despite a 1-6 start, the Frenchmen won three in a row to make it 4-6. But then Outsiders and Jame took a time-out. They calmed themselves down. Sorted out their next move, and from here on, there was only one team on the server. Outsiders won Inferno 16-5 and are now ready for IEM Rio.

Outsiders - Falcons 2-0 | IEM Road to Rio RMR (Group B)

16-7 (Dust2) | {cflag:RU} Jame – 1.56 Rating / 19–10 K-D / 95.9 ADR

16-5 (Inferno) | {cflag:RU} n0rb3r7 – 1.96 Rating / 22–8 K-D / 113.2 ADR

Player of the match: {cflag:RU} David 'n0rb3r7' Danielyan

David "n0rb3r7" Danielyan and Peter "fame" Bolyshev have completed their move to Virtus.pro with the transfer being confirmed on Tuesday. The Russian duo join the team from K23 and are set to fill out the void from the newly-benched Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis and Timur “buster” Tulepov.

Following the transfer to the profiled CIS team, n0rb3r7 and fame gave a statement each.

- I am glad that I had the opportunity to take such a step in my career. I have known the guys for a long time, so I quickly adapted. Now we have one big task - to train a lot in order to play and win. Therefore, we have already visited the bootcamp to prepare for the upcoming tournaments, n0rb3r7 said with fame chiming in as well:

- The line-up that I came to is very strong, and this gives even more motivation to work. We will do our best to lead the team to victories!”

[link:{"url":"https://virtus.pro/articles/sostav-virtuspro-po-csgo-ukomplektovan-n0rb3r7-i-fame-novye-igroki-komandy","isNewTab":true,"text":"Full statement from Virtus.pro"}]

{cflag:KZ} Dastan "dastan" Akbaev (coach)

[slugORMA:{"slug":"virtus-pro-bench-yekindar-buster","isNewTab":true}]

[slugORMA:{"slug":"post-major-transfer-moves-cs-go-2022","isNewTab":true}]

K23's David "n0rb3r7" Danielyan did not need more than one clip to secure himself this outstanding quad kill.

BIG breaks K23 win streak and qualifies for upper bracket final

The German team has looked solid so far at Funspark Ulti 2021 Finals.

A 10 match win streak got broken for K23 today as the CIS team came short against BIG. The downswing for K23 started on Dust2, which normally is a good map for the team. Today however BIG was simply on another level. Both Nils 'k1to' Gruhne and Florian 'syrsoN' Rische were having a blast putting in above 100 ADR on the map. BIG won 16-6.

On Mirage the expectations were a lot higher for a more competitive match. Not only is the map one of K23 go-to maps, but BIG has also had problems lately losing the last three times on Mirage.

And luckily we got we’d hoped for. BIG found themselves 9-6 up on their CT-side, but in the second half, K23 answered back with a fantastic CT-side of their own to force the match onto Overpass for a third deciding map. For BIG the new addition Josef 'faveN' Baumann had a difficult time on the map going 10-22 leaving him on the bottom of the scoreboard.

Overpass was set as the deciding map. As seen before at this event, the CT-side has been extremely overpowered. Luckily for BIG, they started on the defense, which gave them excellent working conditions during the first 15 rounds. With in-game leader Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz in excellent shape, BIG took a huge 13-2 lead with them to their T-side.

The Germans manage to quickly win the three remaining rounds that they needed in the second half to seal the deal and win the match. BIG will now face Gambit in the upper final at Funspark Ulti Finals 2021, while K23 will have to make a run through the lower bracket to qualify for the Grand Final.

BIG – K23 2-1 | Funspark ULTI Finals 2021

16-6 (Dust2) | {cflag:DE} k1to – 1.77 Rating / 23-12 K-D / 112.0 ADR

12-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:RU} n0rb3r7 – 1.26 Rating / 21-13 K-D / 69.3 ADR

16-4 (Overpass) | {cflag:DE} tabseN 1.72 Rating / 20-9 K-D / 107.2 ADR

MVP:  {cflag:DE} Johannes 'tabseN' Wodarz | 1.45 Rating / 61-40 K-D / 100.5 ADR

tabseN

syrsoN

Last year, Gambit took the entire CS:GO world by storm, being arguably the biggest ‘breakthrough team’ of 2020. Huge prospects as Dmitri “sh1ro” Sokolov and Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov helped the iconic organization in its return to the top of CS:GO. 

The Russian youngsters will commence their 2021-season this Wednesday when they take upon their countrymen from Winstrike in the quarterfinals of Vulcan Fight Series. nafany’s troops can only disappoint against the lower-ranked Winstrike team, which features two K23 players Sanzhar “neaLaN” Iskhakov and David “n0rb3r7“ Danielyan.

Read more. "Spotlight on Top 2020: Gambit - 2020 recap"

[link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/spotlight-top-20-gambit/"}]

You can see the thrilling matchup on the following streams. (English + Russian)

sh1ro

Ax1Le

neaLaN

Gambit Esports

Winstrike

The Germans from ALTERNATE aTTaX took down Heretics in confident style. A strong performance from the German duo in Fritz “slaxz” Dietrich and Stefan “stFN” Seier helped ALTERNATE aTTaX to take home a 2-0 victory.

K23 was just as dominant in their matchup against Project X. The former Syman Gaming team dismantled a tame Project X side beating them 2-0 through solid showings on both Nuke (16-9) and Overpass (16-10).

16-10 (Dust2) slaxz- 24-14 k/d, 101.3 ADR, 1.64 rating

16-11 (Inferno) stFN 23-13 k/d, 88.7 ADR, 1.37 rating

16 – 9 (Nuke) neaLaN 18-13 k/d, 68.3 ADR, 1.22 rating

16-10 (Overpass) n0rb3r7 22-17 k/d, 103.2 ADR, 1.41 rating.

You can see the full score at Nine to Five 6 down below.

[link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/events/5630/nine-to-five-6"}]

stfN

slaxz-

ALTERNATE aTTaX

Heretics

Project X

Here is a list of the top performing teenagers over the last 3 months:

1.      ZywOo +302 k/d-ratio, 1.27 rating (2.0)

2.       sh1ro +498 k/d-ratio, 1.25 rating (2.0)

3.      Ax1Le + 264 k/d-ratio, 1.20 rating (2.0)

4.      FL1T+403 k/d-ratio, 1.17 rating (2.0)

5.      stavn +192 k/d-ratio, 1.14 rating (2.0)

6.      anarkez + 204 k/d-ratio, 1.13 rating (2.0)

7.      TeSeS +97 k/d-ratio, 1.12 rating (2.0)

8.      KEi + 71 k/d-ratio, 1.10 rating (2.0)

9.      n0rb3r7 26 + k/d-ratio, 1.07 rating (2.0)

10.   h4rn + 136 k/d-ratio, 1.06 rating (2.0)

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

n0rb3r7

Player stats

Articles mentioning n0rb3r7

Virtus.pro make last minute change before elimination match

Jame on the benching of n0rb3r7: We needed a YEKINDAR type of player to open up our system

The decision to kick n0rb3r7 was reportedly already made at the Major

N0rb3r7: Nobody kicked me

Outsiders secure #1 ranking after Major success

n0rb3r7: It's an amazing feeling!

NIP drop to 0-2 pool after loss against Outsiders

Outsiders book last European ticket for Rio

Virtus.pro confirm double signing of n0rb3r7 and fame

Pley of the Day: n0rb3r7 mows down four T players in satisfying collat!

BIG breaks K23 winstreak and qualifies for upper bracket final

Live: Gambi vs Winstrike (Quarterfinal)

Favourites sweep opponents in Nine to Five #6

Top 10: Strongest performing teenagers

Follow Pley