by Russian esports outfit Virtus.pro recently announced the changes made to their Dota 2 roster. This was the inclusion of the carry player Alexandr “krylat” Krylatov to replace the former carry Kamil “Koma” Biktimirov, who was banned from Valve events due to account sharing and impersonating members of other squads.
“Virtus.pro announces the name of a new position one player of the Dota 2 roster: it is Alexander “krylat” Krylatov. ” announced Virtus.pro on Twitter.
This readjustment came in after the Dota 2 team had already locked in their roster; however, they got approval from the game developer, Valve, to go through with the change.
Head of the Dota 2 department at Virtus.pro, Alexander “StrangeR” Solomonov, revealed how strenuous it was for the team to fix this dent in such a short time. He also disclosed that the team is very positive they made the right pick by choosing Krylat as their new carry player.
“This situation took us by surprise and was really stressful for the team. However, we didn’t waste time and began testing potential replacement candidates as soon as possible, resolving this issue in two days. Today, krylat becomes the new carry of Virtus.pro. We considered three candidates, played test games with two of them, and chose Sasha. He is a carry player with experience in the top division of the DPC, who was also a free agent during this period,” he said.
“I have no doubt that joining VP is an opportunity that Sasha will try to capitalize on for 100%. We still have a lot of work to do and an interesting season, preparations for which are going on a daily basis.
Krylat is a 25-year-old carry player who started his professional career in 2018 while playing for the now-disbanded team Road To Glory eSports. Subsequently, he explored other regional Dota 2 teams such as CrowCrowd, NOVA, Tempo Esports, PuckChamp, and TBS, which he only represented as a stand-in, and then his most recent team, with which he parted ways on Friday, Team Empire Hope. Krylat spent less than a month with Team Empire Hope.
Krylat rose to prominence in the Dota scene during his time with PuckChamp in the 2021–2022 DPC season. The player and his other teammates were able to garner fourth place at the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 1: Regional Final and another fourth place at the Tour 3: Division ll of the same tournament.
The current Virtus.Pro 2022/2023 DPC roster now includes Krylat, Ilya “squad1x” Kuvaldin who will be filling position two, Evgeniy “Noticed” Ignatenko at position three, Oleg “sayuw” Kalenbet at position four, and Andrey “Dukalis” Kuropatkin in position five, as well as their head coach Timur “Ahilles” Kulmuhambetov, who has been with the team since 2020.
StrangeR further thanked Valve for giving them the opportunity to make a turnaround in their already locked-in roster.
“I would also like to thank Valve for the fact that the company went to meet us halfway and made it possible to make an emergency replacement. We need the support of our fans now more than ever,” he continued.
With Virtus.pro managing to fix their roster in the short time they encountered the impediment, they will be able to maintain their spot at the DPC EEU. The tournament’s opening match is scheduled to begin on January 9, 2023, with other top teams such as Natus Vincere, BetBoom, and Team Spirit confirmed to be participating.
