Update October 14: Virtus.pro will play with ICY during CAC, as they would lose their core if he left the lineup for b1st, which is against the Valve Regional Standings (VRS) rules.
Virtus.pro is going to test a new dedicated AWPer amidst the team’s slump in CS2, the organization announced on October 1. The Russian team is going to utilize their academy sniper, Vladimir “b1st” Krasikov, in place of Kaisar “ICY” Faiznurov during the $1 million CS Asia Championships 2025, which runs from October 14 to 19.
Even though Virtus.pro will run this experiment with b1st, the organization made it clear in the announcement that ICY hasn’t been benched just yet.
b1st from the youth VP.Prodigy roster will temporarily join Virtus.pro’s main CS2 team. He will take over the AWP role at CS Asia Championships 2025, replacing ICY, who will miss the tournament.
The decision was made together with the players and coaching staff: the team wants to test a new AWPer and give the young player an opportunity to prove himself on the international stage.
B1st, who is currently 17 years old, has been a part of the VP.Prodigy squad since October 2024. He’s having a very solid performance in tier-two/three, having averaged a 1.20 HLTV rating throughout the year.
ICY, on the other hand, posts a 1.02 rating in 2025, and has struggled even against lower-ranked teams.
He’s been the Virtus.pro AWPer since December 2024, and his performance didn’t improve even after Ilya “Perfecto” Zalutskiy took over as the team’s in-game leader following the benching of Denis “electroNic” Sharipov in September. Instead, ICY’s performance took another hit, and he averaged a 0.90 rating last month.
ICY has been playing badly, but Virtus.pro as a whole is struggling all year. Credit: Sebastian Pandelache | © PGL
The announcement comes at a time when Virtus.pro is likely not qualifying for the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 due to their poor results in the past months. They’ve lost 24 maps out of 37 in the past three months, and finished last place at FISSURE Playground 1, Esports World Cup 2025, and BLAST Open Lisbon 2025.
To make matters worse, Virtus.pro missed ESL Pro League Season 22 because three of their players were unable to cross the Swedish border. Had the team attended EPL S22, they could have won enough matches to secure a ticket for the StarLadder Budapest Major.
It’s hard to pinpoint all of the team’s problems in ICY, despite his bad individual performance throughout the year. But, maybe by bringing in a fresh new AWPer, Virtus.pro can start turning things around and prepping to improve in the 2026 season.
If b1st does well enough, he certainly can stay in the main Virtus.pro team permanently, as the organization already promoted the 18-year-old rifler Vadim “tO0RO” Arkov in September.
B1st will undergo a trial by fire, as CS Asia Championships will also feature some other tier-one teams such as FaZe Clan, Team Liquid, TYLOO, GamerLegion, 3DMAX, and paiN Gaming.
Feature image credit: © Virtus.pro
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