Is Virtus.pro stronger after signing electroNic?

Last week, Virtus.pro shocked the world by completing the signing of explosive rifler electroNic. Just under a year ago, he was one of the key pieces brought in as part of the Cloud9 “superteam,” and already he has ventured to pastures new. On paper, swapping mir for electroNic seems to be a huge upgrade, but we wanted to take a closer look and answer the question – is Virtus.pro stronger after signing electroNic?

mir and electroNic’s starts to CS2

Credit: Adam Lakomy | © ESL

Initially, CS2 seemed to fit mir like a glove. He had a few good series towards the end of 2023, although this could be down to the level of opposition. Virtus.pro notably didn’t feature in a lot of Tier 1 competitions throughout last year, altering the way we look at its players’ stats. However, over the last three months, we’ve seen a lot more of Virtus.pro at big LANs. Through these, mir’s drop-off is noticeable.

Compare this to electroNic. In a struggling Cloud9 roster, with no AWPer and still finding his groove after his IGL stint, he has continued to put up the impressive numbers we expected when he first joined the team. Over the last few months, only a poor series against FaZe at IEM Chengdu 2024 and Spirit at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024 are noticeable drop-offs – broadly, his numbers look solid against top opposition.

Even just looking at a couple of key stats in CS2 shows the difference we’re looking at here. For example, mir averages 68.6 damage per round and 0.63 kills per round in CS2, while electroNic averages 79.1 and 0.73 in those same stats.

How do the roles fare?

Credit: Virtus.pro

So yes, statistically, electroNic represents a big upgrade for Virtus.pro. However, VP are famously meticulous about how they play the game, and this means that roles are also a big factor for whether electroNic will prove a success.

There’s good news in this regard for Virtus.pro. For the most part, electroNic is a like-for-like replacement for mir when it comes to positions, occupying the same areas of the map on both T and CT-side. This means that he won’t shake up the positions of his teammates either, who are settled in the current Virtus.pro system.

The only concern regarding positions is playstyle. Generally, mir is a very passive rifler, while electroNic is anything but. This means that electroNic offers much more risk vs. reward, but if Jame can find the right balance for his team, we think it’s going to make Virtus.pro a deadly force in the CS2 scene.

We’ll have our first hint of action for electroNic today at ESL Pro League Season 19, when Virtus.pro takes on Fnatic. Tune in to see how he does on his debut!