PashaBMW joins Virtus.pro

23-5-2020 18:42

The 17-year-old, who stood in for Heroic at ESL One: Road to Rio last month, takes AdreN's place in the starting lineup on the same day as YEKINDAR's arrival.

(Photo credit: Heroic)

Virtus.pro have announced the signing of Pavel "⁠PashaBMW⁠" Tishchenko, with the 17-year-old rifler taking the place of Dauren "⁠AdreN⁠" Kystaubayev in the starting lineup. AdreN moves to the bench.

The move was confirmed a few hours after the bears announced the addition of Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis from pro100, with Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov stepping away from the active lineup to take a break. The two changes are the biggest the former AVANGAR core has undergone since it moved under the Virtus.pro banner in December.

PashaBMW began his career in 2018 with Bimmer Gaming, a Russian tier-three side assembled by in-game leader Kirill "⁠kombat⁠" Somov. The team was a regular presence in CIS open qualifiers for a year and a half without reaching a notable LAN, and PashaBMW left the project at the end of March.

His breakthrough came in April, when Heroic, left without a fifth player after their deal with FunPlus Phoenix fell through, brought him in as a stand-in for ESL One: Road to Rio - Europe. In 11 maps against Vitality, Dignitas, ENCE, and Astralis he averaged a 1.37 rating with 93.8 ADR, the highest rating of any player in the competition.

Heroic went on to complete their lineup with Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen, but the performances in the online RMR event put the Russian on the radar of several CIS organizations.

"I knew it was only for two weeks, so I tried to play every round like it was my last one," PashaBMW told HLTV. "After Road to Rio I had a few offers, but when Virtus.pro called there was nothing to think about. Jame is one of the best in-game leaders in CIS and this team already showed it can beat anyone."

When Virtus.pro called there was nothing to think about

Pavel "⁠PashaBMW⁠" Tishchenko on joining Virtus.pro

The signing makes PashaBMW one of the youngest players in a top CIS lineup. He turns 18 at the end of June.

Virtus.pro will begin their DreamHack Masters Spring campaign next week, with both PashaBMW and YEKINDAR expected to make their debuts in the group stage.

Virtus.pro are now:

Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali