Is money evil? PashaBiceps told how the prize for winning the DH Masters Las Vegas 2017 split the team

A reddit user posted an excerpt from an interview with Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jazzombkowski, taken from the Polish online channel Kanał Sportowy. There he talked about how the gift of the owner of Virtus.pro, instead of motivating the team to new victories, put an end to the series of successes of VP in 2014-2017.

Recall that VP won the DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017, having “rolled over” all their opponents after a disappointing defeat in the final of ELEAGUE Major 2017. Before the start of DH Masters Las Vegas 2017, Anton Cherepennikov, who was at Virtus.pro as CEO, promised the Mercedes-Benz players if they win the tournament. The team achieved its goal and the gift was presented, however, instead of giving additional motivation, the car brought discord to the team, since there were five players, and the gift was one.

Yaroslav told the story of this case and the consequences that led to the collapse of the team:

Anton Cherepennikov, head of the entire Virtus.pro organization, promised to donate a car to one of the players if we win the match. <...> We became DreamHack champions, and as a person who is trustworthy and never deceives us, <...> he kept his promise. This is how the famous Mercedes appeared.

At the time, NEO was the in-game leader. <...> He was very upset that he did not receive the prize that TaZ got. <...> He openly said that he was very saddened by his underestimation, because of which he lost all motivation to be a captain. NEO ceased to fulfill this task, we changed the captain and gradually began to fall apart. Mercedes really split the team.

The case with Mercedes-Benz is not the only conflict related to the financial sector and the players. Long before DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017, Yaroslav was embroiled in a not very pleasant story and became the envy of his teammates. PashaBiceps had a large fan following and a major company wanted to sponsor his private broadcasts. Instead of agreeing to this, pashaBiceps wanted to support the organization where he was performing at the time and asked advertisers to redirect their offer to Virtus.pro. The VP management appreciated Jažombkowski's devotion and raised his salary as a token of gratitude. The rest of the players obviously did not like this move.

PashaBiceps said the following:

3-4 years before the Mercedes situation, I had my best days on Twitch. Then 40-60 thousand viewers watched me at the peak, and the average figure was about 25 thousand. Many sponsors applied to the organization, because I spoke for it and had such an audience. And G2A, one of the biggest sponsors of prestigious tournaments, wanted to partner with me.

I introduced the representatives of the company to my boss Anton, but said that the whole team should be sponsored. G2A came to Virtus.pro with the money, <...> and the management wanted to give me a raise because I worked hard and got a new sponsor. After a short time, the rest of the players began to tell him that it was wrong, one member of the squad could not receive more than the rest. I was sad, but I didn't argue with it.

Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jazzombkowski worked with Virtus.pro from 2014 to 2018. The Polish roster has become, perhaps, the most memorable in the history of Virtus.pro. During his time at VP, Yaroslav and his teammates won the following championships: ESL Major Series One Katowice 2014, ESEA Season 18: Global Invite Division, ESL ESEA Pro League Invitational, ELEAGUE Season 1, DreamHack Open Bucharest 2016 and DreamHack Masters Las Vegas 2017. He also took 2 places at EPICENTER 2016, EPICENTER 2017 and ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017. On September 16, 2019, pashaBiceps completed his path as a CS:GO player, and from August 2020 to the present he is a member of the Team Liquid as a streamer. Yaroslav's career began in 2004. For 16 years, the Polish esportsman has earned more than $620,000 in prize money.