On their official Twitter page, the French organization of Team Vitality has revealed changes to the starting roster of their Valorant team. Tomas "Destrian" Linikas has been shifted to the replacement bench. Destrian has played for many teams in his career, but his most successful partnership was with Team Vitality, which isn't saying much. The team had a poor 2023, failing to win a game during the season alarming those on and off the team.
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Destrian Set To Leave Team Vitality Valorant Roster
For Team Vitality, the 2023 season has not been simple. Destrian and his team were knocked out of the LOCK//IN at the beginning of the year in the second round by Leviatan. The team just missed out on a playoff qualification in the EMEA League, ultimately placing fifth/sixth overall. There was just one thing left to do to qualify for the Valorant Champions: win the Last Chance Qualifier. But instead of going to the Last Chance Qualifier, the group dropped out of the tournament out of respect for Twisten.
It wasn't until December, during the Convergence tournament, that the team resumed competing. Despite losing the final match against FUT Esports, Team Vitality can still feel proud of themselves after defeating FURIA and Global Esports and finishing the year off well. Destrian's happiness was short-lived, as the organization benched him shortly after. Despite being bound by his contract with Vitality, Destrian has declared that he is open to offers from any location. Nikita "Trexx" Cherednichenko appears in rumors as a possible replacement, but no announcements have been made as of yet.
Destrian mentioned on his Twitter account "This is definitely not the best way to start 2024," but that he remains optimistic. He used this post to express gratitude to his previous organization and all of the supporters who helped him through this challenging year. Although the directors did not provide specific explanations for their decision, they did state that adjustments were required for the team's long-term success.
A fair number of organizations have already verified their rosters with the Challengers League beginning in a few weeks and the Valorant Champions Tour beginning in mid-February. The Valorant roster of Vitality is as follows:
- Jokūbas "ceNder" Labutis
- Kimmie "Kicks" Laasner
- Emil "runneR" Trajkovski
- Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel
- Salah "Salah" Barakat (Head coach)