After dropping their CS team in August, Viperio have signed Ex-Raptors, vying to cause the same damage they made with their previous roster as Marco “MMS” Salomone returns to his old organisation.
Viperio signed Tom “arTisT” Clarke and crew in late 2022 and made UKCS history with the team. They finished second in ESL Premiership Autumn 2022, only losing to Endpoint in an incredibly close BO5, going all the way to the final map. With this immediate success under the Viperio banner, the team carried this momentum into the new year.
SOS find a home and recruit MMS
The roster competed in various tier two/three competitions such as CCT, Kayzr League and EU Pro League. But history was made when the team qualified for the Blast.tv Paris Major EU RMRs, marking themselves as the first Irish players at an RMR, and alongside Into The Breach the first British Isle majority rosters to achieve this feat.
Even though they didn’t win a game at the RMRs, they held their own and were able to compete in other European tournaments due to their HLTV rankings, but sadly couldn’t make any deep runs. After nine months with the squad, Viperio released their Counter-Strike team, but with the ambition to return once a suitable team was found.
Recently Viperio won a pitch investment competition at Creative UK North East Investment Summit securing equity investment of up to £100,000 for “a compelling pitch backed up by tangible results and entrepreneurial potential”. With the announcement on their website about them winning this pitch, they also stated their commitment to UK esports, specifically Counter-Strike.
Viperio remains committed to UK esports and Counter-Strike in particular. The company is ambitious and eager to get going, with plans to return to competitive CS2 before the end of 2023, so that it can start 2024 with a strong team and a clear vision for the future.
Viperio has fulfilled their promises and will be showcasing one of the hottest teams in the UK scene right now going into the new year.
Ex-Raptors won ESL Premiership and afterwards decided to explore options after their contract expired with the hope to “look for potential bootcamps in the future, funding for future LANs, and an increase in salary to ensure stability for the players and be in a position they can increase their profile internationally.” They have now found this with Viperio.
Raptors squad to explore options after contract expires
After 15 months this project has hit setbacks but also highs they never would have imagined, the question is can they continue this after struggling to find their footing recently? They recently dropped Arkadiusz “ifan” Dabkowski and will be using Josh “JAUSTERE” Philpott on a trial basis for the foreseeable future, also will be looking for a new AWPer after Slaven “Awayken” Lyubenov has left the team due to him joining an undisclosed team. Unfortunately because of the timing of it, the first event under Viperio, the UKIC LAN finals, they will be playing with their coach Daniel “papp” Hart as their fifth.
There is evidently some uncertainty with the team, however, now with backing from an organisation it will be easier to find their footing going into 2024.
Raptors EC winning ESL Premiership Autumn 2023 LAN Finals
UKCSGO reached out to papp the coach of Viperio about joining Viperio and what the future holds for the team:
Myself and the guys are all very excited to be joining and working alongside Viperio heading into 2024. Having started the project almost 15 months ago and achieving some great success in 2023 with multiple event wins, this now provides the foundation for us to kick on and continue to grow in the right direction.
As announced, with Viperio we will be retaining our current core of Zodi, MMS & Reegan and parting ways with Ifan & Awayken. Josh will be joining us on a trial basis in place of Ifan for the time being and playing with us at the UKIC LAN Finals this weekend. We will be looking two announce two new permanent players in the near future.
I’d like to thank Arek [ifan] and Slav [Awayken] for their time with us and wish them the best in their next teams.
Viperio are now:
Rasmus “zodi” Frølich
Reegan “ReegaN” Ward
Marco “MMS” Salomone
Josh “JAUSTERE” Philpott (trial)
Daniel “papp” Hart (coach)
Viperio are delighted to return to Counter-Strike with the signing of ex-raptors core for 2024.
@mms__cs
@reeganjk
@zodi_cs
@papp_cs
Read » https://t.co/cjE76JGx2z pic.twitter.com/113ch5JNvb
— Viperio (@viperioesports) December 4, 2023
