James “bevve” Slinn and Viperio have parted ways by mutual consent, the player announced on Friday and the organisation released a confirmation statement today. This follows bevve’s absence for BLAST Paris Major Open Qualifier and his replacement with Rory “cryths” Ursell in the competition where Viperio beat SAW to qualify for the EU Regional Major Ranking tournament, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in April.
After being unable to play the qualifiers due to the funeral of his grandmother, bevve unexpectedly tweeted on Friday that he had parted ways with the organisation, who were still competing in the qualifiers. Viperio confirmed the news in a statement on Sunday.
The 23-year old only joined Viperio in January as a replacement for Javier “Ping” Griffiths, but quickly became their highest-rated player on HLTV. As Viperio competed in CCT West Europe Series 1 Play-Ins and European Pro League Division 2 Season 1, bevve achieved a 1.12 average rating in 20 maps with the side.
Mutually parted ways with Viperio, not much to say about the whole experience really 😂😅 streams returning soon, right decision for both parties. GL to them going forward. pic.twitter.com/HHhXDdJiA0
— bevve (@bevvexyz) February 17, 2023
UKCSGO understands that bevve asked to return to the starting lineup for the closed qualifier, but the team decided to continue to play with cryths. This, combined with other issues that bevve touched on in a stream on Friday evening, led to the player and organisation parting ways. Ciaran “biscu” King, Viperio’s coach, commented
“I believe James is a talented player and entirely capable of achieving his goals within competitive CSGO. I’d like to thank him for his time with us on Viperio, we wish him the best in his future endeavours and hope he is successful.”
This move is a setback for Viperio, who need to find a new fifth and prepare for the Paris RMR in April. The organisation have confirmed that Ping is still on the roster as a substitute, and that the team will “likely” utilise cryths for the RMR. It is not clear how this will square with cryths’ retirement from team Counter-Strike last year. In the short-term Ping is listed in the lineup for EPIC38 starting later this week, and he is also on the team’s ESEA Advanced roster, where Viperio currently sit inside the play-off spots with a 5-3 record.
Viperio are now:
Tom “arTisT” Clarke
Callum “Girafffe” Jones
Jack “Gizmy” Von Spreckelsen
Marco “MMS” Salomone
Ciaran “biscu” King (Coach)
Javier “Ping” Griffiths (Substitute)
Thank you, @bevvexyz.
— Viperio (@viperioesports) February 19, 2023
