18 months after Viperio reentered Counter-Strike, the organisation from the north-east has parted ways with their roster after the team decided not to renew their contracts.
Viperio rose to prominence in the UK CS scene after qualifying for the BLAST.tv Paris European RMR in early 2023. Since then, through numerous iterations of rosters and their departure from UK CS, the organisation has struggled to reach those same heights.
Despite having qualified for the RMR, four months later, Viperio dropped Tom “arTisT” Clarke and crew. In December of that same year, Viperio would return to UK CS as they signed ex-Raptors, a promising young team who had recently won the ESL Premiership Autumn Finals over Endpoint.
papp and zodi at the UKIC Season 0 LAN Finals
Vierpio’s return to Counter-Strike was rather messy, though. They originally signed a team already looking for one player, and within hours of the contracts being signed, they were looking for two. However, as 2024 dawned, Viperio completed their roster but ditched their UK roots in the process.
Very early on in their international project, Viperio had a shot at making ESL Pro League Season 19 in the ESL Pro League Season 19 NC Europe Qualifier because of their win at ESL Premiership. Playing against some stiff European competition, Viperio held their own and placed 3rd-4th, losing to PERA, who would inevitably claim the coveted Pro League spot.
Only a month into their new venture, Viperio were off to the races. Unfortunately, this middling result was probably their best result over the next 17 months.
During the span of 2024, Viperio constantly kept shuffling its roster. A total of 13 different players played for Viperio across the year, with the roster rarely staying together as a consistent five.
Understandably so, through roster turmoil, the results dropped off. Viperio played a total of 33 games on HLTV throughout the year, and only won 6 of them, 2 coming from BO1s.
The only two names that remained from the original team picked up in late 2023 were Danish IGL Rasmus “zodi” Frølich and British coach Daniel “papp” Hart. The two share a special bond as the duo has stayed together through thick and thin over the past five years. The two reached the top of UK CS in 2023 with their victory at ESL Premiership Autumn 2023 and a win at EPIC.LAN 40 – Albeit zodi didn’t play the second.
papp was still flying the British flag with Viperio, but his step into international CS was a far cry from the year prior.
papp and zodi lifting the ESL Premiership Autumn 2023 trophy
Entering 2025, Viperio was ranked 117th in Europe in the Valve Ranking, the 7th lowest ranked active team in Europe. Therefore, despite having played in seven events on HLTV so far this year, only one was a VRS ranked event. Viperio were forced to rely solely on qualifying for events as they lay outside the threshold for teams being invited to Tier-2 and Tier-3 European events.
The one ranked event Viperio did play at was the Svenska CS-Ligan 2025, which they qualified for. Competing without their full lineup in the Swedish event, Viperio respectably held their own, even getting one win away from qualifying for the Elisa Nordic Championship 2025. However, this was only one event, and the European squad only gained eight VRS points, raising them four spots higher in the Global VRS rankings.
After a strugglesome 2025, Viperio announced five days ago on X that they have decided to “release the CS2 roster”:
The decision to part ways is not due to competitive performance, but factors linked to the broader Counter-Strike ecosystem that have directly impacted the commercial viability of tier-two and tier-three Counter-Strike, resulting in no new agreement being signed between the organisation and the players.
Viperio’s Valve Regional Standings and HLTV rankings of recent floated between 150-250, limiting the opportunity to progress to higher levels of competition. Restrictions around qualification and tournament invites has made it challenging for smaller esports clubs like Viperio to reach past highs of RMRs and ESL Pro League Conference.
Founder and Managing Director Christopher Sword also took to X to suggest what the future of Viperio is:
Viperio remains committed to fielding rosters in FPS, and will be looking to field a new line-up moving into the second half of 2025.
This marks the second CS2 team that Viperio has parted ways with this year, after Viperio Academy disbanded in March of this year. The British organisation said that they were looking to rebuild their academy team with UK players, but there hasn’t been any movement on that front since.
The ex-Viperio players will continue to play together under the name ENERGYULTRA while looking for a new organisation, but have parted ways with Denis “swicher” Baranov and Dimitar ‘Skrimo‘ Yanulov. In their place, William “walleN” Wallin will join, creating a Swedish core, but ENERGYULTRA are still on the lookout for a final player. swicher will continue to play for ENERGYULTRA while they finish their search for a fifth player.
Becoming a Swedish core gives ENERGYULTRA the ability to compete in local events, which could be vital for their crusade in gaining VRS points.
Currently, ENERGYULTRA is 142nd ranked in Europe in the Valve Ranking, 4th lowest in Europe, far out of the threshold for any tournament invitations. They will be banking on Open Qualifiers and Swedish events to find results and raise their VRS rank.
ENERGYULTRA are on the look out for a fifth player and organisational support
After 18 gloomy months for papp and zodi, the recent roster changes – including the addition of young but seasoned AWPer Leo ‘Silence‘ Ingvarsson and a renewed commitment to a Swedish core – might just mark a turning point.
Trying to compete in Tier-3 EU is nearly impossible if you don’t already have a decent VRS rank to start. One of the best ways currently is grassroots regional CS, and now ENERGYULTRA has that opportunity with their Swedish core. The next step for papp and co is to begin the search for a fifth player and for an organisation.
Having backing when competing can not just make or break a roster’s stability, but also drastically improve results. The current undisputed best UK team, Perplexity, has demonstrated the challenges of finding an organisation and its impact on consistency, as they have been seeking support for the last six months.
ENERGYULTRA (ex-Viperio) are now:
Rasmus “zodi” Frølich
Rasmus “dezt” Nyström
Leo “Silence” Ingvarsson
William “walleN” Wallin
Daniel “papp” Hart (coach)
— Viperio (@viperioesports) June 1, 2025
