Mareks «YEKINDAR» Galinskins, who until recently played for Virtus.pro, became a free agent after buying out his contract with the organization. This was recently announced by the player on his Twitter account. Thus, his cooperation with the Russian team lasted two years: in May 2020 he joined the roster, replacing Timur «buster» Tulepov.
During this time, Virtus.pro, which in recent months was forced to play in international tournaments under the name Outsiders, was able to achieve some success. She has placed in the top 8 at several major tournaments including IEM Katowice 2022 and PGL Major Stockholm. In 2021 YEKINDAR was included in the list of top-20 players of the year, compiled by HLTV, being in eighth place with a rating of 1.14.
However, back in March, the Latvian cyber athlete expressed doubts about his further cooperation with the team due to the current geopolitical situation, which could lead to problems with visas or impose restrictions on the organizers. In May, after the team finished in 9th-12th place at PGL Major Antwerp, YEKINDAR and another Virtus.pro member, Timur «buster» Tulepov, were sent to the reserves.
In recent months, there have been numerous reports about YEKINDAR's possible move to Liquid, which has shown good form at recent tournaments. However, there were problems with formalizing such a deal due to the sanctions imposed on Virtus.pro. Now there is nothing to prevent YEKINDAR from moving to the American team.