Heretics releases RUBINO from VALORANT roster

Professional VALORANT player Ruben “RUBINO” Villarroel is no longer under contract with Heretics, the Spanish organization announced today.

The Norwegian-Chilean pro is most well known for his time in CS:GO, which he played from 2014 to 2020, representing organizations such as Dignitas, North, and Heroic. The 27-year-old retired from Valve’s FPS and was picked up by Heretics in January 2021, completing his transition to VALORANT.

RUBINO joined Heretics as the sixth player on its VALORANT roster, which was trimmed to just five players in March following Dustyn “niesoW” Durnas’ decision to take a break from competitive play due to personal reasons. The Norwegian-Chilean pro attended six VCT events with Heretics, including qualifiers, and most notably helped the team finish runners-up at the VCT Europe Stage One Masters event, where they were upset by Acend.

RUBINO was moved to the bench on May 4, less than a month after Heretics failed to qualify for the VCT Europe Stage Two Challengers Two following a 2-0 loss to G2, and has been seeking a new team ever since. With RUBINO officially out, Heretics’ roster is down to six players: Christian “lowel” Garcia, Ondřej “MONSTEERR” Petrů, Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks, Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski, Felix “al0rante” Brandl, and niesoW, who remains on the bench.

Aside from lowel, the only member of Heretics’ original VALORANT lineup, the other four starting players joined in June as part of the organization’s attempt to get back to the top of the European scene, given that Heretics won the First Strike Europe championship in December 2020. Heretics, though, has reportedly lost the 70 VCT points the team earned from VCT Europe Stage One Masters due to its roster overhaul.

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