Visa and health issues send Virtus.pro out of Thunderpick World Championship

Virtus.pro have withdrawn from the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 in Malta due to two separate player issues. AquaRS is dealing with visa problems, while F0R3VER is temporarily out of the roster for health reasons. In addition, the organisation states that it was unable to obtain visas for two stand-in players within the short timeframe — a practical obstacle that effectively prevented the team from fielding a complete roster, even though replacements were in principle an option.

The two barriers combined — a player's health situation and the time pressure of the visa process — left Virtus.pro without a viable path to participation, despite the team having qualified for the tournament through the closed qualifier.

Tournament rules stipulate that a replacement team in the event of a late withdrawal is not drawn from the qualification order, but is instead selected on the basis of Valve's regional ranking for the host region. As the tournament is held in Malta, Europe is the applicable region, and Ninjas in Pyjamas were the next eligible European team to accept the invitation.

NIP thus enter a tournament with a prize pool of one million dollars and face Falcons — the top-seeded team in the field — as early as the opening round on 14 October. The tournament runs until 18 October and brings together eight teams in two groups with a GSL format and double elimination in the group stage, followed by single elimination in the playoffs.