Storied esports organisation Virtus.pro have returned to StarCraft II again by signing one of the esport’s most accomplished pros, Kim “Classic” DoWoo.
The signing comes just a couple of months before the Esports World Cup (EWC) 2025 kicks off with an absurd, record-breaking prize pool of over $70 million (£54.8m) of which $27m (£20m) will be reserved for the Club Championship alone.
Virtus.pro are gunning to improve drastically on a lacklustre showing at the inaugural EWC last year, in which the organisation only finished high enough in two games to record any club points. Those results were a 3rd-4th place finish in Counter-Strike 2 and a 5th-8th place finish in Overwatch 2.
Virtus.pro did compete at the StarCraft II event last year too with Maxwell “Astrea” Angel representing them, but the creative North American pro was eliminated in the first round of the Knockouts.
Now the organisation are instead seeking the help of seasoned Korean pro Classic who is among the top 20 highest earners in StarCraft II with $578,860 (£433k) earned in total with tournament wins at 2014 Global StarCraft II League Season 2: Code S, 2015 StarCraft II StarLeague Season 2 Main Event, and IEM Season X – Shenzhen among his accomplishments.
Classic competed at EWC last year as well representing Saudia Arabian organisation Twisted Minds and only faired slightly better than Astrea, winning his first series in the Knockouts before then being eliminated in the subsequent Quarterfinals.
Still, Virtus.pro CEO Nikolai Petrossian has faith in their new signee: “A year ago, we attempted to revive our legacy in StarCraft II, but the circumstances weren’t in our favor. Now, we’re returning with a more accomplished player who boasts an impressive track record, including top-tier tournament victories. We expect Classic to qualify for the Esports World Cup and deliver a strong performance at the event itself, as well as at other major competitions within the esports ecosystem.”
The StarCraft event at EWC 2025 will take place between July 22-25 during Week 3 of the event. You can find a full breakdown of the tournament’s schedule here.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
