Shoke commented on the dissolution of CYBERSHOKE Esports’ CS roster: “We’ve been stuck in the same place for two years now.”

Nothing has changed since 2023. I’m obsessed with getting CYBERSHOKE stickers in the game. It’s just a childish whim, really. But it’s a mature and conscious one, involving a real fight for a dream. After all, I could have always just bought someone else’s roster that’s qualifying for the World Championship. True, there were a few such offers. But that’s absolutely not it—I wouldn’t get any satisfaction out of it, and the audience can sense that. That kind of insincerity won’t fly. If I did that, it would mean I’ve completely given up—let’s just put that on the record. Why do I want stickers? For CYBERSHOKE, this is the perfect way to promote the project. People will be talking about us; we’ll be constantly in the media spotlight; by winning tournaments, we’ll drive traffic to our website; people outside the CIS will learn about our esports clubs—and eventually, they’ll learn about me, too.

This whole damn race started in 2023 with flamie on the roster. It was interesting for you to watch this growth—very interesting, in fact—but there were no results for the first six months, or the second six. We couldn’t even make it into the top 100 teams in the world. I won’t even mention the majors. We had bad luck with staff, with players, and with visa issues. There were complications with everything. The roster changed—twice, then a third time. Over the course of three years, 28 people passed through our ranks. For example, Spirit has had only 25 players in 10 years. But by the way, just to put things in perspective, it took the “Dragons” about three years to make it into the world’s top 20 teams. So this year, we would have been on par with Spirit, but it didn’t work out for us. Our highest ranking was 48th in the world. But to make it to a Major, you need to be roughly in the top 25. <...> I think a lot of people were interested in my team back in 2023, when I also took a seat and announced that flamie would be playing on my team. Yes, the very same one from NAVI, the near-world champion. And I was really excited about it myself. But when I walk down the street and my followers see me, that’s all they talk about. Great product, great CYBERSHOKE, great media, good channel. But never a word about the team. They weren’t interested in those consecutive losses. My videos about how everything’s going badly. And right then, I realize that for me, it’s the same thing. It’s not interesting to me either. Unfortunately, my team’s content isn’t just irrational in terms of spending—it’s also pointless for a media blogger. It’s pointless for promoting a project that specializes in CS training. I mean, how can a CS training project have a team that hasn’t been able to qualify for a major in three years? Top 60, top 40. We’ve been stuck in the same spot for two years now. No, thankfully, we’re not in the top 200.

I’m already hooked on this. I enjoy watching how the team plays. It’s interesting to observe all of this. And at some point, I believe there will be that group of five that I’ll be excited to watch. Like with the academy team, for example. After this video, there will be news everywhere that the team has been disbanded, and that’s a fact. Right now, our task is to see what happens next. There definitely won’t be any news for two months. We’ll keep an eye on the market and see what we can do. There’s also the option of returning to the academy. The contract explicitly states the possibility of a second buyout at the same price we sold for. But overall, we’ll look at all the options available on the market.

Over 9 months, that’s $245,000. Tournament expenses. In August we spent $0, but in September we spent $15,000 because there were two tournaments, if I’m not mistaken. We had to buy tickets, arrange lodging, and possibly obtain visas for certain countries. It’s interesting how it works out for us: one month we don’t do anything, and the very next month there’s a tournament. That’s additional spending. Every month, we have expenses ranging from $2,000 to $4,000. For example, a player’s mouse broke. Well, we can’t just tell him to deduct it from his salary—it’s our responsibility to provide for him. Upgrade his computer, get him some hardware. Look, this is a huge amount of money for my team, but for Tier 1 teams—like NAVI or Spirit—well, it’s just pocket change. I’m just telling you how it all works. Two boot camps: $16,000 in January and $13,000 in July. We used to have boot camps in Serbia, but now they’ve moved to St. Petersburg and Moscow, so everything’s much cheaper. Well, just so you know, a similar bootcamp in Serbia would cost about 30. Tournament entry fees. We play in VRS tournaments, where you have to pay a $3,000 entry fee. Plus, you spend money on flights, lodging, and so on. <...> We spent $45,000 on transfers. I don’t even want to think about it anymore. I mean, I’ve distanced myself so much from this whole thing. I don’t even know who we signed. Honestly, I stopped being involved with this team back in June. I was just watching—I was just like you guys. Well, you probably weren’t even watching, but I had to. ...> The question is, can we recoup all this money? I don’t think so. If we had 3–4 sponsors, it would have broken even. But let me remind you—we have zero.

We still have one tournament left that we didn’t finish. “Markovka” [Refers to WINLINE MPKBK CIS LAN Season 9. — Ed.] with a $50,000 prize pool in Moscow on October 20. So what should we do about it? And at some point, I start thinking. I’ve already played in the academy. What if I play in CYBERSHOKE’s final tournament as part of the main roster myself, as the fifth player?