The Russian star was looking for a new challenge following his dismissal from Virtus.pro, who found in Mykhailo "kane" Blagin a better option for the fifth spot.

ForZe had been linked with roster changes for quite some time now after subpar displays in several local tournaments.

Filimonchenko is delighted to have joined the ranks of forZe, and believes that his new squad will mount a serious challenge in upcoming tournaments.

"When we arrived at the airport two days ago after showmatches in Kaliningrad, LeX and the other guys from Virtus.pro came to me and told me that I would be released from the team for unintelligible reasons," he told GotFrag.com.

"I respect their decision, they have decided their way by themselves."

"I know all the guys from forZe very well, I have been through a lot with them and I believe in them, so I think there is nothing else to say, our results will show everything."

ForZe's captain, Andrey "XomA" Mironenko, is confident that this addition will strengthen the team, saying: "We had some problems with a fifth player for a long time, we tried a lot of different players, but when the news about Sally's release came to us, we knew that he had to be our fifth player.

"He is friends with everyone in the team and he is a really skilled and talented player. We will try to get back the support of our fans and show great results."

ForZe has now the following line-up:

Andrey "XomA" Mironenko
Boris "Snoop" Podvalshchikov
Aleksey "HEL1" Novikov
Ivan "F_1N" Kochugov
Viktor "Sally" Filimonchenko