The public dispute between Aurimas “Bymas” Pipiras and his former organization, Monte, has escalated. Just minutes after Bymas accused Monte of owing him tens of thousands of dollars, the organization fired back on two fronts. First, Monte left a pointed comment under his post. Then, it released a video giving its own detailed account of the roster’s departure.
Why does this matter? Because both sides are now telling very different stories about the same events, and the disagreement goes far beyond money. It touches contract timing, agent conduct, and internal team communication.
How The Feud Started
Bymas played for Monte from mid-2025 until his contract expired in June 2026. Around that time, Luminosity Gaming opened talks with “Monte core.” That group included Bymas, Oscar “AZUWU” Bell, and Aurélien “afro” Drapier. Luminosity confirmed the signings in early July 2026. Bymas, afro, and AZUWU joined on free transfers once their Monte deals expired. Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov required a buyout instead, since his contract had not yet run out.
Days before those signings became official, Monte announced it was searching for investors. The club tied that financial strain directly to losing its roster without receiving transfer fees. This backdrop set the stage for Bymas’s public statement, in which he claimed Monte still owes him money from tournament prizes, sticker revenue, salaries, and bonuses.
Monte’s Video Response
Monte answered with a video featuring Dmytro Vovk, the organization’s CEO, and Vladyslav, Monte’s SMM manager. The pair walked through their version of events leading up to and following the Major.
According to the video, the trouble started two days after Monte’s final match at the Major. Denys Yashniev, the team’s manager, reportedly called to warn that the organization was about to be blindsided. Within an hour, he called again to say it had already happened. Vovk says it took a few more days for him to conclude the club had actually been misled. The video claims that afro, Bymas, and AZUWU had signed new contracts with Luminosity before the Major even finished, despite months of ongoing renewal talks with Monte. Monte says it asked the players directly whether they had signed elsewhere, and the players denied it at the time.
The hosts gave a rough contract timeline. Talks over one player’s renewal with afro began in March, with his deal running through July. Talks with Bymas reportedly began in April, and with AZUWU in early May. Monte said it had actually considered not renewing AZUWU at all, since it viewed him as a weaker player, until he performed well at the Major. In the same video, Vovk criticized Bymas for what he called a weak mentality during his time at the club, and criticized AZUWU’s overall play despite that strong Major showing.
Monte says it did not know the players’ destination was specifically Luminosity, even after asking directly. The detail that convinced the club the offer was genuine, rather than a tactic to drive up salary demands, was the reported pay range at Luminosity: 15,000 to 20,000 dollars per month.
Competing Accounts Of The Exit
The two accounts differ sharply on responsibility. Monte’s video argues that the club treated its players too generously, and should have forced firm contract deadlines earlier. As a result, players had room to negotiate secretly with other teams while still competing under Monte’s banner, according to the video.
The hosts also alleged that the three players’ agents coordinated privately, and that Monte only learned of the finalized Luminosity deal after it was already signed. They claimed Rainwaker’s buyout was handled separately and later than the other transfers, since his contract had not expired yet, and that AZUWU’s signing came under pressure from other players and his agent rather than his own preference. According to the video, AZUWU received no signing bonus and did not want to leave; when Vovk called him afterward, AZUWU reportedly cried during the conversation. These claims come only from Monte’s side and have not been independently verified.
The video also referenced the team’s coach, Kakafu. According to Monte, once Kakafu learned what the departing players had done, he told them directly that they were acting wrongly. The video did not offer further detail on how the players responded to that confrontation. Monte adds that Kakafu was not part of the original arrangement and joined the departing group later, once Luminosity needed a coach.
Bymas, meanwhile, maintains that unresolved payment problems, not opportunism, drove the decision to leave. He says he has not received tournament prize money since 2025, and that monthly salaries and bonuses have gone unpaid for an extended period. He also says the coach and other former players are still owed money.
Monte’s comment under Bymas’s original post offered a different framing of the payment issue. It read in part: “Good text. You can tell it was approved by the agent. A two-week delay in salary payments is, of course, incredibly critical and painful…” That comment suggests Monte views the payment delays as shorter and less severe than Bymas describes, though neither side has published documentation to settle the discrepancy.
Player Backgrounds And The Agents Involved
The video gave additional context on each player’s standing before the move. Vovk said afro had not played competitively for six months and had dropped to a lower-tier. AZUWU, according to Monte, had limited experience at a high competitive level. Rainwaker had gone a month without a team after his previous roster, “500,” disbanded, with no invitations during that stretch.
Monte claims Rainwaker knew about the broader plan but stayed quiet, waiting for his own buyout to go through. The club also suggested Luminosity signed AZUWU partly as insurance, in case Monte refused to release Rainwaker from his still-active contract.
In the video drew a parallel to afro’s past, saying a similar situation happened to him at FNATIC in 2024, when he was left out of Major competition and paid only for personal sticker sales rather than team-wide payouts. Vovk noted that afro had originally joined Monte saying he wanted to finish his career there and retire comfortably.
Monte’s video names three agencies it holds responsible for facilitating the move: KnacksPro, ULTI Agency, and JAM Management. These claims about agent conduct come only from Monte’s side and have not been independently verified.
Where Things Stand Now
Both parties agree the roster split was contentious, even if they disagree on the cause. Monte’s video also touched on Gizmy, the team’s in-game leader, saying he learned about the other players’ departures several days after management did, despite previously turning down outside offers to stay with the organization, including from tier-1 club 100 Thieves.
After the Major, he continued writing in the team chat about future plans, unaware he would not be joining the others at Luminosity. He reportedly asked teammates, “Guys, what’s going on with your contracts? Other clubs are messaging me.” Teammates then called him on TeamSpeak and explained the situation, which Vovk says left him in shock. Monte suggested he was affected by the situation, without disputing Bymas’s claim that the coach is still owed compensation.
Looking ahead, Monte said in the video that it has secured some new partners, though an investor deal is still in progress. The organization also hinted that at least one former Monte player could return in a future roster, without naming who, and has officially confirmed it will remain in Counter-Strike 2 while building a new lineup.
For Bymas, the immediate context has shifted too. Luminosity benched him on 24 August 2026 after a winless start to the team’s CS2 return. That timing means the payment dispute and the benching are now unfolding side by side, keeping both Bymas and Monte in the spotlight for different reasons. Neither side has provided documentation to independently verify the exact amounts owed or the precise sequence of the contract talks, so key parts of the dispute remain each party’s word against the other’s.
