After both teams qualified for the semi-finals by winning their respective groups during the group stage, Spirt and NaVi took the stage in the OVO Arena in London in front of a packed crowd of Counter-Strike fans.
.@TEAM__SPIRIT ARE YOUR SPRING FINAL CHAMPIONS PRESENTED BY @REVOLUTAPP
#BLASTPremier pic.twitter.com/ODv6RT81R4
— BLAST Premier
(@BLASTPremier) June 16, 2024
The series kicked off on Ancient, which was picked by Spirit, and it was the Russian squad that sprinted ahead to claim the first six rounds and take a 10-2 lead at halftime on their terrorist side.
However, NaVi found their feet after halftime and came roaring back to 9-11, but it would be an eco-round where Spirit claimed an unlikely victory to secure a map point before closing out the map in the following round.
On NaVi��s pick of Dust2, Spirit started strong again, as they won the opening five rounds before NaVi picked up their first.
Going into halftime, the map was evenly placed at 7-5 in the favour of Spirit, with Dmitry ��sh1ro�� Sokolov and Danil ��donk�� Kryshkovets leading the way.
Unfortunately for the Aleksi ��Aleksib�� Virolainen-led squad, they would make a comeback in the second half to level the scoreline at 9-apiece but would go on to lose the next four rounds and go down 0-2 in the series.
With their tournament lives on the line, Natus Vincere headed to Spirit’s second map pick of Mirage, and it was do-or-die for the world number six.
Whatever Andrey ��B1ad3�� Gorodenskiy said to his team in between maps two and three appeared to have resonated with the squad, as NaVi came out firing early and won the first nine rounds before taking a 10-2 halftime lead following a near-flawless counter-terrorist side.
It only took the Copenhagen Major champions five rounds to close out the map and take the series score to 2-1 heading into their map pick of Nuke.
Although NaVi opened with a 3-1 lead on their terrorist side, it would be donk and Myroslav ��zont1x�� Plakhotia that would pull Spirit back into the contest and secure a hard-fought 7-5 halftime advantage.
That momentum continued for Spirit, and they only needed seven rounds to close out the series with a 13-6 scoreline on the fourth and final map.
BLAST Premier Spring Final MVP
pic.twitter.com/ULqtwOIUuK
— Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) June 16, 2024
Following an ultra-consistent tournament where he averaged a 1.33 rating, donk was awarded the HLTV Most Valuable Player at the Spring Final as he topped the charts in the following categories: Average Damage per Round (92.8), Kills Per Round (0.88) and Impact (1.45).
In both of Team Spirit��s tournament victories at IEM Katowice and the Spring Final, donk has claimed the MVP, and even though he is only 17 years old, donk continues to impress not only his fans but his peers with his outstanding performances.
]]>— Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) January 18, 2024
This setback has prompted Spirit to make changes, with coach Sergey “hally” Shavaev and Team Spirit Academy player Oleg “baz” Kulynych stepping in as replacements for the Counter-Strike tournament in Copenhagen from January 22�C28.
The announcement was made via Team Spirit’s official Telegram channel, expressing regret that the promising rookies, especially donk, won’t be able to attend their first top-tier LAN event with the newly-formed lineup that recently acquired Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov.
With the duo’s absence, fans will have to wait until the IEM Katowice Play-In stage starts on January 31 to witness the official LAN debut of the revamped Team Spirit roster.
The timing of the visa issues is particularly unfortunate, coming just before the PGL Copenhagen Major qualifier is set to begin on February 14 in Bucharest.
Despite the setback, the team is gearing up for their first official match in the European RMR closed qualifiers, where they’ll face KOI.
This will serve as a crucial test for the new line-up, which has been generating significant hype since the acquisition of sh1ro last month from Cloud9, replacing Artem “ArtFr0st” Kharitonov.
Donk’s absence, in particular, is a significant loss for Team Spirit.
The 16-year-old player made a remarkable impact after being promoted from the organization’s academy in July 2023, showcasing impressive performances with a 1.35 rating and 1.51 impact rating during the latter half of the year.
He proved doubters wrong by excelling on LAN, contributing to Spirit’s victories in events like PARI Dunav Party and BetBoom Dacha, where they defeated formidable teams like FURIA, MIBR, and Virtus.pro to clinch the title.
As Team Spirit faces this unexpected hurdle, fans are left eagerly anticipating their performance in IEM Katowice and hoping for a swift resolution to the visa issues that have disrupted their plans for BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024.
]]>In a historic turn of events, Team Spirit accomplished a remarkable reverse sweep against Virtus.pro in the grand final, a feat unprecedented in the entire history of Counter-Strike.
Initially facing adversity on Overpass (8�C13) and Ancient (9�C13), Spirit showcased resilience, staging a comeback on Vertigo (13�C3) and Mirage (13-5) to level the series.
The decisive map on Anubis (16�C13) was marred by technical issues, adding an extra layer of tension.
Virtus.pro, initially dominant on the first two maps, appeared to lose momentum after standout performances by David “n0rb3r7” Danielyan and Evgenii “FL1T” Lebedev.
However, the young trio of Artem “ArtFr0st” Kharitonov, Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia, and the 16-year-old Danil “donk” Kryshkovets stepped up for Team Spirit, securing the epic reverse sweep.
The series commenced on Overpass, with Virtus.pro securing a comfortable 13-8 victory.
Ancient followed suit, with Virtus.pro’s Dzhami “Jame” Ali and team displaying strong fundamentals for a 13-9 win.
However, the tables turned on Vertigo and Mirage, as Spirit’s young talents dominated duels while Virtus.pro struggled, especially on their T sides.
The Anubis decider brought more drama, with Spirit overcoming initial setbacks.
A pivotal tech issue struck Virtus.pro’s n0rb3r7, allowing Spirit to force overtime and eventually clinch the victory.
The young rifler donk received the MVP award, boasting an impressive average rating of 1.31 over 13 maps.
Reverse sweep completed
@Team__Spirit defeat @virtuspro 3-2 and win #BetBoomDacha 2023! pic.twitter.com/oDufkgR6S4
— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) December 10, 2023
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All three of the players will join from the Team Spirit Academy with Danil ��donk�� Kryshkovets, Artem ��ArtFr0st�� Kharitonow and Myroslav ��zont1x�� Plakhotia making their transition to the Spirit A team.
The Team Spirit Academy has been performing at a high level in recent times, defeating tier one teams such as Apex, Monte, SAW and FORZE in the European ESL Challenger League Season 45 before the player break, where they finished second overall.
Donk will be making his professional debut as a 16-year-old, after recording a career rating of 1.17 while playing with the Team Spirit Academy, which has established him as one of the brightest young talents in the CS:GO scene.
As for zont1x, he will be making his professional debut at 17, which will make chopper the oldest player on the team at 26, and bring the average age of the roster down to 20.
Team Spirit tweeted a statement from CS:GO coach Sergey “hally” Shavaev after announcing their new roster.
��The trio from Team Spirit Academy performed well last season and now is the time to give the young players a chance to prove themselves at the highest level,�� Shavaev said.
��When we were assembling the new Team Spirit roster, it was impossible to pass by the young players who had achieved impressive results last season.
��They showed maturity and initiative during the tests, and we needed more voices within the game �C that��s why they are in the core.
��The fun part lies ahead: we need to make the team work as a unit.��
— Team Spirit (@Team__Spirit) July 5, 2023
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