Every once in a while, the candle of Counter-Strike 2 is rekindled by a great team, a great tournament, or a great player. This month, we had the opportunity to witness all three of them at IEM Katowice.
The tournament was won by Team Spirit, who had never won an S-tier tournament in Counter-Strike since their inception back in 2016. To claim the title at IEM Katowice, one of the most prestigious events in all of Counter-Strike, is quite an achievement.
The best teams and players attend the tournament every year and defeating them is not easy. Especially if you’re an underdog who has never won a big LAN event. But, when you have players like Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, everything is much easier.
Team Spirit’s Victory at IEM Katowice
Spirit entered the tournament in the play-in stage, where they dismantled Apeks (13 – 0) and then won a tough match against The MongolZ. The map score was 2 – 0, but at a closer look you can see that Spirit struggled on the second map and needed overtime rounds to win it. The scores were 2 – 13 on Mirage and 14 – 16 on Ancient.
In the group stage, Spirit encountered Natus Vincere (2 – 1), Complexity (2 – 0), and FaZe Clan (2 – 0). These three matches clearly proved that they were now the biggest favorite in the race despite starting as an underdog.
The results weren’t just positive. They were convincing. Apart from the second map against Na’Vi, which was lost 11 – 13, Spirit won every single map decisively. The scores are listed below:
- 13 – 7 on Ancient against Natus Vincere
- 13 – 4 on Mirage against Natus Vincere
- 13 – 3 on Ancient against Complexity
- 13 – 5 on Overpass against Complexity
- 13 – 10 on Mirage against FaZe Clan
- 13 – 5 on Nuke against FaZe Clan
As you can see, Spirit had almost zero problems in winning every map and qualifying for the playoffs. In this final stage of IEM Katowice, they played against Team Falcons (2 – 0) and FaZe Clan (3 – 0). Each time, their performance was stellar.
Donk’s Performance
Team Spirit clearly has a solid strategy. But that strategy wouldn’t work without two players: donk and Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov. In the last three years, sh1ro was ranked 4th, 3rd, and 8th at the individual level in Counter-Strike. So you would think that he was the mastermind behind Spirit’s success. But that is not the case.
The greatest player on the server, in every single case, was donk. Here are his performances throughout the tournament:
- Vs. Apeks: 18 – 5 KD / 133.8 ADR / 2.24 rating 2.0
- Vs. The MongolZ: 47 – 33 / 102.2 / 1.47
- Vs. Natus Vincere: 57 – 36 / 100.5 / 1.49
- Vs. Complexity: 38 – 22 / 105.3 / 1.66
- Vs. FaZe Clan: 48 – 24 / 120.5 / 1.83
- Vs. Team Falcons: 36 – 23 / 94.7 / 1.64
- Vs. FaZe Clan: 82 – 40 / 124.0 / 1.93
Clearly, donk is quickly becoming one of the best players in CS2.
Header image credit: ESL
