2023 marked Danil “donk” Kryshkovets’ debut in CS2. In just six months, his skill level went from great of legendary. By the time the IEM Katowice took place in February 2024, donk was already a superstar.
Despite being just 17 years old at the time, his performance at this event was one of the best in the history of Counter-Strike. Everything he did looked unbelievable. He basically won the trophy for Team Spirit on his own.
We’re talking about a team that started the year being ranked 13th globally. Back in July 2023, when donk joined, they were ranked 40th. To go from zero to hero in such a short time requires a lot more than hard work. Without a player like donk, this would have not been possible.
Why Donk Won The Best CS2 Player of the Year Award
Apart from the trophy he won for his team at IEM Katowice and the MVP that he received for his performance, donk did a lot of other impressive things in 2024.
Usually, we remember the beginning and the end much better than the rest, which is why everyone knows donk as the IEM Katowice MVP and also as the Shanghai Major MVP. But his contribution was huge in most of the other tournaments too. The only problem is that his teammates were simply not ready for him.
When you’re just another top 20 team, you don’t really think about winning trophies. But when one of your teammates is donk, you need to start performing at an entirely new level to support his ambitions and potential.
In 2024, Team Spirit finished 2nd at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade #1, 1st at BLAST Premier Spring Final, 1st at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade #2, and 2nd at BLAST Premier World Final. When you combine these results with the two epic trophies they won, it’s not a surprise that donk was named the best CS2 player of the year.
The 2nd and 3rd place were won by Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov from G2 Esports and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut from Team Vitality. For ZywOo, this is the first time since 2019 that he has missed the top two positions.
