Team Spirit entered BLAST Bounty Spring as the winners of the Shanghai Major and the best team in CS2. Everyone expected them to do well.
Before the Grand Final even began, it was obvious that Eternal Fire would not be able to stop them. But they did win the first map despite being led 4 – 12. After this monumental comeback, the fans wondered whether Spirit’s morale was crushed or not.
They soon discovered that Danil “donk” Kryshkovets and his crew could not be demoralized that easily. In their minds, this was obviously a fluke. On top of that, Anubis was Eternal Fire’s map pick, not theirs. So they could afford to lose on it in a best-of-five.
On the next three maps, Spirit played in a way that made us think they took it personally. In each case, the battle was practically won after the first half: 2 – 10 on Nuke, 1 – 11 on Dust II, and 4 – 8 on Mirage.
Spirit’s Path To The Trophy
Team Spirit encountered Fnatic and FlyQuest in the Closed Qualifier and won both matches without losing a single map.
At the actual tournament, their opponents were HEROIC, Natus Vincere, and Eternal Fire. Against HEROIC, they had won 4 out of 4 matches in 2024. Against Natus Vincere, they had won 5 out of 6. As for EF, they aren’t even in the top 10, so their odds against the world’s best team were obviously slim.
On paper, every match should have been easy. But all three teams fought hard and managed to create some problems for Spirit.
HEROIC lost the first map 13 – 11 and had a huge advantage after the first half: 3 – 9. Natus Vincere lost 9 – 13 on Dust II and 20 – 22 on Ancient. Eternal Fire, as I mentioned before, made a great comeback on the first map and won in overtime.
After the Grand Final, donk was named the MVP of the tournament for the 7th time in his career.
