IEM Katowice champions go out in last place at Cologne.
The first season of 2024 was dominated by discussion about Team Spirit and their prodigal rifler Danil "donk" Kryshkovets. However, the discussion remained mostly hypothetical owing to the lack of Team Spirit at various S-tier events. This season should've been a chance to establish the Spirit dominance, starting with a win at IEM Cologne.
We were a little bit tilted after we lost Ancient and we couldnt really handle the problems we had.
It's not inside the game, [...] we're just not on the server, we just have to wake up.
Unfortunately, the reality of CS has gone in a very different direction. Spirit's EWC showing was uninspiring, and the BLAST groups pitted them against much weaker opposition. And yesterday's loss to TheMongolz was a massive blow. The team, by their own admission, gave up on the second map.
"Everything went wrong. [...] The preparation we had for [these] three tournaments is not enough." - G2 Snax
G2's own loss to SAW was disappointing, too, sending them to a lower bracket match against Spirit to decide who continues in IEM Cologne. But in today's match, it was clear which side was going to bounce back from the get-go.
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IEM Cologne Rosters - Spirit vs G2
G2 Esports | Team Spirit |
|---|---|
| Nikola "NiKo" Kovač | Leonid "chopper" Vishnyakov |
| Nemanja "huNter-" Kovač | Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov |
| Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov | Boris "magixx" Vorobiev |
| Janusz "Snax" Pogorzelski | Myroslav "zont1x" Plakhotia |
| Mario "malbsMd" Samayoa | Danil "donk" Kryshkovets |
| Wiktor "TaZ" Wojtas (C) | Sergey "hally" Shavaev (C) |
The match started off on Nuke with huNter- putting on an absolute masterclass on the CT side. The rifle managed 20 kills in the first half, posting his best-ever Nuke rating. Team Spirit managed just 3 rounds across the whole half, and G2 smashed their way through the T-side to close the map 13-3. Spirit was on the verge of being eliminated from IEM Cologne and showed no signs of life.
Despite a 13-3 already being their worst LAN loss, Spirit's Mirage showing was somehow worse. G2, now starting on the T-side, put together a 4 round streak off the pistol. Spirit then mustered a singular round on retake before G2 annihilated them, taking a 13-1 victory to close out the match.
What went wrong for Spirit at IEM Cologne?
Donk's post-match interview summarised the situation quite well. When asked where Team Spirit was in the past two days, his simple reply was, "Not on the Server." When Spirit won the IEM Katowice, it was a massive performance across the board. At later events, their deep runs can have a star missing from matches, but when the whole team vanishes into thin air, there isn't much tactically that you can point to.
All Spirit can do now is regroup, put IEM Cologne in the rear-view mirrors, and get back on the grind. For the team earmarked to win the Shanghai Major, everything must fit back into the well-drilled Chopper-hally system.
Featured Image via Viola Schuldner and ESL
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