Donk: Staying at the Top Is Spirit’s Biggest Challenge

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets warned that Spirit’s biggest challenge will be staying at the top after the team beat MOUZ to win BLAST Open Porto in Portugal and after he was named the tournament MVP.

Spirit faced MOUZ in the grand final and completed a dominant run through the bracket. Donk said the squad controlled the series across all four maps.

The Porto win avenged an earlier defeat to MOUZ at BLAST Bounty S2 this season. Donk credited improvements across the roster and problem-solving inside the team for the more comfortable result in Portugal, and noted Boris “magixx” Vorobiev is calling strategies as the in-game leader.

On maintaining results, donk warned: “The hardest part of being at the top is staying at the top.” He added that Katowice EPL next month will be the next measure of the team’s form.

Donk described the Porto victory as special because MOUZ had been the only top opponent the lineup had not beaten. “It’s an amazing feeling because it was the last team that we have not beaten yet,” he said, and pointed out that Spirit has already beaten several of the season’s leading teams.

Reflecting on the earlier loss, donk acknowledged MOUZ had been working hard and had sharp new players, which made the prior defeat deserved. He said Spirit had fixed problems since then and improved as a unit. “We were dominating all four maps,” he noted of the final.

Asked about lifting the trophy, he responded, “I don’t know,” and later said he prefers to watch his teammates celebrate.

Spirit will compete at the Katowice EPL event in about a month, where the team will test whether recent results represent sustained form.