tN1R Credits Mental Work, Psychologist After Astana Win

Spirit completed a 3-0 sweep of Falcons to win the PGL Astana grand final in Astana, securing the team’s first trophy in nine months. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets earned tournament MVP honors with a 1.61 rating.

Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich linked his recent uptick in performance to focused mental work and regular meetings with Spirit’s sports psychologist. The Belarusian rifler joined Spirit from HEROIC late last year and said an experience at IEM Rio gave him renewed confidence that he has worked to maintain: “I got this confidence, and after this, I’m just trying to keep it and work on the stuff.”

tN1R described the psychologist’s role as a place to clear his head and improve how he communicates with teammates. He explained that discussing his thoughts with the psychologist helps him reset and perform more consistently on the server: “Always when I have some thoughts or something like that, I can talk with him about all this stuff. And then I’m just refreshing my mind, and it’s easier for me to work and communicate with my teammates.”

Spirit went 3-0 in the Swiss stage, with a few close matches early, then posted stronger results in the playoff bracket before the final. tN1R said the opening map of the final started poorly for him and donk, but a successful pistol round shifted momentum. “After the pistol round when I was just hiding and kill a lot of people, I’m just starting to feel my confidence,” he recalled. He added that teammates contributed across maps to secure the win.

On Mirage, the second map, Spirit executed a prepared plan for Falcons’ pick. The third map stayed largely under Spirit’s control, though the team allowed a few rounds where the opponent secured anti-force wins as Spirit pushed to close the match.

tN1R said the Astana trophy should help the team ahead of the upcoming Major, noting the squad will begin the event in the second stage and enter later rounds with more match practice. The win marked a return to the winner’s circle for Spirit after a period without trophies.