IEM Rio Major profile: Spirit

The Russians took the world by storm in Antwerp, but can they replicate their Cinderella run from the previous Major at IEM Rio?

Spirit was one of the surprise stories at PGL Major Antwerp, making it all the way to the semi-finals despite being the youngest team at the competition with an average age of 20.7 years. Their Cinderella run came to an end against eventual champions FaZe, but not before giving the tournament favorites a run for their money in two thrilling maps.

Four out of five members of the team that placed 3rd-4th at the previous Major are still on the lineup, with the exception of Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov who was replaced by Ihor "⁠w0nderful⁠" Zhdanov back in June. The young Ukrainian is starting to shine with Spirit and was a key player in the team's trophy-lifting campaign at Flow FiReLEAGUE Global Finals.

Before that Spirit had a superb run at the Europe Regional Major Ranking tournament, where they finished in fourth place with a 3-1 record to qualify directly to the IEM Rio Legends Stage. The squad's lone defeat came at the hands of Sprout, but the Russians eventually made up for it by qualifying to the Major and even followed it up with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Cloud9 in the fourth-place decider.

Humble beginnings

Spirit are enjoying their most successful period in CS:GO, but this wasn't always the case. The organization made its first appearance in the competitive scene back in June 2016 after signing the Phenomenon roster led by Vadim "⁠DavCost⁠" Vasilyev. Though the team bagged strong results at lower-tier events and local qualifiers, they never quite hit their stride against the world's best. Spirit's most successful outings in that period were second-place finishes at the CIS Minor Championship - ELEAGUE 2017 and StarLadder ImbaTV Invitational Chongqing 2018.

Two years after their entry to the game, Spirit finally found themselves among the top-24 stage of a Major for the first time, when they placed second at the CIS Minor Championships for the FACEIT Major in London. The lineup remained mostly unchanged from its original iteration as DavCost, Pavlo "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko, Dmitry "⁠S0tF1k⁠" Forostyanko, and Dmitriy "⁠Dimaoneshot⁠" Bandurka were still competing for the organization, which made Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev the only non-founding member on the roster.

Qualifying for the London Major's New Challengers Stage was an achievement on its own and Spirit had a tough task ahead of them if they wanted to progress further in the competition. They dropped their opening game to Vega Squadron after Igor "⁠crush⁠" Shevchenko's crew successfully pulled off a nine-round comeback in the second half to claim the 16-14 win. Spirit immediately bounced back and scored victories in their next two outings against North and Rogue, which put them one match away from the Legends Stage. It wasn't meant to be for the Russians, though, as they got destroyed by Astralis in the 2-1 pool before losing 0-2 to TYLOO in a series in which the final map went to triple-overtime.

DavCost was at the helm during Spirit's early days

From then on, Spirit struggled to find any success at the events they participated in with their next notable result being second place at the CIS Minor for IEM Katowice 2019. That year's first Major marked the last hurrah for the original lineup, as DavCost and Dimaoneshot left the team shortly after Spirit were eliminated from the Challengers Stage without a single win. Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and Artem "⁠iDISBALANCE⁠" Egorov took over for the outgoing veterans, and in September of 2019 the last two players from the original roster, COLDYY1 and S0tF1k, were replaced by Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev and Nikolay "⁠mir⁠" Bityukov.

When the game shifted to an online setting due to the global pandemic, Spirit's fortunes changed, as the team found consistent top three placings at multiple events from late 2020 to early 2021. They entered the new year with a lot of promise and optimism alongside their new up-and-coming AWPer, degster, and finished in a remarkable 3rd-4th place at IEM Katowice after making it through the play-in and topping Group A.

The Russians built on their largely successful Katowice campaign and hit a peak of sixth in the world ranking, but with LAN events slowly coming back after a yearlong absence, Spirit couldn't keep up the momentum. They got knocked out in the Challengers Stage at PGL Stockholm and the organization made a series of roster moves that ushered in a new era for the team.

Investing in youth

The first set of changes within the lineup involved two of the most experienced players, mir and chopper, being placed on the transfer list as Aleksandr "⁠KaiR0N-⁠" Anashkin and Robert "⁠Patsi⁠" Isyanov moved up from the academy team to the main squad. sdy, who had been with Spirit for over four years, also departed the team in January 2022.

The new lineup was formed around degster and magixx, two players coach Sergey "⁠hally⁠" Shavaev had experience with during their time on Espada and Spirit's five-man squad was eventually completed in February after the team promoted Pavel "⁠S1ren⁠" Ogloblin from Spirit Academy while chopper was brought back on to be the veteran voice of such a young team.

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After a rebuild and a relocation, Spirit's bet on youth is starting to pay off

KaiR0N- was ultimately left out of the squad after a short stint with the main lineup, which magixx explained was due to a difference in play style and role clashes with Patsi. "He was sad when he had to play anchor positions, which aren't for him, and that's why he didn't settle in. At some point, it was in his hands to get used to these positions, but you can see the outcome, he's not in the team and he's not with us."

Success didn't immediately follow the revamped roster's completion, as Spirit missed out on the Pinnacle Winter Series 2 main event after placing 9-11th at the regional qualifiers. They bounced back at their next online competition, Malta Vibes Knockout Series 6, where they bagged a first-place finish and gained crucial momentum ahead of their biggest test yet, the RMR qualifiers. Spirit fell short of an RMR spot in their first qualifier after getting knocked out by OG in the quarter-finals, but struck gold on their next try by placing runners-up at the second open qualifier.

Antwerp run and the journey to Rio

Spirit had their backs against the wall at the Europe RMR tournament after falling to the 1-2 pool early on, which put them a loss away from elimination. Despite their lack of experience in such high-stakes scenarios, chopper drove his side to back-to-back best-of-three victories against Endpoint and Anonymo to grab the final Challengers Stage spot on offer. The Russians became the youngest team to qualify for PGL Antwerp and the youngest side among the top 30 in the world ranking at the time. "The next step on the roadmap is only upwards. Making the Major was huge because the RMR was the team's first big LAN together, and it was the first big LAN for Patsi and s1ren, who had no experience," chopper stated.

Just like the captain himself said, it was only upwards for Spirit from there, although not without turbulence. Coach hally was handed a ban just days before the Major and had to miss the team's biggest event to date. That didn't stop the young squad and they secured a Legends Stage spot with a 3-1 Challengers Stage record, defeating Imperial, Eternal Fire, and Astralis in the process. Their successful run through the preliminary round was already an achievement for the organization, who had previously never broken through to the top 16.

chopper's high-flying crew came back from 5-10 deficits against both FURIA and HEROIC to claim a 2-0 record in the Legends Stage before going head-to-head with Copenhagen Flames, another underdog chasing the playoff dream. The Danes took the first map, which immediately put Spirit at a disadvantage, but the Major's youngest side were undeterred and scored convincing victories on Mirage and Ancient to finish the Legends Stage with a perfect 3-0 record.

Spirit stood tall against the most formidable opponents in the world at the PGL Major in Antwerp

Spirit's first playoff challenger was a vengeful FURIA squad they defeated a week prior. The Russians drew first blood and won their opponents' map pick, Nuke, after a tightly-contested bout, and dominated as the defenders on Ancient to advance to the semi-finals. The team they faced off next against was a red-hot FaZe which, at the time, had not been defeated at an international LAN event since the addition of Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool to the lineup in January 2022.

While Spirit ultimately fell short against the international powerhouse following three sets of extra time in a thrilling second map, they left their mark on the global stage and showed that even the youngest and least experienced team can go toe-to-toe with giants. The Russians' newfound success came to a screeching halt, though, as they experienced a post-Major drop in form when degster stepped down from the team a month after their Antwerp campaign. Spirit's woes continued after the summer break, but they returned to form at the most crucial time, finishing fourth at the IEM Rio RMR and securing a spot at the Legends Stage.

Spirit now head into Brazil's first-ever Major with four members from the squad that pulled off the miracle run in Antwerp, and their aim is a return to the playoffs. This time, too, they will have the presence of their coach, hally, whose ban was recently lifted. The middle of the year was rocky in terms of results, but a win at the Flow FiReLEAGUE Global Finals may have just been the confidence booster chopper and company needed before flying to Brazil. Making it back to Major playoffs will be no small feat, but if Spirit can channel the brilliance displayed in Belgium and w0nderful continues to show progress against top tier opposition, then another historic run could well be in the cards.

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