Spirit out of Roobet Cup after shock loss to 9z with a playing coach

Eternal Fire are also out of contention after a loss to Aurora.

9z have eliminated Spirit from the Roobet Cup despite using coach Gustavo "⁠tge⁠" Motta as a stand-in for AWPer Santino "⁠try⁠" Rigal.

There were high hopes for Spirit going into the event after victory at the PARI Dunav Party LAN and reaching the final of their last five events. The indomitable form of Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets has been a key factor in that, but even the 16-year-old's impressive 91.9 ADR over six maps could not prevent Spirit bombing out in last place.

The Russian side will hope to have better luck in the $500,000 Thunderpick World Championship, where they take on Complexity on Sunday, October 29.

The one-sided manner of Spirit's defeat was also of note. Mirage ended 13-4 in 9z's favor, as Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov's men failed to get to grips with the economy and stumbled to a 3-9 T half.

Spirit seemed to have spurred into life on Nuke after donk provided nine multi-kills in 16 rounds to end the 13-3 win with a 2.32 rating.

But, any momentum they hoped to garner from Nuke was washed away with another 3-9 T half on the T side of Anubis before 9z ended the map 13-4 and the series 2-1 in their favor. Coach tge even dealt the winning blow with a 1v2 in the final round.

Eternal Fire were also subject to an upset in a 2-1 loss to Aurora. Both teams lost their map picks before convening on Overpass, where Aurora's strong CT side put them in the driving seat.

An Ali "⁠Wicadia⁠" Haydar Yalçın 4K in the second pistol round threatened to start a comeback, but Aurora managed the situation and closed it out 13-6.

9z and Aurora will have a chance to qualify for playoffs against Movistar Riders and HEROIC respectively on Sunday, October 29.