hally: "donk is a player with unique skills, he has that slow-motion mode"

Unsung hero and Spirit coach hally was a key figure in the journey from academy to BetBoom Dacha champions for the squad's young new trio.

Sergey "⁠hally⁠" Shavaev, coach of Spirit Academy and then Spirit, is frequently pointed to as deserving of credit by the now Belgrade-based organization. It is he that designed the system within which Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov in-game leads, and also he that assembles the pieces that fit into it.

He was the main man behind Spirit's Antwerp Major semi-finalist roster, and was also the man to pull the plug when results soured. His decision to add Spirit Academy trio Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia, Artem "⁠ArtFr0st⁠" Kharitonov, and Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets has since paid off in spades.

Spirit have gone two for two at LANs since the trio's promotion. After their latest win at BetBoom Dacha, we spoke to hally about his unique formula behind that success.

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Editor's note: This interview was conducted via a translator and adjusted for accuracy by Russian-speaking HLTV staff.

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Let's rewind all the way to the first build of the team in 2022. How big a journey has it been since?

I had a carte blanche assembling the roster according to my vision. The first roster [chopper, magixx, degster, Patsi, s1ren] was the players from the academy I had worked with, but besides that I was also an assistant to Certi. Back then, I knew that chopper, with proper work, could become the in-game leader that could lead these young players to glory. So we found our synergy, and that's how we built the first roster, and the second roster.

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A little bit on the coaching ban, it's hard not to ask, what has it been like bouncing back? And for Spirit to keep faith?

It wasn't pleasant. I had a dream of assembling those young players and going from tier four until the Major. But when the Major came, the ban came. It wasn't pleasant, but I had to adapt. I feel like the ban was unfair, but still I had to wait. I'm happy that Spirit kept faith.

Moving onto this roster — how did you find donk?

Do you want the full story?

Why not?

The first I heard of him was an academy player recommending us to take a look at him, because he was obviously very talented, albeit from FACEIT pugs. Our scout messaged him and, back then, he also had an offer from NAVI — not the main team, but one of the youth systems — and we talked with him, and he ended up joining Spirit. The rest is history, pretty much. He's been in the academy, and he has been growing really quickly. And, now he's here: HLTV MVP.

What do you think it was that made him choose Spirit over NAVI? Was your faith in youth a big factor?

Our academy had more potential, and a very good coach. This was one of the deciding factors, but the second one is that we were just quicker.

I also wanted to ask about the more ruthless side to your management. Removing s1ren and w0nderful, letting Patsi go, these players still have a lot of potential. Decisions like that, being this confident to integrate the academy trio of zont1x, donk, and artfr0st, it makes a lot of sense now but what was it like internally to be able to start that new chapter?

The whole team was in a slump after we failed to even qualify for the Paris Major. That was one of the minimum goals for the roster, so at that point the sentiment in the team was... my sentiment was that the core of the team needed to be rebuilt. Obviously, the academy team was showing incredible results. For them to go into the top 30, it's nothing to scoff at, so I knew the players I was integrating into the team would fit the structure really well, and see CS as a whole.

zont1x is a perfect anchor, for a tier one team. This is how I see the position, zont1x is perfect for it. donk is a player with unique skills, he has that slow-motion mode. ArtFr0st is a sniper that has much better communication skills than w0nderful, and in my system the sniper dictates a lot of plays so obviously this was really crucial for the whole structure. That's why I was confident it would work because the new players fit the structure much better than the previous ones even though they were also talented.

The players do talk about it as "hally's system", "hally's timeout", what about your strategic role? How important are you in-game? Is this Spirit showing your vision?

Everyone on the team can suggest things. On small details I do consult with the team and with bigger ones I talk with chopper since he's the captain. But overall it's my system, it's my vision of the game, the strategic side and preparation for the opponent is all me.

How proud of the team, and of yourself, are you after this win?

I'm very proud right now. But at the same time we need to work on our structure, on our mid-rounds, our communication.