donk on comparisons to s1mple and ZywOo: "I think I'm far behind"

The 17-year-old has continued to deliver on his promise at IEM Katowice with a 1.56 rating so far across six maps played.

Spirit are one win away from the IEM Katowice playoffs after battering the opposition in the Play-in stage and beating Natus Vincere in the first match of the group stage.

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, along with his new sidekick Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov, has been crucial to that success with a stat sheet even the likes of Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut could envy, averaging a 1.56 rating in the six maps he has played so far in Poland.

The 17-year-old wonderkid himself dismisses the comparisons many now draw between him and the game's two greatest players, though, saying that he believes he is "far behind" them both in terms of talent and performance.

In the interview with HLTV, donk also spoke about getting to pair up with a top-four, top-three, and top-eight player of the year, sh1ro, and what the new lineup can achieve together.

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

First of all, let's talk about Katowice. It's an iconic tournament, it has a lot of history and there were Majors played here. What does this tournament mean to you?

It's a prestigious event that I watched before, I've watched some recaps of other teams' winnings from the 2010s. And I really want to win it as well. It means a lot to me. Because of its history, too.

Which one is your favorite?

2015, when fnatic won.

How are you feeling about your preparation and your form going into the tournament?

Well, we definitely have more work to do. We are just starting to pick up our form. We haven't been able to train this week, I had problems with documents, there were flights and so on. We couldn't focus on training, but now as we all have come together, we're practicing, playing officials, picking up our form, and earning experience.

You are already able to contest for titles as we saw at the BetBoom Dacha with the previous lineup, but since then you've added sh1ro to the roster. What does his arrival mean to you and how has your relationship with him and out of the game developed so far?

Dima's arrival means a lot to me because this is the player who had me as his bold prediction in HLTV Top 20 when he was top 3.

It means a lot to me because he's a tier 1 player who has won events, who made it into top 3, top 4, and now he is a top 8 player of the year. He has the experience and he understands the game on a different level. I have a lot to learn from him. We have good relationships, I think. Dima is a kind and nice guy.

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sh1ro: "donk immediately absorbs everything you tell him"

You previously said that this team can go very far, and that was just before sh1ro was added to the roster. As we've seen from this game against NAVI, the pairing of the two of you seems to be very strong. Even when you're not carrying, he's the one stepping up, he had a lot of clutches today that made the difference. How far can you go with him? How confident are you in the lineup with him?

This team can go very far, but only time will tell.

Speaking about the outside attention that you've been gathering, a lot of people are making comparisons to the same level of talent that s1mple and ZywOo have. Do you think you're in the same conversation, on the same level?

Both the talent and the performance, I think I'm far behind.

We've seen when you play against better and better teams, you continue to deliver and prove that you can play at this level. Do the harder teams not come as a bigger challenge, does it not feel harder at all?

It feels much harder now than against other opponents that I had.

Perhaps the only proving ground left would be to do this at a big stage, in a big arena, in front of a big crowd, as you haven't had that experience yet. Do you feel like you will be able to handle that pressure? Do you look forward to it if you get the opportunity?

I'm not sure about handling the pressure, we'll see when I'll play. But I think it's gonna be hard. But I of course look forward to it, I think it's the dream of every CS player.