Spirit survive slow start to blitz Falcons

Spirit were down 1-6 with star man donk 0-6 at the start of Anubis, but won 25 of the following 28 rounds to secure the grand final.

Spirit are into the BetBoom Dacha Belgrade grand final after dismantling Falcons 2-0 (Anubis 13-7, Vertigo 13-2).

The convincing win came despite a snail-paced start to Anubis, where Falcons' gameplan worked to a T to neutralize Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets (who was 0-6 after 8 rounds) and take a 6-1 lead.

But the overall narrative of Spirit as dominant frontrunners remains intact after Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev took up the secondary AWP and kickstarted a comeback that led to Spirit winning 24 of the next 27 rounds.

Impact from the twin snipers of Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and magixx shut down Falcons' scrimmy extremity plays, and after the half ended 6-6, normality resumed with donk multi-fragging his way to a 13-7 finish.

13 of those 24 round wins came on Vertigo, where teams have tried to exploit Spirit ever since MOUZ defeated them at the European RMR, with Falcons finding just two rounds on their map pick.

donk had a quiet game on that occasion and was moved from B Anchor duty to Middle for the Major quarter-final defeat against FaZe.

A second change was in store for Belgrade, and donk moved to the A Ramp. There, he instantly looked comfortable in the traditional Vertigo CT star role and had a 1.83-rated defensive half.

Spirit had the benefit of their position swap, neutering Falcons' gameplan before it even began, and the half ended 10-2 before sh1ro put the cherry on top with a masterful 1v3 clutch.

Falcons' tournament ends here, and the manner of their defeat will be disappointing after promise was shown against Virtus.pro for the first time since adding Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen.

Their total of nine rounds in the series came almost entirely off the gameplan-fuelled six-round streak at the start of Anubis, and their lack of a star player showed as their firepower fell far short of their opponents.