donk: "I think m0NESY has the highest chance to become Player of the Year"

The four-time MVP still has a fight on his hands for the game's most sought-after prize.

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets has earned his third MVP medal of 2024 and fourth in his career after helping Spirit to the BLAST Spring Final trophy.

The 17-year-old rifler topped event leaderboards for damage and kills, with a 1.25 rating in playoffs as Spirit refuted any emerging narrative of their fragility on stage.

Exhausted after four grueling maps, Counter-Strike's latest superstar still took the time to speak to HLTV and was full of praise for his team and coach Sergey "⁠hally⁠" Shavaev.

"It's our secret player, hally, the sixth player," donk said. "It's very impactful, when hally calls a pause. Pauses are really important in big matches, big stage matches. When you're not your best, when you can't hear each other, it helps a lot."

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donk awarded BLAST Premier Spring Final MVP

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Congratulations, third MVP of the year. Tell me how you feel.

I cannot describe my feelings. I am so tired, I cannot describe my feelings. It's great. It means really a lot for me, but the team trophy means more for me than this.

IEM Katowice was a heroic effort from you, but this tournament felt more like a team effort. What did you think of your teammates this event, particularly sh1ro and zont1x?

They are insane. The whole team is insane. Individually, they are in good shape. Sometimes I'm really in shock with how they're playing, their decisions, their crosshair placement. I'm really shocked, and I'm so glad I'm playing with them and the team.

How important was it to end the season with a win?

I don't know, really. The main goal for this tournament was to get in the best shape for after the break. We want just to show our game, our best game, how we can play, to test how good we are. We won, it's great.

With the form you're in, what do you think your chances are for Player of the Year?

I don't really think about it, but I think m0NESY has the highest chance to become the best player in the world this year.

It is a team sport. Do you think Spirit can be the best team of the year?

We can if we're going to work the same way as how we're working right now. If we work hard, work right, we are moving in the right direction.

How much do you think chopper and hally helped you develop into this player?

A lot. hally is doing a lot in this team, really. I don't know how to describe this, but they're really doing a lot. It really helps me and my teammates a lot. It's our secret player, hally, the sixth player.

What does he do in those timeouts, he seemed to really have an impact this event?

It's very impactful, when hally calls a pause it's because he thinks we're doing something wrong, and he needs to make us focus on the game, communicate, on aim, on something. Pauses are really important in big matches, big stage matches. When you're not your best, when you can't hear each other, it helps a lot. It's very important in matches when something is going wrong.