donk lifts Spirit to Shanghai Major playoffs

The 17-year-old star was a force in the series against HEROIC with a 1.53 rating.

Spirit are through to the Perfect World Shanghai Major playoffs off the back of yet another fantastic performance by star player Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets, who leads the Elimination Stage's individual leaderboard with a 1.55 rating.

The youngster was crucial in his team's 2-1 victory against HEROIC with a 1.53 rating and 107 ADR, and even made a beautiful 1vs5 clutch trying to energize his team when up against map point on Mirage.

The series started off on Ancient, where neither team could settle into a groove as big plays on either side kept the match even early on. Spirit finally mad headway by winning the second pistol round to extended their 7-5 lead to 10-5, but even then HEROIC found ways to break through on the attack and force overtime.

donk's biggest contribution in OT was a double entry in overtime, barreling blind down Mid, to put Spirit on map point, after which they closed it out 16-14.

Spirit set themselves up well on the CT side of Mirage as donk once again tore HEROIC to shreds in an 8-4 half with 18 kills. He went silent on the attack, however, and Spirit fizzled out without their star putting up big numbers.

donk left behind an incredible 1vs5 clutch for the highlight reel, trying to push Spirit into overtime when down 9-12 — and bringing his lackluster kill count in the second half from two to seven —, but the play didn't elicit a change in momentum and HEROIC closed it out the following round.

It all came down to Dust2, and this time donk had great help from Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov as the two ended the map with 1.60+ ratings. After losing the T-side pistol round Spirit struck back with effective hits on the B site to go up 6-1 and never looked back.

HEROIC brought their 4-8 deficit at the switch to 7-8 after winning the second pistol round, but the moment guns were in play the Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov-led squad won five in a row to secure their spot in the playoffs.

"After the Copenhagen Major I was a bit devastated because we had all of the chances in the world to win it, it was a very close game against FaZe — but we lost," Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia said on the broadcast after the match. "Now, I think we have a lot of chances to win and I'm looking for a Major title, not for playoff qualification."

Date	Matches
Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024
08/12/2024	HEROIC 07:00 Natus Vincere	Match

HEROIC were 2-0 after the first day in the Elimination Stage, but now find themselves in a bind as they've been put into an incredibly stacked 2-2 pool and will face none other than Natus Vincere in their all-or-nothing decider match on the final day of group play.