Spirit survive map one defeat to make playoffs over GamerLegion

GamerLegion's youthful exuberance caught Spirit off guard on Anubis, but chopper and his men recovered to secure the series.

Spirit have secured a spot in the quarter-finals of IEM Katowice thanks to a 2-1 victory over GamerLegion, recovering from a shock defeat on Anubis to comfortably secure victories on Ancient and Nuke.

GamerLegion were a force to be reckoned with on Anubis T side. The European squad recovered from a loss to a second-round force to completely outplay Spirit with slow, methodical defaults, with Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner providing the firepower needed to ensure a half-time lead.

Spirit started poorly on their own offensive effort, matching GamerLegion's slower pace but seeming far more turgid in comparison. Things picked up as the half wore on, thanks to Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov and Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets finding more opening success, but GamerLegion performed two slick retakes in the latter stages to barely clinch the map.

The next two maps were largely one-sided affairs in favour of Spirit. The favorite's individuals seemed to have warmed up after some strugglesome performances on the first map, and GamerLegion didn't have the same bite on either Ancient or Nuke.

Spirit can now look forward to a matchup against a resurgent Virtus.pro in the quarter-finals.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025
07/02/2025	Virtus.pro 19:20 Spirit	Match

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GamerLegion make the big boys sweat

After the first map, you would have been forgiven for thinking GamerLegion might just be capable of pulling off the upset. They were upbeat on the player cams, brave in their play, and potent in picking apart a meek Spirit.

Oldřich "⁠PR⁠" Nový was finding impact frags left and right, REZ produced multi-kill after multi-kill, and Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson was outcalling his opposite number in mid-round scenarios.

Unfortunately for GamerLegion, Spirit got their heads in the right place after a surprising map one loss, and outclassed Ashley "⁠ash⁠" Battye's young squad for the rest of the series.

"The lack of composure sometimes was just telling," the coach told the broadcast of GamerLegion's Nuke performance. "We just can't quite communicate the last few moments to get it synchronized together, and that just cost us. Against a team like this, you can't make mistakes like that."

Regardless of the eventual result, GamerLegion can be proud of what they showed during their Katowice run. "We have really showed our strengths," REZ told the broadcast after the match. "Obviously this is not how we wanted it to end, but I think we have showed really promising Counter-Strike with minimal practice and time together."

Spirit recover after slow start

Make no mistake, whilst GamerLegion played well on Anubis, Spirit also played poorly. Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia had an absolute stinker of a map, Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev didn't fare much better, and they were slow to adapt as a team. On their T side, they died twice to the exact same push through A into Canals, a testament to how out-of-sorts they were.

The best teams find ways to win even when they aren't at their best, and Spirit did that across the rest of the series. Ancient was perhaps an easier time for the Russian side, GamerLegion were not up to scratch on the map, but Spirit weren't always at their imperious best on Nuke and still grabbed a comfortable win.

Spirit have been the team to beat for the last few months, but chinks have appeared in their armour after a defeat to Natus Vincere and an upset map loss to GamerLegion. They will need to step up a gear if they are to secure back-to-back trophy wins in Katowice.