Spirit clinch PGL Astana trophy after 3-1 final against Astralis

The Russian team secures its second title of 2025 after ending HooXi's fairytale run with Astralis.

Spirit have come out victorious from PGL Astana following a 3-1 victory over Astralis in the best-of-five grand final.

The Russian side hoisted the trophy inside a packed-out Barys Arena moments after completing a map four comeback on Train, denying Astralis a chance to keep their Cinderella run with Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen going into map five.

Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets could not be denied, ending the grand final as the undeniable man of the match in continuation of his godlike form at the event, where he averaged a 1.50 rating over 15 maps to secure his second Most Valuable Player award of 2025.

The favorites made a statement early into the grand final with a dominant win on Dust2, limiting Astralis to just one CT round with perfect see-sawing, pulling the Danes from one end to the other and completely neutralizing Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz whenever he had the AWP.

Astralis go out with heads held high

It was clear from the outset that Nuke was going to be a different story, but Astralis still didn't manage to capitalize on their late economy advantage after fumbling two massive clutches at 10-11 and 10-12.

Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov stepped up to lock in map point with a 1v3, and donk rounded out a player-of-the-map performance after clutching 1v4 in the next round with time against him, raising his arms high as chants of his name rang out all across the Barys Arena.

You could be mistaken for thinking it was over by then, but Astralis did not let themselves go out with their heads down.

Facing a 3-5 deficit in what could have been their last map at the tournament on Mirage, the Danes went on an unbeaten 10-round run off the back of a Victor "⁠Staehr⁠" Staehr-Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund combination to force Train.

There, the Danes put together a great offense after finally finding a way to limit donk, and hoped to extend the series to five maps after winning the forcebuy wars early into the second half for a 10-5 lead.

But a halfbuy win on B kickstarted the Spirit comeback and gave donk the time to wake up. The Russians made the run to 12-11 with Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov leading the way, and although they gave away a chance to end it in regulation after losing a 4v2, they made it happen in overtime after donk clutched a crucial 1v2 with the AWP.

Spirit back on the top step just before the Major

In a tournament without their two biggest 2025 rivals, Vitality and MOUZ, Spirit made good on their promise as heavy favorites to win PGL Astana.

The competitive grand final ended their otherwise convincing run to the trophy, and put the Russian team back on the top step for the first time since their BLAST Bounty victory in January.

With donk still very much at the peak of his powers, Spirit now hope to carry the confidence boost into the BLAST.tv Austin Major. That's the only tournament chopper and company have left on their calendar for the rest of the season, while most of the rest of the field travels to Dallas.

More highlights from the grand final

Read more
PGL Astana final as it happened in live updates
Matchpage
1
3
18th May 2025
5
Dust2
13
10
Nuke
13
13
Mirage
5
13
Train
16
 Astralis K - D Swing ADR KAST Rating2.1
66 - 64 +2.30% 86.8 70.5% 1.13
57 - 57 -0.81% 69.7 73.9% 0.97
62 - 64 +0.81% 73.4 61.4% 0.91
49 - 54 -0.56% 63.1 73.9% 0.91
41 - 68 -4.70% 62.9 59.1% 0.70
 Spirit K - D Swing ADR KAST Rating2.1
86 - 58 +4.67% 98.0 80.7% 1.51
64 - 53 -0.21% 83.7 71.6% 1.21
62 - 54 +0.49% 76.7 77.3% 1.14
49 - 55 +1.08% 60.8 64.8% 0.90
44 - 57 -3.07% 60.9 72.7% 0.85
Denmark Victor 'Staehr' Staehr
Victor 'Staehr' Staehr
Age:
20
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.01
Maps played:
786
KPR:
0.68
DPR:
0.66
Denmark Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen
Rasmus 'HooXi' Nielsen
Age:
29
Team:
No team
Rating 1.0:
0.85
Maps played:
1095
KPR:
0.57
DPR:
0.69
Denmark Martin 'stavn' Lund
Martin 'stavn' Lund
Age:
23
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.05
Maps played:
1555
KPR:
0.73
DPR:
0.67
Russia Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov
Leonid 'chopper' Vishnyakov
Age:
28
Team:
Rating 1.0:
0.95
Maps played:
1556
KPR:
0.64
DPR:
0.66
Russia Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov
Age:
23
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.22
Maps played:
1314
KPR:
0.77
DPR:
0.54
Denmark Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Nicolai 'device' Reedtz
Age:
29
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.15
Maps played:
2200
KPR:
0.77
DPR:
0.62
Russia Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Age:
18
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.24
Maps played:
593
KPR:
0.86
DPR:
0.67
#1
 | 
Norway biggamer69
bot stavn devve washed
2025-05-18 18:37
6
13 replies
#23
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Slovenia nejc__
stavn played fairly well, devve was just full troll
2025-05-18 18:45
64
12 replies
#31
 | 
Norway biggamer69
yeah true tbh, just dont see stavn as being any team's reliable piece/star player with his record of disappearing in big matches (aside from this tournament & bucharest)
2025-05-18 18:47
1
11 replies
#37
 | 
Italy n0cturne_K
Well if he keeps this up it's a good start, sadly Device s Was sleeping and needs to wake up
2025-05-18 18:55
1
#53
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Slovenia nejc__
true, is he's gonna be consisent now under hooxi it should be fine
2025-05-18 19:42
0
3 replies
#56
 | 
Norway biggamer69
hope so, hooxi's leadership looks good so far. really excited for his return to t1
2025-05-18 19:52
0
2 replies
#57
Faceit plus user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Slovenia nejc__
agreed, they look more team oriented than when under cadian, shame they didnt qual for major tho
2025-05-18 19:54
0
1 reply
#58
 | 
Norway biggamer69
probably for the best tbh, otherwise cadian would've stuck around for longer.
2025-05-18 19:55
1
ehhm, stavn didn't disappear cuz it wasn't big match as spirit is tier2 team.
2025-05-20 10:40
0
5 replies
#89
 | 
Norway biggamer69
He was ok, and any team with donk is t1 lol
2025-05-20 10:58
0
4 replies
I don't care
2025-05-20 10:58
0
3 replies
#91
 | 
Norway biggamer69
Then why do you reply in the first place? Seek mental help for your sake💊
2025-05-20 11:46
0
2 replies
sorry, I misquote "I don't care to be honest"
2025-05-20 14:04
0
1 reply
#94
 | 
Norway biggamer69
👍 Reply needs to have actual content
2025-05-20 14:05
0
expected
2025-05-18 18:37
1
#4
s1mple | 
Turkey sedo7
gg
2025-05-18 18:37
2
Wish donk could have this same performance against Vitality in a grand final
2025-05-18 18:37
10
3 replies
i wish but that requires a good game from shiro, a good game and a life game from the remaining three at the bare minimum.
2025-05-18 19:13
18
If they make it to finals*
2025-05-19 08:35
0
they have to beat mouz first.
2025-05-20 08:28
1
#6
 | 
Malaysia robouki
Ggs, fun final to watch
2025-05-18 18:38
4
#8
Faceit level 8  | 
DZ | 
Algeria SilverQuick
GGEZ
2025-05-18 18:38
3
#9
ICY | 
Belgium Yapppaaa
cheats
2025-05-18 18:38
0
1 reply
#11
 | 
Russia moonEEK!
#ToTheSharts
2025-05-18 18:39
1
#10
 | 
Croatia M_JovaN
GG.Still an amazing result. #ToTheStars!
2025-05-18 18:39
10
Choking against Astralis, thats why any tier1 team will smoke Spirit in the next final if they make it
2025-05-18 18:40
4
2 replies
how is this choking hooxi is a genius
2025-05-18 18:42
5
1 reply
Respect HooXi 100%
2025-05-18 18:42
8
#13
Faceit level 10 Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
DareDev1L | 
Denmark Dare_Dev1L
It was a good attempt and a great run by Astralis with a substitute IGL with 9 days of practice. Some great rounds from multiple players this match. Staehr with that 4k with the Hooxi fake plant call on Nuke, chopper with his 1v3, donk multiple times, or even jabbi for OT on Train. I don't see a loser in this match, Astralis wasn't expected to go this far and Spirit got their trophy.
2025-05-18 18:40
28
4 replies
#15
 | 
Norway biggamer69
you don't see device? put up a rookie performance as their veteran player (and uses the best weapon in-game)
2025-05-18 18:41
8
3 replies
#27
Faceit level 10 Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
DareDev1L | 
Denmark Dare_Dev1L
Yeah I saw the whiffs (especially on Nuke). Though at the end of the day, to get to the Grand Finals, with a map win on Mirage and 2 very close maps, with only a mix of old strats and on-the-fly calling.. It was a good attempt by the team overall, despite many of the obvious throws that match lol
2025-05-18 18:48
1
2 replies
#32
 | 
Norway biggamer69
overall astralis did exceed everybody's expectations even in the finals, but they should definitely have taken it to ancient (whether through nuke or train win). device needs to go soul-searching. hasn't looked fully himself these past few events
2025-05-18 18:48
6
1 reply
#39
Faceit level 10 Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
DareDev1L | 
Denmark Dare_Dev1L
Honestly device has been a question mark for a while in terms of consistency. Sure you can excuse a lot of his performances based on his health, but in-game your opposing teams do not care about your health, they are there to win. It must be difficult for a team (any team) to never know whether your veteran player is at 100% or 40% that day, as you would always expect your stars to be there to deliver when needed. Imagine a world where players like Zywoo, monesy, donk, niko etc have varying health issues where they are 100% healthy one game then vomiting the next, how can you as a teammate, organization, or even a fan trust that they will be there when needed? That said he's their most experienced and most expensive player, and he has had his moments to shine. So it's not like you can really just "replace" him, not when the only pool of players to choose from are other Danish players.
2025-05-18 18:56
8
Gg's, nt Hooxi! but goddamn im glad that astralis didnt win
2025-05-18 18:41
2
#16
 | 
Russia mshkoda
Great game! Gratz Spirit donk goat
2025-05-18 18:42
7
#20
 | 
Kazakhstan Lebron9992
Congrats Spirit! GG & NT Astralis! Hope it's not the last big tournement here in Kazakhstan.
2025-05-18 18:43
9
Why are they not that emotional at all
2025-05-18 18:44
5
4 replies
#55
 | 
Germany elakeduck
Do u see football players being emotional after every regular season game they have? This is nothing else. To much T1 tournaments, even two majors. It's too much for it to be anything special.
2025-05-18 19:43
3
1 reply
Well they could just cheer with the crowd.
2025-05-19 01:33
3
#66
 | 
San Marino kr!
you are literally writing in the comments of a post in which Donk explained why he is not very happy about the victory.
2025-05-18 22:36
1
1 reply
Yeah but just caring about the crowd is common courtesy especially when you are on trophy lifting spotlight. He is young though, he will learn.
2025-05-20 12:19
0
GG NT hooxi it was a good final
2025-05-18 18:45
0
1 reply
HooXi dif it all, dev1ce choked
2025-05-19 08:34
0
-z0nt1x
2025-05-18 18:45
0
wtf was that postmatch interview? cringe team with cringe answers also with cringe reaction. so fckng strange to see that things.
2025-05-18 18:45
8
2 replies
#43
 | 
Sweden Zelements
"Negative aura" and "zero rizz" as the kids say.
2025-05-18 19:01
3
Trynna act c*cky for no reason in a Mickey Mouse tournament Only reason they're yet to be humbled is donk carry xD Soon they'll
2025-05-19 08:33
3
respect Astralis they look strong for the Major no, wait... 🤔
2025-05-18 18:46
4
Thank you dev1ce for ruining the tournament win. Please retire, you don't belong in CS anymore. Also props to jabbi for his massive 200 IQ play for buying an AUG in big 2025
2025-05-18 18:46
3
#33
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
jackasmo | 
Russia *Tpo-_-JI.b*
Such wow many pro much amaze! Gg
2025-05-18 18:49
0
- magixx -chopper after major + kyo +zweih sh1ro calls donk needs help
2025-05-18 18:52
2
3 replies
zontix IGL then ? No brain full firepower never works long term, FaZe already proved that years ago
2025-05-18 18:52
0
2 replies
sh1ro
2025-05-18 20:05
0
FaZe is proving it RN Elige & frozen just bring firepower but zero brain
2025-05-19 08:30
0
#35
donk | 
Mongolia Kopist
This is third best event of this year. 1st IEM Melbourne, 2nd Blast Open Lisbon, 3rd PGL Astana, 4th PGL Cluj-Napoca, 5th IEM Katowice.
2025-05-18 18:50
6
5 replies
#40
 | 
Switzerland kmbl
Katowice clears this lol
2025-05-18 18:56
1
#41
 | 
Kazakhstan Lebron9992
Thanks my mongolian friend. Hope you liked it. But it was the worst event of the year according to Ukrainian hltv users.
2025-05-18 18:57
3
1 reply
#42
 | 
Russia KopHuLLloH
every event is the worst according to Ukrainian hltv users if spirit wins and/or navi doesn't... heir opinion is irrelevant, the event was dope.
2025-05-18 19:01
8
#54
 | 
Korea syjeon
Both PGL Cluj-Napoca and IEM Katowice were better imo
2025-05-18 19:42
0
ASTANA ON 3 HAHAHAHA bro, T2 event on 3
2025-05-21 13:01
0
#38
 | 
Seychelles zazikii
PGL goated thanks guys, great stuff, even with ohne on site
2025-05-18 18:55
4
#44
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
dupreeh | 
Denmark emze
What a final. d2 aside, those were 3 insanely entertaining maps. Can't wait for what IEM Dallas brings!
2025-05-18 19:03
8
1 reply
wont bring many teams that played in this tournament, sadly
2025-05-18 21:03
0
#45
Faceit level 9 Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
United States ROCKY_JAYYY
Hooxi back to the bottom
2025-05-18 19:07
2
#47
 | 
United Kingdom Jonty04l32
Well played Spirit and great attempt by Astralis. :D Seems like MOUZ, Falcons and Vitality are the only ones who can put Spirit and donk down. Great grand-final, all things considered.
2025-05-18 19:13
5
2 replies
Not really I think, Spirit is very dependent on donk. If enemy shuts down him I don't think Spirit is better than current Na'Vi for example. And if donk has bad map, they get folded pretty easily, just like what FURIA did to them on map 1.
2025-05-19 06:22
0
1 reply
They're literally tier3 without donk
2025-05-19 08:27
0
astralis should be proud of even reaching there just goes to show, +hooxi was a great idea with cadian instead of hooxi, it's a 50/50 whether they even make quarterfinals
2025-05-18 19:24
0
Congrats Spirit! Hopefully this will shut up all the haters saying female players aren't able to compete in T1! YOU SHOWED THEM MAGIXX!
2025-05-18 19:36
0
1 reply
Gotta say it, he has the most slappable face in all of eSports xD
2025-05-19 08:26
1
add falcons to spirit rivals cuz it is a fight of 4
2025-05-18 19:39
0
Spirit, it's OK to be happy. You get to play the game that you love in front of a full arena. It's not cringe to be happy :)
2025-05-18 19:40
0
1 reply
Zero aura team
2025-05-19 08:25
1
#52
m0NESY | 
Poland Feym
Coach has so much to say but only comments on fast food when asked about Dallas peroaration LoL. Donk based focusing on the inner instead out of the outer
2025-05-18 19:41
0
So, no one will mention the guys' faces? Do you think they're just flexing, or is it more than that? Donk didn't smile. The same goes for other people on the team. It's a stark contrast to the emotion they should be feeling. Are they unhappy with the competition in the tournament? Is one of them leaving the team? Or is it just flexing?
2025-05-18 20:35
1
2 replies
spirit is the 4th best of the elite teams, probably not too happy with how they struggled with astralis of all teams after a couple good maps
2025-05-18 21:02
4
Sh1r0 -> "It might be he doesn't like the way we play as a team because after all, this is not a very strong tournament. Our main rivals are Falcons and Vitality, and given how we've been playing, it won't go well against those teams." Now I know
2025-05-18 21:04
1
#64
 | 
New Zealand Skye620
Solid attempt by Astralis! Never been a fan of the org/team but was supporting them in this event due to not wanting an org to leave CS. Actually surprised that I enjoyed watching them play tbh now they just need to sign the Gigachad permanently
2025-05-18 21:30
0
Good luck on Major, legends n1
2025-05-18 21:50
0
#67
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Lithuania M4NT45
Team Spirit need CEMEN_BAKIN !!!! it would be unstoppable !!!
2025-05-18 22:48
0
donk 1.51 is insane
2025-05-19 01:26
1
zont1x always looks like he doesn't care lol
2025-05-19 05:12
0
aww what a happy family 🥰
2025-05-19 08:30
1
no emotional donk Like in blast or other tournament behonest spirit can easy 3-0 this but should folow scripted by 1xbet kekw
2025-05-19 09:24
0
#84
 | 
Switzerland kmbl
why do they all look depressed
2025-05-19 10:45
4
#86
 | 
United States Crylor
Magixx has so much aura
2025-05-20 03:56
0
#95
Noppo | 
Poland Vi_qc
yep
2025-05-21 00:02
1
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