Spirit documentary: kyousuke sale, double change, and donk turning down Vitality

Players and staff members opened up on several important topics in a three-hour-long video.

Known for its long-form casual interviews with Russian-speaking celebrities, VPISKA released a lengthy episode on Sunday covering Spirit's Counter-Strike team.

The video features interviews with former and current players, head coach Sergey "⁠hally⁠" Shavaev, sports psychologist Aleksandr "Nokeepeesh" Kuznetsov, scout Aleksei "⁠OverDrive⁠" Birukov, and head of marketing and partnerships Konstantin "tvd" Machaidze.

Below is a breakdown of some of the most interesting topics that were discussed, translated from Russian by HLTV.

Why Spirit sold kyousuke

Maxim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin left Spirit for Falcons in June in a blockbuster transfer, stepping into Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif's shoes on the international team.

The transfer came as a shock to many as the Russian teenager is regarded as a generational talent that could have made Spirit an even more dominant force in the scene. Yet he left the organization without ever making an appearance for the main team.

"When I was flying from Shanghai, I got a call from [CEO] Cheshir telling me that Falcons were after kyousuke, and that one of their players had been talking to him, trying to convince him to make a move," hally said.

"When I’m back in Belgrade, I get straight to reviewing his demos and voice recordings, and I immediately knew that we couldn't lose this player. I called him, we talked through it, and we shook hands. He was supposed to join us in the summer.

"What was the strategic mistake? I will just speak for myself here: in the months after, I wasn't leading him as a player. I wasn't asking him how he was doing, I wasn't talking to him one-on-one about anything. The fact that I didn't do this is a big lesson for me.

"As far as I can see, there's a second person who came up and started talking to him. I believe it was m0NESY, and the first was NiKo. And I can imagine the way their dialogue was building: 'They don't play the right way, you will be overshadowed by donk, we know how to win, and you need to join us". And it really affected him, and there was no use talking to him."

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kyousuke: "No matter how much you elevate yourself, you still need to work harder"

hally added that in the discussions he had with kyousuke, he made it clear that the then-academy player would not be taking over Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets's roles.

"I was offering him different roles in which I thought he could be efficient," he explained. "They didn't require him to put up the numbers he would have wanted. But my idea was that we would have been a strong, competitive team for years to come."

Asked if he thinks kyousuke will one day surpass donk, the coach said: "No. kyousuke's playstyle is safer; he plays the percentages. And that means you won't be putting up large numbers. He is already showing 1.30 [ratings], but I'm talking 1.50 and higher."

Meanwhile, tvd confirmed that the Spirit organization was helpless to prevent the player from leaving.

"He had made his choice, and when it happened, our job was to defend the organization's interests," he said. "So when it happened, we started negotiations and made sure to receive a large amount of money for him. It was about 2 million euros."

sh1ro's conditions to join Spirit

Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov has cemented his reputation as one of the finest AWPers in the game since signing with Spirit in December 2023, but he revealed that he had reservations about joining the team after stepping down from Cloud9.

"I didn't know the kind of IGL chopper was and the kind of coach hally was," he said. "There were rumors that hally was a very strict coach and that he didn't allow any freedom of action.

"My main point was that if I joined the team, I should be involved in everything: tactics, communication with players, and so on. hally said: 'Fine. We will be discussing it and we will be doing that.' And he has kept his promise."

Quizzed about sh1ro's impact, hally had nothing but praise for the AWPer, especially his work ethic.

"In terms of affecting the game picture, sh1ro is a maniac, he's fucked in the head," hally said. "We have a breakdown after a practice day, after that he and I talk demos.

"Then, after dinner, I want to rest, he calls me to the practice room again. He is watching demos again - things I talked to him about. At 11:30, I get a long list of things we need to fix. His influence on the team is colossal."

sh1ro also shrugged off the fact that he is playing second fiddle to donk, who was named the best player in the world in 2024 and already has ten MVP medals to his name at the age of 18.

"I don’t care about [donk overshadowing me]," he said. "In our team, we also build the game around me. It’s just so that donk does in his role what others are incapable of. He’s the star player.

"And meanwhile, no one really overshadows me, because I’m given some freedom – perhaps not as big as I had before. But it works and I like it."

donk on Shanghai Major MVP comments

donk looked nonchalant on the Shanghai Major stage after being named the tournament's MVP. "I don't care," he said when asked what it felt like to be top 1.

Moments later, when asked to smile for his medal photo, donk said: "Nope. I don't give a fuck."

Looking back, donk acknowledged that he was overcome with exhaustion and unable to enjoy the moment.

"It was definitely a joyful moment," he said. "But after spending a month at an event, you're fully drained, you have no energy left. I'd just finished the final, and my only desire was to leave soon. Just get into the bed, get enough sleep, and fly home.

"But after having slept, I was enjoying that win for like two weeks. I wasn't in the moment, winning the Major didn't feel real, I was dreaming about going to sleep. I couldn't sleep after that. I slept for an hour and a half and went to the airport with sh1ro. We were fully shocked, we would just scream that we had won the Major."

Fending off interest in donk

tvd revealed that Spirit had turned down "more than five" approaches from other organizations for donk. The 18-year-old phenom has the potential to command the biggest transfer fee in esports history, but Spirit made it clear they won't entertain offers for him.

"As an organization, we are not interested in selling our main asset," the head of marketing and partnerships said. "Definitely, [he might be worth] more than $10m, but I don't think we would be considering such offers.

"We're not a farm team; we aim to win every tournament we attend. Could we achieve similar heights without donk [by replacing him with several players that we could get with the money of his sale]? In theory, yes. Do we want to be achieving anything without donk? No, he's our franchise player: Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. We want him to remain with the Spirit forever."

After impressing for Spirit Academy, donk was finally promoted to the main team in July 2023 alongside Artem "⁠ArtFr0st⁠" Kharitonov and Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia. That same year, he also had the chance to join Vitality.

"I decided that I would be more comfortable on a Russian-speaking roster," he explained. " I didn't want to make a blind move. I knew I wasn't a tier 1 player yet, and I had time. If I am good and grow in the right direction, I will get such an opportunity down the line."

donk also revealed that, before entering Spirit's academy program, he pondered joining Natus Vincere's academy. In the end, he decided against it because he would have had to go through an application process, like most players.

"I was really confident that if I had applied to NAVI, I would make it [to the academy], because there was no one better than me," he said. "But I really didn’t like that they signed some guys who were weaker than me.

"My stats were better, and I was playing in conditions that were a thousand times worse, but they were signed directly. It was a hit to my ego. 'Why the hell do I need to submit this application? You either message me, or I’m not joining you.'

Signing zweih and tN1R

tvd acknowledged that Spirit took a "big risk" by making two changes within a short period of time. The Russian organization signed Ivan "⁠zweih⁠" Gogin from Nemiga in July to replace Boris "⁠magixx⁠" Vorobiev before landing Andrey "⁠tN1R⁠" Tatarinovich from HEROIC two months later to fill zont1x's shoes.

"One change was due, but two changes require our game getting readjusted, and the new player being integrated," he said. "We'll see how it works out.

"In an ideal world, these two changes would have happened simultaneously, but we don't live in an ideal world, and factors like contracts, orgs’ and players' desires at the moment of making a move come into play."