Dota 2
CS2
Team Spirit are simultaneously the best team in the world and absolutely nowhere near the best team in the world.
It’s impossible to know, event to event, map to map, which Team Spirit you’re about to get. At their peak they are as unstoppable as the tide and as inevitable as sunrise, but when they’re not on it they quickly become disjointed, disconnected and, quite frankly, like five strangers.
The good news for them is that Counter-Strike is almost entirely based on knockout formats, and so they only have to be free-flowing for short bursts to win an event. They’ve won one this year while looking completely off it for most of the time, such is the firepower they possess.
Their inconsistencies are a by-product of their style; they’re heavily reliant on their star duo, and play quite loosely around them in order to give donk the sort of chaos he thrives in. donk is thriving, too; he’s absolutely farming even in tier one, and in that sense, the system, as it were, works.
On the other hand, they haven’t yet figured out how to get the best out of their other incredibly gifted pieces, and it’s holding them back from achieving the sort of dominance we’ve seen them achieve in the past.
What are their credentials?
While the teams above them have very clear-cut tournament winning credentials, Spirit’s are a little more abstract. Not completely - they’ve won plenty of silverware themselves - but making a case for them to win the Major is not really based off of their trophy haul, and more off their potential.
They can beat anyone. They can win tournaments. If everything clicks they are, no ifs and no buts, one of the best teams of all time. You might think that’s a bold claim, but what they (well, donk) did at IEM Katowice on his debut was beyond anything on this Earth before it.
Their credentials are ‘maybe donk and sh1ro have the best tournament of all time’, but that’s still a pretty high chance of hitting. Higher than any other duo in the world, at least.
The fact that Spirit can be so disappointing and so disconnected and yet are still in the top four favourites for any event is testament to their ability, their potential, and my word, their firepower.
Shakespeare could write another 100 sonnets about their firepower.
Man for man
donk, man. He’s the best player in the world and it’s hard to imagine a world where he isn’t. He’s incredibly aggressive, and yet never seems to be at a disadvantage. He wins impossible aim duels, seems to have 150 health, moves faster than everyone else and turns one and done spots into multifrag havens. He’s ridiculously good, and if Spirit are to win, it’ll be because donk has put up kill numbers that haven’t even been invented yet.
sh1ro is his reserved, quiet, safety net partner, a calm AWPer who has managed to dodge the CS2 AWPer curse by virtue of just never being in the wrong position. We said donk wins impossible aim duels, but sh1ro never even takes them - every duel he seems to take is favourable, and he slowly, quietly and reliably racks up loads of kills in mid-to-late round situations.
chopper is the (much-maligned) leader, who has been around for a long time and has some Major pedigree, having burst onto the scene as part of a Vega Squadron team who upset NIP so many years ago. He’s not the best fragger in the world, but he’s a leader in and out of the server who seems to get the best out of donk. He’s also just quite likeable, even though his English isn’t the best.
Also oft-derided is zweih, who has not been the instant hit he was expected to be on this team, but is still a useful piece who is a selfless soldier to help make space for the big hitters. He’s not expected to be anything super special, but Spirit probably need a little bit more from him if they’re to win a Major. magixx showed up big time in the Final when they won it, after all.
Rounding out the roster is tN1R, who is an absurdly talented player who could be doing so much more on this team, and it does feel like he just needs a tweak to the system to get him some space to work his magic. He was incredible on HEROIC, and there’s no way he’s lost that overnight. He is the third star this team needs to be more consistent - they just have to find a way to use him.
Why mightn’t they win?
Well… because they’re a bit too loose to be consistent.
To win a Major you need to win three out of five in stage three, then win two BO3s and one BO5 in a row. Spirit, of course, can do that - but that’s a lot of games they have to be at their best level for and they’ve shown a tendency to not be able to keep that up.
They’ve lost most of the big games this year in playoffs, and with zont1x still out with health issues it feels like zweih is treading water, and Spirit are just waiting to get him back to really kick on again. They’re quite simply not the best team in the world right now, and they’re arguably not even top four - but they’re more likely to win than MOUZ, for certain.
What are their actual chances of winning?
Slim, but not that slim. They’re probably around the 10-15% mark - donk and sh1ro are that good (this article was written before the Liquid game, but published after - how convenient for our conclusions!), even if Spirit aren’t.
They likely won’t win because they just don’t click as a team all that often, but you don’t always have to. If Vitality and FURIA both slip up, Spirit can easily steamroll everyone with firepower alone.
Don’t count them out.