donk: "Everyone understands that sometimes replacements can’t be avoided"
Despite winning IEM Cologne and BLAST Bounty Season 2, Team Spirit were eliminated in the first round of the Esports World Cup after a surprise defeat at the hands of HEROIC.
With plenty of speculation over the future of their roster coming into BLAST Open London, we sat down with their star man donk to discuss the team, his emotions, and his status as the potential GOAT of Counter-Strike.
"Everyone chooses the GOAT that he likes"
The start of the season has been really good for you guys, how are you feeling about it?
It’s great. It’s always a great feeling to win two championships in a row.
You showed more emotion when you won in Cologne than at any other tournament, what did it mean to win it?
It was my childhood trophy. I just felt a huge relief after finals.
Cologne and Bounty were also the 9th and 10th MVP awards of your career despite it being such a short time, do you think of yourself as the GOAT or is it too early to say that?
Nope, it’s only my second year at tier one. I think I need to prove myself in terms of stability.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenIf you’re not the GOAT, who is? And what will it take for you to get to that level?
Everyone chooses the GOAT that he likes. We can take ZywOo as the most stable player in CS. We can take s1mple as the player with the highest peak of all time.
I like them both. I like that s1mple was a huge difference maker in NAVI and I also like the fact that ZywOo is super stable. So it’s a hard question.
I think I would like to choose s1mple, because I remember watching him play and hard carrying NAVI back in 2018, so he inspired me to play CS seriously. I think I need time and results. I want to become the most titled player in CS.
On a team level, are you better than Vitality on current form? Or will it not be clear until you play them?
I think it's not clear because we haven't faced them after the player-break.
Zweih joined the team over the player break, are you happy with what he’s shown so far? How can he improve?
Yeah, he is great. We all see a bright future in him. He is a fast learner and kind guy, I don't see anything that can stop him from developing.
It’s the first time in your tier one career that players have left the team and you don’t get to work with them anymore, how do you think you handle the change?
It’s okay. It’s a sport, so everyone understands that sometimes replacements can’t be avoided.
