tN1R: "This is a good time for us to win trophies and maybe have an era"

Despite facing issues regarding their coaching staff, Spirit’s season ended with success as they won PGL Astana and made it to the semi-finals of the IEM Cologne Major when they didn’t have a coach at all.

A positive sign for them coming into this season, they’re now through to the semi-finals of BLAST Bounty Season 2 2026, an event where they look to be favourites following the early eliminations of their closest rivals.

At the event, we sat down with tN1R to discuss his form, the coaching struggles, and whether or not Spirit can become the best team in the world this season.

“S0tF1k didn’t change a lot of stuff”

You've been with Spirit for close to a year now. How do you think the year has gone?

I think the start was hard, but now it looks a lot better.

There were struggles with your form at some points. Why do you think you've had those struggles?

We lacked form as a team in the first half of the year; it was a hard period for us all. If you're playing badly as a team, it's hard to then play well individually.
Secondly, I was struggling in some roles and positions. I play in anchor roles, or as a semi-anchor, if you consider something like Door on Nuke.

Looking at the last few months, you guys first had S0tF1k stand in as your coach and then played the Major without a coach at all. This caused a lot of conversation in the community, so what were the differences between S0tF1k and hally?

S0tF1k didn't change a lot of stuff; we just played Counter-Strike and didn't care about a lot of things. It was a time to enjoy and have a chill atmosphere because we didn't have a coach. Of course, he helped us a lot with our micromanagement and communication, but with hally, we think more about how we play as a team.
If you look back at those events, we played really well individually, because that's what we were trying to do. But with hally, we try to play more as a team and think about our team management.
Whenever you have changes in roles or with coaches, you play more chilled, and because of that, it looks like a different game because you're more relaxed and there's less pressure.

People found it surprising to see hally return given the results while he was gone. Were there any conversations about him taking a step back as coach?

We knew hally would always return as soon as his health issues were gone, and we were waiting for him to come back.

Now that S0tF1k and hally will be working together, what do you hope to get out of their partnership?

They can split the work now, for example, S0tF1k can help us with the micromanagement, and that's easier for them to then focus on their main functions. Of course, we want to achieve more trophies, so having the two coaches there will help us do that.

What expectations do you have for this season?

We don't have expectations, but for me, I think it's a good time for us. We'll play the way we have been, and it's a good time for us to win trophies and maybe even have an era.

Are there any teams outside of the top five of yourselves, NAVI, Falcons, FURIA, and Vitality you think might break into it this season?

I think MOUZ can definitely get back in; they have good players and structure.