What awaits Team Spirit after the failure at IEM Cologne 2024? The future of the team
The competitive Counter-Strike scene is changing at a rapid pace. Just recently, the entire community was discussing the phenomenal success of Team Spirit and predicting the title of the best team of the year and its own era, and now the team is leaving one of the most important championships of the year, IEM Cologne 2024, without a single victory and almost no fight on the past maps. The team was not like itself at all and even the players themselves cannot say what happened to them. Such defeats hit the team’s mentality hard and there is no guarantee that it will be able to return to the top of the professional scene again after such a crushing result. In this article, we will discuss the future of Team Spirit after the failure at IEM Cologne 2024 and what may await it next.
Why Team Spirit is not so good anymore?
Team Spirit have become hostages of their own game concept. Most of the team’s strategy was built on the “donk, go kill” mechanics and it worked until everyone was ready for the young talent. However, Danil donk Kryshkovets no longer pleases with phenomenal performances so often; the best teams in the world have already adapted to his style of play and expect such actions. The player claimed the first place in the HLTV rating, but now it looks so realistic. Danil donk Kryshkovets needs to learn to adapt to circumstances when past ideas no longer work and change his individual tactics. Team Spirit’s star is still very young and has a lot of work ahead of him. If he can adapt and start surprising opponents again, the team’s affairs will go up.
The second key player of Team Spirit is its sniper – Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov. The player is one of the best AWP players in the world and has proven this more than once, but his mental component plays a big role in his game. While Team Spirit was doing well and they were able to defeat any opponents, Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov shone no worse than Danil donk Kryshkovets, but now it is noticeable that the sniper has started to get nervous before games and is no longer so happy in matches. Nerves do not allow him to play consistently with AWP and we see more and more misses from his side. Dmitry sh1ro Sokolov needs to feel faith in the team again and work well with the organization’s psychologist.
The only weak link in the Team Spirit roster is Boris magixx Vorobiev. He is still young and passionate about the game, but he no longer shows the individual performance that he had before this roster. The player falls out according to statistics and the team often lacks action from him. However, it is too early to replace Boris magixx Vorobiev, he is also an important element in the team’s mechanism and without him, it can also fail.
One of the important factors in Team Spirit’s failure is the skipping of some tier-1 tournaments. The organization refused to participate in ESL Pro League Season 19, IEM Rio 2024 and several other major championships. This was due to the fact that they did not overload the players and avoid burnout, but this decision also deprives the team of constant practice that other top teams have. Team Spirit had huge breaks between performances throughout the year, which also negatively affects its progress, this is a young team and it still needs experience and knowledge to remain the best.
Team Spirit's upcoming tournaments
- BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2
- ESL Pro League Season 20
- BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2024
- BLAST Premier: World Final 2024
- Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024
Team Spirit doesn’t have many tournaments left in 2024, and that’s definitely not a plus. The team won’t have time to try something new and experimental, and they don’t have the opportunity to take risks. However, the team has a good chance of winning the next championship, BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #2. This format suits Team Spirit’s roster well, and the players have already managed to win events in this series. Next, they’ll be waiting for ESL Pro League Season 20, where their chances won’t be that great, but the tournament format, which is held for almost a month, can be beneficial and get the team back on track. At the end, Team Spirit has three major tournaments to show everything they can do.
After such a painful defeat, the team really needs the support of the organization and Team Spirit can provide it. The players need careful work with a psychologist and a coach to start winning again. But there are no guarantees that even this will help them recover and return to their previous positions. However, elimination from IEM Cologne 2024 does not mean that the team needs replacements, it is still one of the most balanced teams in the world and there is practically no one to replace it. Team Spirit needs to go through this stage together and find the right words and ideas for future tournaments. The decisive championship will still be Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, after which it will be possible to say for sure whether the old Team Spirit will return or we have lost this roster forever.