Ahead of the BLAST.tv Austin Major, which kicks off on June 3, 2025, BLAST spoke with Danil “donk” Kryshkovets from Team Spirit. In an exclusive interview, donk shared his thoughts on the team's attitude towards criticism, the lack of boot camps, and their ambitions for the upcoming Major.

Expectations for 2025 and Team Spirit's results

Many experts expected Team Spirit to be the dominant force in the first season of 2025. However, with the rise of Vitality, the situation turned out differently. Despite Vitality's success, Spirit still won two trophies, including their latest victory at PGL Astana, which was a statement of intent ahead of the Austin Major.

When asked about the possible gap between Spirit and other top teams, donk replied:

Experts and talking heads can say everything they want, but we don't give a shit about them.

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

He emphasized that the lack of boot camps is not a problem for Spirit, as the team won the Major without them.

How can we see a problem with this when we won a Major without a boot camp?

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

According to him, practicing online from home works better for Spirit than being together in one room.

When everyone is in one room, it can be noisy, and your energy quickly disappears. Online, we play more practices and do more team activities

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

Donk also added that the team does not need boot camps because they have been playing together for a long time and know each other well.

2025 results and ambitions for the future

Five months of 2025 have already passed, and donk assessed them as “normal, but we could have done much better.” He noted that the team still has six or seven months to improve their results.

Fine, but we could do better, much better. But, we still have six or seven months, so it's fine, we have time to step up and make the year much better. We won two trophies that we had to win. I couldn't even imagine if we lost at PGL or BLAST Bounty

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

Donk admitted that he was confident of winning more, particularly BLAST Lisbon, where the team was in good form but failed to deliver.

Yeah, I think we won two trophies that we had to win, I couldn't even imagine if I lost in PGL or in BLAST Bounty. I was really confident that we could win more, at least BLAST Lisbon because I felt like we were in good shape and could've won there, and maybe some others I felt like we had good chances, too. But, unfortunately, we didn't do that.

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

Regarding the losses to MOUZ, Falcons, and Vitality, donk believes that Vitality is a step ahead of everyone else, and there is no doubt about that.

We only played Falcons once, MOUZ many times, and every game was close. We had three or four map points, but we let them come back and win. But I can't say that they are better than us.

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

As for firepower, donk believes that it depends on the team's form and decisions, not just individual skill.

I think all of the teams in the world will agree with me that Vitality are a step ahead of everyone, there is no doubt about that. It's hard to say, though, to be honest. We've only faced Falcons once, and MOUZ we've played many times, and every game with MOUZ has been close, we've had three or four match points in many of them, but we let them come back and beat us. But still, I can't say that they're better than us. As for Falcons, we have to face them more times to understand it. This time, we lost through our game, we were 12-10 on Dust2, we had to finish it and we fucked up a little bit. They were better.

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

Plans for BLAST.tv Austin Major

Team Spirit will enter the Major at Stage 3, which, according to donk, has its advantages and disadvantages.

For our form, it would be better to start at an earlier stage, but now we have a break to refresh our game and prepare new strategies

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets 

Donk also emphasized that the key to success at the Major will be reducing stress.

We've been too stressed for three months. We need to rest, relax, feel refreshed, and get back to the top level.
The key for us is to get stress out of ourselves, we've been too stressed for three months. We have to chill out. If we take a rest and chill, feel fresh, freshen up our game, that will get us back on top.

 Danil “donk” Kryshkovets