Spirit suffered a defeat against Vitality in the semifinals of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 and exited the tournament in 3rd–4th place. Fans and CS2 analysts shared their opinions on Spirit’s performance, with most of the discussion focusing on Danil “donk” Kryshkovets.

Analyst and commentator Duncan “Thorin” Shields noted that, in his opinion, Spirit lack a true in-game leader, which prevents the team from fully utilizing its potential—especially on the T side.

Another reason I don't buy that chopper is a great leader is he seems to have no feel for where the Ts are without vision/info. Doesn't seem to make good gambles and rotates. 

Duncan “Thorin” Shields

Thorin added that Spirit’s superstar has every chance to become the greatest player of all time, but is currently being held back by his teammates’ decisions, which led to him being tilted after the first map.

I fuck w/ donk being tilted. Hard carried and got let down by bozo T calls and a bunch of underwhelming moments from zweih and sh1ro. Oh my coach wants to touch me and whisper sweet nothings? Fuck outta my face, brat! donk has the fire to be the best ever.

Duncan “Thorin” Shields

Jacob “Pimp” Winneche also shared his thoughts after Spirit’s elimination, pointing out that the team looked extremely strong leading up to their final match at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.

The 5 events leading up to the major was super disappointing for Spirit. However they managed to turn it around and looked super strong up until the Vitality game. donk once again proved he is in fact the most impactful Counter Strike player. Having a monster performance finishing the major at a stunning high rating!

Jacob “Pimp” Winneche

James Banks noted the emotional state of donk following the defeat:

I saw donk emotional after Austin with tears in his eyes and the same today during the exit interview… only the Majors

James Banks

Many fans have pointed out that donk’s team is holding him back and that he could achieve better results with more experienced players.

Save this guy, -Flamez +donk? -Kyxan +donk and go NiKo IGL? Where can we put him with a deserving team? 

Lzy

A Reddit user highlighted the tactical brilliance of Dan “apEX” Madesclaire during the match against Spirit, noting that Vitality repeatedly avoided the positions where donk was playing, instead targeting weaker players:

Donk has been failed by his teammates for far too long. He holds B solo? Just spam A 6 rounds in a row and kill all of the bums. Tactical genius of Apex to NOT go on the bombsite that Donk is playing. He deadass didn’t play the entire CT side. Watching a guy of his caliber get wasted every tournament is absolutely criminal. It’s giving me early s1mple PTSD and it’s disgusting to watch. I can only pray that he either demands better players from Spirit or fucks off entirely to go to a better org. He has the potential to not only be the greatest CS player in history but the most decorated player ever, but he cannot waste time. 

Woullie_26

Another user pointed out that even Dmitriy “sh1ro” Sokolov, despite having strong overall statistics, actually had a low impact in the match:

People try to always defend sh1ro because his base stats are high and he will occasionally pop off. His base stats again were solid this game but his actual impact was 0.7 rated if you look at how he affected the game, whiffing and being overly passive. Don’t even get me started on zweih on Mirage, couldn’t have sold harder. Donk is the best player in the world, you just have to beat his team. He hard carried on Mirage, then Vitality avoided him on their entire T side on Dust2. It’s just sad to see him playing the best statistical year ever and his team letting him down like this. 

Xaerel

Spirit’s loss against Vitality resulted in a 3rd–4th place finish at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, while the winner advanced to the grand final on December 14 to compete for the championship title.