by The outstanding run of Team Spirit at IEM Katowice 2024 has concluded with them claiming the Counter-Strike title at the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, after dominating FaZe Clan 3-0 (13-9, 13-11, 13-3) in the grand final.
After entering the US$1 million tournament with the second-youngest roster, with only MOUZ featuring a squad with a lower average age, Team Spirit finished the event with a dominant clean sweep.
Spirit only dropped one map from 15 played across the IEM Katowice play-in stage, group stage, and playoffs, with their only defeat coming at the hands of Natus Vincere.
At just 17 years of age, Danil “donk” Kyrshkovets recorded one of the best debut performances ever witnessed in Counter-Strike esports, and he was awarded the Most Valuable Player for the event.
Donk finished his ‘Big Event’ debut with a 1.70 rating and 110 ADR, equalling Nikola “NiKo” Kovac’s record but with more maps played.
The youngest ever player to lift the #IEM Katowice trophy.
The youngest ever player to win an #IEM Katowice MVP.
The highest rated player in #IEM Katowice history.@donk1337 is here. pic.twitter.com/nTb2BvBoaC
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 11, 2024
After winning IEM Katowice in 2022, one may have expected FaZe Clan to give Spirit headaches throughout the series, but after a close loss on Nuke, which was their opening map pick, it appeared as though FaZe were in for a gruelling series.
Finn “karrigan” Andersen and his team bounced back on the second map and started well on Mirage, taking a 7-5 lead into the halftime break; however, Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov responded with some great calls in the second half as Spirit won seven of the next eight rounds to claim a 12-8 lead.
Although David “frozen” Cernansky helped FaZe rally to bring the score back to 12-11, Spirit would win an eco-round to close out the map and claim a 2-0 lead going onto Overpass for what would be the third and final map.
Unlike Nuke and Mirage, Overpass was not even close, with donk once again leading the way as Team Spirit wrapped up the series and tournament with a 13-3 demolition job.
For a team that has only been together for two months, the sky is the limit for Team Spirit, and with the PGL Major Copenhagen just around the corner, there is no doubt they will be one of the favourites.
.@Team__Spirit LIFT THE #IEM KATOWICE 2024 TROPHY
AND THEY DO IT IN STYLE. pic.twitter.com/grEghKop0F
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 11, 2024
