donk Will Leave Team Spirit! Don’t Believe It? We’ll Prove Otherwise.
A couple of days ago, the last major event of 2025 concluded, and just like last year, it was a Major – the main goal of any Counter-Strike esports athlete. A year ago, Team Spirit ended the season on a “major” note and claimed the coveted trophy. December 2025 wasn’t as fortunate, and the Dragons, with the world’s best player, stopped one step short of the grand final. Many events occurred in the semifinal match, both dramatic and quite unusual for the pro scene. In this article, we’ll analyze what happened and why the match against Vitality could be a turning point not only for Spirit but for the entire community.
Starladder Budapest Major 2025 Semifinal
On December 13, 2025, Vitality and Team Spirit competed for a spot in the grand final, and given the tournament bracket, this match received the status of a mini-final. The battle here was not only for a guaranteed top-2 finish but also for the individual HLTV #1 ranking for 2025. If after the first half of the season, the question of the best player of 2025 wasn’t even raised, the last 6 months made it more relevant than ever. The Frenchman’s past six months didn’t go well at all, and even at the championship ESL Pro League S23, m0NESY received the MVP. ZywOo wasn’t showing his usual numbers and often disappeared from the server, while donk carried on his shoulders IEM Cologne, BLAST Bounty S2, and finished every tournament with an insane rating.
And so two titans met face to face – the loser gets eliminated and enters 2026 with an unpleasant aftertaste, while the winner will most likely lift the trophy. The match starts very well for the Dragons – 6:1, 11:4, 12:6, but Vitality bring the game to overtime and lose the map 17:19.
The Demon Emerged
Vitality celebrates the comeback, and donk is completely devastated, and after the head coach approaches to “cheer him up” – we witness an instant outburst, anger, and unwillingness to talk to anyone. This episode was discussed by absolutely everyone and shown from different angles for good reason, because CS history practically doesn’t remember such a demonstrative display of dissatisfaction with teammates. No one doubted that donk wasn’t upset about the loss or dissatisfied with himself – absolutely every viewer drew only one conclusion: “Danya burned out.” You know why? Because anyone following CS for the last two years has seen how donk produces results single-handedly. No matter how much people say “CS is a team game,” everyone inside understood that in Spirit’s case, donk is about 80% of the success. Opponents don’t prepare to play against Spirit, they think about how to stop donk or avoid contact with him.
The human psyche is like a vessel and has the property of overflowing with emotions. No matter how much you try to control the “filling,” the scenario that occurred, especially in a Major semifinal – is too much, especially for an 18-year-old guy. Plus, obviously, after so many years, the “vessel” was already quite full, but that evening too much happened to limit it to a simple punch on the table.
What happened next on Dust 2 made it clear that Danya failed to “forget the previous map.” After death, he looked absolutely uninterested in events on the server, leaned back in his chair, and lazily gave fist bumps to teammates sitting next to him. Perhaps someone will say that “protest” is an exaggeration, but it’s simply impossible to find other words.
After the loss, donk didn’t finish his performance. The absolutely disgraceful “interactive” from StarLadder, where the losers stand before a full arena and are forced to demonstrate an emotional striptease, he put the final point. Danya “showed character” by writing “fml” or “fuck my life” under his own autograph – he’s the best again, but not a champion again.
The Future of donk and Spirit
One thing can be said with absolute certainty – it’s impossible to imagine Spirit without donk, just as until recently it was impossible to imagine donk in another organization’s jersey. Now Spirit’s main task is to surround their diamond with a hundred psychologists to extract from his head even the slightest thoughts of leaving. There’s practically no doubt they’ll do exactly that and will most likely succeed, however, let’s rewind events six months back.
Spirit sees that Vitality’s era isn’t going to end and understands that roster changes are inevitable. Having kyousuke in Spirit Academy, it seemed everything was secured and the decision to implement a “second donk” in the main roster wasn’t even discussed. But unexpected changes happen at Falcons – m0NESY ends up there, the sheikhs continue to dream of “Galacticos,” and the main talent of world CS slips from the organization’s hands, which was still impossible to imagine at the beginning of 2025.
Back then, absolutely everyone talked to Maxim, including donk, and no matter how much Spirit tried to put on a brave face – they lost. Yes, there will be those who say “well, where’s your kyousuke?” But it doesn’t matter, firstly – statistically, Falcons’ results were better than Spirit’s (as evidenced by HLTV and VALVE rankings), and secondly, in head-to-head meetings – Falcons were always stronger.
What does donk feel? His best friend magixx and zont1x, with whom he played his entire professional career, are taken away, and kyousuke beats him every time in direct matchups. After a series of failures, he goes to the Major, where a ray of hope appears after the victory over Falcons in the playoffs and a great start on Mirage against Vitality, but in one moment everything goes dark, and the only way to see clearly is to ignite from within. At this moment, you remember everything, and the ego that you suppressed behind a “sigma” image all this time takes over and makes you scream from injustice.
What Should donk Do?
Geniuses often find it difficult to understand those around them: “If I can do it, why can’t others?” Answering this question, they rarely come to thoughts about their own talent, but find problems in others and conclude that they’re not trying hard enough. These words are partly confirmed by a clip from team speak, where sh1r0 during overtime tries to cheer up the team with the phrase “How I love this game,” trying to say “Guys, enjoy the match and everything will come.” But donk doesn’t want to enjoy, he wants to win, and there won’t be a better moment to beat Vitality than on this Mirage. This situation resembles a typical stack of friends who gathered to play FACEIT, where four came to “spend time together,” and one before joining Discord already killed 1000 bots, spent 30 minutes on DM, and is ready to fight for ELO. In case of defeat, the phrase “bro, calm down, it’s just ELO” is almost never perceived adequately.
As we already said, the right words from experienced specialists must be found for donk, and if this isn’t done, then the “birds” (Falcons) will whisper to him, possibly, fateful thoughts. Falcons already did this with kyousuke and will do it again. Given what was seen in Budapest, an unexpected window of opportunity opens for them to launch the “persuasion” process. Moreover, now there’s someone to do it, and if necessary, they’ll even agree to take magixx with him, into a roster where NiKo becomes captain, and TeSeS and kyxsan sit on the bench. You have to admit, it’s all very tempting.
All rumors that Falcons don’t have money are just funny, because the team has private investors who play ̶F̶o̶o̶t̶b̶a̶l̶l̶ ̶ CS2 Manager in real life. Obviously, if anyone will be ready to offer a business deal for Spirit, it’s them. Of course, no one will put Danya on transfer, but up to a certain point, kyosuke also “wasn’t for sale.” Spirit is an organization that won’t put its interests below the player’s interests, and if donk starts rocking the boat, they won’t learn to swim without it, but will sell Danya to build a cruise liner.
Is donk to Falcons Inevitable?
Of course, we’re now fantasizing about an epochal deal where 5, maybe even 6-7 million dollars will be spent, but if you think it’s unrealistic – you’re wrong. Yes, the chance is very small, but if Spirit fails next season too, it’s possible that by summer no one will give more than 5 for Danya, and his desire to leave will only intensify. In any case, sooner or later donk will face such a choice, because he’s already won all the trophies at 18 years old, and lifting 2-3 cups per season is no longer interesting to him. He wants an era, he sees that with one transfer, Vitality achieved it, and as paradoxical as it may sound – Falcons this year were much closer to Vitality’s level than Spirit.
For creating an era, there’s simply no more suitable duo than m0NESY and kyousuke for him. They must end up together, and it doesn’t matter – whether at Falcons this winter or sometime else on any other team. In the coming years, Spirit won’t be able to afford this dream team, and neither will anyone else. So why postpone the inevitable, lose their own primes, NiKo’s prime, and not try to bring the entire pro scene to its knees in 2026? Chopper and TN1R won’t be sitting on the sides anymore, donk will see kyosuke, m0NESY, and NiKo, whose skill is impossible to doubt. In case of failures, all thoughts will be directed at gameplay and fixing team problems. No more “why can’t they do it like me?”, because donk will understand that they can, and will focus on the right things to achieve greatness.
Author: Alex
Alex is an author and esports observer with more than seven years of experience. He specializes in analyzing new releases in the world of computer games, gaming services, and in-game economies. Alex shares practical experience and an expert perspective on the development of gaming, helping readers understand complex mechanics and stay up to date with the latest news.
