Team Spirit Snatch The Final Qualifying Spot Over NIP

On Vertigo, NIP won the pistol round and also converted their bonus round, gaining a substantial 5-0 lead. Unfortunately for NIP, a switch flipped in donk and he started making insane plays, equalizing the first half at 6-6. The two teams locked horns in the second half, with the scoreline reaching 10-11 in NIP’s favor, making round 22 a make-or-break for either team. Round 22 was what made donk the match’s MVP as he pulled out an insanely fast 4K to pull his team through the force-buy round, paving the path to a 13-11 victory by destroying NIP’s economy. The Russian prodigy spoke to HLTV after the match to talk about the game and much more.

When asked about what it feels like to qualify, although closely, for the Shanghai Major, donk said

It feels good. We got a bit more space to fix our mistakes, and fix our problems, because I think our performance in this stage wasn't really good. We're going to fix our problems, because we have time between the Elimination stage and RMR.

When asked about why Team Spirit had a tough time qualifying from the Europe RMR B as well as potential problems from his point of view, donk said

It's hard to say, to be honest. Best of one has no mercy, you cannot make silly mistakes. We made them, so we got to 2-1 and then we faced G2. It was a tough game, very close, we could have won it if we did a little bit better so we lost so we got to the 2-2 bracket.

When asked about what made G2 Esports so formidable against them, donk said

I don't know. Sometimes, it's really close, sometimes it's zero chance to win. Against them, we are facing some problems that we are not facing against other teams. It's a new experience, and every game we play against them, we become a better team. I think our chances become higher and higher every game. I hope so [laughs].

When asked about the pressure of being the favorites for the Perfect World Shanghai Major, donk said

We don't care about being favorites. We just want to perform well. Now we have to fix the problems we had in this stage, and we will see what is going to happen at the Major.

When asked about whether or not he’s aiming for the Player of the Year award given how many MVPs he has stacked up this year, donk said

I'm good with top-three. I know that I can be better, I can fight for No. 1, but if you want to be the best player in the world, you should be on the best team in the world, I guess. You cannot be top-one player if you're not performing well with your team.