Team Spirit didn’t have the very best season in 2022 regardless of emphatically profitable The International 10 the 12 months prior. Things began nicely within the first a part of the season. They topped the ladder within the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 1 and gained the Regional Finals. But issues got here tumbling down from that time onward.
The DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 2 was postponed because of the battle between Russia and Ukraine, which took a toll on the squad—particularly Yatoro and Mira, who hail from Ukraine. The crew was compelled to relocate to Serbia because of the battle, which exacerbated issues much more.
“Everyone understood something fucked up was happening, and we needed to deal with it,” stated offlaner Collapse in a season re-cap video. “If we didn’t, we would be stuck in a loop, wasting our careers this way for the rest of the time.”
To compensate for the uncertainty, stress, and anguish brewing, Spirit scrimmed so much—maybe just a little an excessive amount of—to the purpose the place their performances plummeted. It price them dearly on the Stockholm Major, the place they completed ninth.
After that, the downward spiral continued to the purpose the place they nearly disbanded, in keeping with supervisor Ruslana “DKLana” Berest. But although they didn’t, and managed to complete third within the DPC EEU 2021/2022 Tour 3, they missed out on a direct invite to TI11, and crew morale was at its lowest.
Like true defending champions, although, they soldiered on on the Riyadh Masters, ending second, and used the newfound motivation and sense of unity to win the Arlington Major—the ultimate event earlier than TI11.
After that, they took a month-long break. At that point, some gamers barely touched the sport, whereas others performed religiously. A patch additionally dropped, which drastically modified the meta heading into the event. It was the straw that broke the camel’s again.
When the gamers returned and began boot tenting, all hell broke unfastened. “We were arguing most of the time,” stated Mira. “This time, it was mostly connected to Collapse, and it was very difficult to play in such an atmosphere.”
Their poor efficiency at TI11 occurred quickly after, adopted by TORONTOTOKYO leaving the squad.
A brand new season is underway, although, and issues are going nicely for Spirit. It’s nonetheless early days, however they beat Na’Vi within the first and solely collection they’ve performed to this point, and issues are on the up and up. BetBoom, TORONTOTOKYO’s new crew, additionally began the season with a win, however there’s a protracted strategy to go.
