Eternal Fire may not have won the series, but Team Spirit broke a sweat taking down the Turkish trailblazers.
Turkish CS2 squad Eternal Fire gave it their all but their best wasn't enough to bring down behemoths Team Spirit, who have backed up their Shanghai Major victory with a win at BLAST Bounty Spring today 3-1 (14-16, 13-6, 13-3, 13-8).
It's been the perfect start to the 2025 season for Spirit and Danil "donk" Kryshkovets, who took home the event MVP with a dominant display in Copenhagen while Eternal Fire is proving to be an early mover after their off-season roster changes.
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No roster changes, no problem: Spirit bounce back to wipe out EF
BLAST's maiden Bounty event kicked off the 2025 Valve Regional Standings (VRS) season, and it began with a bang as world number one squad Spirit — one of just a few teams not partaking in roster changes during the holidays — walked away $288,125 USD richer.
Eternal Fire gave them a run for their money, however. The Turkish team took down some big names on the way to the final, defeating Vitality and G2 in the playoffs. They threatened a boilover in the final against Spirit on Anubis, overcoming a 12-4 deficit to take the match to overtime.
There, İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş came alive, leading Eternal Fire to a historic opening map comeback and setting the pace for the best-of-five. But from map two onwards, Spirit shifted up a gear and EF could not keep up.
Spirit took double digit leads on Nuke and Dust 2 and refused to give them up, immediately leveling, then overtaking EF before a solid 13-8 win on Mirage locked up the trophy for donk and co. Brutally, fans weren't given a chance to see Train in the final as Spirit kept the boot pressed down.
Dmitriy "sh1ro" Sokolov was a huge contributor alongside donk in the final, and impressively, the team rebounded after the shock Anubis upset without coach Sergey "hally" Shavayev who could not attend the playoffs in Denmark.
Spirit now head to IEM Katowice, the first big win the number one squad landed in 2024. They'll be looking to defend their crown with their direct invite to the second stage, while Eternal Fire begin their Katowice campaign in the play-in this week.
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