Some of you may have noticed that after map one of Spirit's bout against Vitality at the major, Donk had a generational crash. The question that everybody sort of naturally arrived at was A, was is it justified? And B, what does it spell for Don's future on Spirit?
Okay, so context. Going into the series, Spirit had dusted their way through stage three before twoing Falcons in the quarters. Donk capped that off with one of the filthiest aura farms we've ever seen and went into the Vitality series dripping with confidence.
And it showed with Spirit going up 12-6 before the wheels started coming off. >> Under 20 seconds. Surely this A setup is good.
>> Oh, the timing was great. You caught one player looking the wrong direction. Rocks wasn't wide enough to shut that down.
And with 10 on the clock, Doc just has nothing to say about this. Vitality with more fights still in the tank. >> And then this happened.
>> And in a moment, it's going to fade. And he saw something on the retreat. Shirou starting to put pressure.
No way. >> Okay, Messi saves it. >> THAT IS WHAT HE HAS TO DO.
THEN DONATIR COME OUT WITH HEAD SHOT. >> THE BOMB CAN COME BACK. 13 SECONDS.
Can they get the plant in? >> IT'S A SIGHT UNDER WRAPS. CHOPPER DIVES THE BOMB SITE.
APEX. OH, WAIT. CAN'T PUSH AND HE GETS IT.
stops them in their tracks. MESSI THE SAVIOR AGAIN. >> From there it goes to OT where Spirit secures several map points, none of which they're able to capitalize on.
So now Vitality look like they're running away with it and then this happens. Bomb is going to take its time. It waits for the utility to burst on default.
No damage done. They're going to try to slip UP. TER CAN ONLY GET THE ONE.
CHOPPER'S GOT TO GO MAD, BUT THAT'S ONLY SEVEN BULLETS IN THE MAG. FORCED TO RELOAD. Nobody's able to clear him out right now.
>> He knows where they both are. >> Are you telling me Chopper's ABOUT TO 1 V3? >> I mean, if he does, he makes up for everything and then some.
>> Bomb planted on the default. This time he is working with the kit. No recovery needed just yet, but Mezi has been ice cold AND ZYU'S THE BEST.
BUT DOWN HE GOES. >> WILL HE FIGURE THIS OUT? >> MEZI STILL JUST SITTING STATIC.
CHOPPER WHITTLELES HIM DOWN. 37 HEALTH ON THE BRIT. DIVES INTO THE COVER OF PALACE AS CHOPPER WAKES THIS OUT.
>> HE GETS IT. WHY NOT? REAPER JUMPER.
>> UNFORTUNATELY, Vitality pull ahead again. Spirits start crumbling and even Dong starts getting a little antsy. At which point, Spirits, despite being up 12-6 in the first map of a major semifinal, lose.
And you can see that Donk was legitimately going through it. They load back in, get ready for map two, and Donk still looks just tilted beyond belief. In fact, they run back the footage from map one, and you can see firsthand just how hard he was crashing out.
They're on dust two, Spirit are playing super touchandgo, and Donk basically goes nonverbal. Needless to say, Spirit lose the map, get knocked out of the major, and Donk looks like he's just been hit by a train. Guys, the holidays are almost upon us, and for me, that means friends, family, and Counter Strike on the go.
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So, first off, what do we make of the crash out itself? Was it justified? Boring answer is it's really not for me or any of us to say.
I'm not going to be one of those armchair quarterbacks who like passes judgment on how a teenager conducts himself in a competitive environment. I find the whole thing to be sort of cringe and kind of creepy actually, but maybe that's just me. The less boring answer is sure, absolututely, it was justified.
Donk's stats on Mirage were crazy, and the impact of said stats was even crazier. Every round this guy pulled a multi-kill out of his ass, set his team up for a free round, and then just watched as they threw it away. I completely understand why Brav got as tilted as he did, especially when you factor in everything around [music] it.
Like Spirit's inconsistency throughout the year, the benchings, Dong's performance in light of all of that stuff, the fact that it's a major semifinal. I get it. But the real question isn't that.
The real question is where does Dong go from here? Does this spell the end of his time on Team Spirit? Look, man, I'm all for loyalty, okay?
But like, not since 2018, Simple have we borne witness to a superstar lugging the lifeless corpse of a roster across the finish line to this degree. And at least in 2018, Simple had Prime Electronic to work with. Donk has, God bless his team, basically no help.
There's been a lot of talk about like how head and shoulders above the competition he actually is since his stats are truly an anomaly. But one thing is for sure, he is wasting away on Spirit. I think there's a real chance that sometime into the new year, Dong finds himself on a new roster.
The most obvious of which is probably Falcons. Not only do they just have infinite money to sign whoever the they want, but Q was previously a Spirit Academy player, so there's already a connection there. Now, I'm not saying it's actually going to happen, but just imagine if you will, Nico, Monosy, Cuske, Donk, and let's say Bit all on the same roster.
I'm not a believer in super teams. I don't really think they work, but that is terrifying, brother. That puts 2018 phase 2 shame in terms of [music] raw statistical output.
Even Nico could not choke a major with that level of star power behind him. At least you'd hope. Like I said, I don't know if it'll actually happen, but I do feel that we as a community all kind of sense that this is a bit of a turning point for [music] Spirit and for Donk.
Donk is a generational talent, and frankly, he's outgrown Spirit. He needs help, and there are plenty of rosters out there who are more than willing to offer it. I think this is going to be a spicy season, and with Vitality running it back, teams are going to need to bulk up and build steady, unwavering cores if they're going to compete.
Anyway, that's it from us until the end of the year and from me forever. I did this for seven years and loved every second of it. This job changed my life and the lives of my friends.
So, on behalf of all of us, I just want to say thank you to everyone who ever watched. It was such an honor and just such a pleasure, man. So, [music] goodbye and I'll see you when I see you.
