When Spirit face TYLOO in tomorrow’s ESL Pro League S21 Stage 2 opener, it will be their first match since their crushing 3:0 defeat against Team Vitality in the IEM Katowice Grand Final. Casting my mind back to that match, it was the first time donk has looked distinctly mortal in important moments.
A big part of success is how a team bounces back from setbacks. For Spirit, ESL Pro League S21 is an excellent opportunity for the team to dispel its Katowice demons and quickly return to winning ways. But what will it take for Spirit to find success in Stockholm?
Spirit need fresh tactical answers
Credit: Adela Sznajder | ESL
If Spirit want to win ESL Pro League, they’re going to need to beat the best CS2 teams along the way. Watching them against Vitality, all of their strengths were thoroughly neutered, and you could see Spirit run out of ideas in real time. Essentially, Spirit were completely figured out.
This isn’t the end of the world for Spirit. They’ve had a month off the server to come to the table with new ideas, and if they’ve used their time wisely, we could see a new tactical approach from a team that probably needed it. The core idea will remain the same – find every possible way to set up donk where possible. It’s just that the approach might change in parts, countering the answers that Team Vitality seemed to have for them in every turn where possible.
It’s unlikely we’ll know whether this is the case until the latter stages of ESL Pro League Season 21. I don’t imagine Spirit’s tactics will need to be too far from the norm to take down TYLOO, for example. But when they face a top team (maybe even Vitality again), we’ll see if they’ve found any new ideas.
sh1ro must put pressure aside
Credit: ESL
If donk and sh1ro aren’t firing, Spirit aren’t winning. That is the typical story of this team, and has been since sh1ro joined. For donk, we’ve seen that pressure very rarely gets to him – the IEM Katowice 2025 Final is the exception rather than the rule in this regard. For sh1ro, it’s usually the opposite, often struggling to find himself when faced with the biggest stages. It’s a funny thing to say about a Major and Katowice winner, but the numbers back it up.
The bounceback of Spirit from their Katowice Final farce could depend on how sh1ro returns to form. We know he’ll farm the Stage 2 Group Stage of ESL Pro League Season 21, but can he keep it up as they go deeper and the pressure ramps up? ESL Pro League’s studio environment, even for the Playoffs, could be of assistance to him. He won’t have to worry about the crowd’s jeers, and can instead focus on his Counter-Strike.
For his teammate, donk, the worries aren’t the same. It should be pretty obvious that he’ll be able to find his form in big moments. He just needs his AWPer alongside him if Spirit are to put IEM Katowice behind them.
TYLOO up first for Spirit
Spirit begin their ESL Pro League S21 run with a match against TYLOO, some of the fan favorites from Stage 1. We shouldn’t have much to learn here, except in the unlikely event of a loss. Otherwise, this should be a straightforward affair for Team Spirit. Still, a dominant win with as few TYLOO rounds as possible would be a great way to signal their return to form.