Image: Perfect World Esports
Donk has cemented his place as the best player of 2024 by leading Team Spirit to their first Major championship.
Team Spirit have claimed the second Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) Major championship after they defeated 
FaZe Clan, 2-1, in the best-of-three grand finals of the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 on Sunday (December 15).
This marks the first CS Major title for Spirit and its roster, namely 
Danil “Donk” Kryshkovets, Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov, Boris “magixx” Vorobiev, Leonid “Chopper” Vishnyakov, and 
Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotja. The team have also claimed the lion's share of $500,000 out of the Shanghai Major's $1.25 million prize pool.
With this victory, Donk has also carved his name into the history of Counter-Strike by becoming the youngest player to both win a Major and the Major MVP award at just 17-years old. Donk leading Spirit to the Shanghai Major title also caps off his claim to the greatest rookie season ever for a Counter-Strike player.
Meanwhile, FaZe ends their Cinderella run through the Shanghai Major painfully short of their second Major title. They will settle for a commendable second place finish and $170,000 in consolation.
Team Spirit's march to the Shanghai Major title
With leading world #1 player candidate Donk leading the way, Spirit were one of the biggest favourites in the Shanghai Major. However, they didn't have the most fortuitous start in the European RMR B, where they needed to go through five rounds just to qualify for the Elimination Stage. Spirit didn't have the best start there either, losing in the first round before bouncing back with three-straight victories to advance to the Playoffs.
FaZe were not rated as highly as Spirit, with many expecting a Playoff appearance from them at most despite having four Major winners on its roster and with legendary in-game leader 
Finn “karrigan” Andersen at the helm. FaZe earned their spot in the Shanghai Major with a 3-1 run through the European RMR A, but doubts about their competitiveness surfaced after they barely qualified to the Playoffs by having to survive all five rounds of the Elimination Stage.
In the Playoffs, Spirit cruised through a relatively easy bracket to become the first team in the grand finals. They soundly swept Team Liquid in the quarterfinals before outlasting a scrappy MOUZ squad in the semifinals to advance to the championship round.
Meanwhile, FaZe's side of the bracket was much more stacked, featuring two other big favourites in Team Vitality and G2 Esports. 
Robin “ropz” Kool outshone bigger stars like 
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut, 
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov to lead FaZe on their Cinderella run. Karrigan and his squad first pulled off a reverse sweep over Vitality in the quarterfinals before sweeping G2 in the semifinals, leaving Spirit as the last obstacle to FaZe's storybook ending in the Shanghai Major.
2-1
FaZe ClanThe Shanghai Major grand finals opened in Nuke, where FaZe on the T side won the pistol round before a Donk 3K in round 2 sparked a four-round run for Spirit. FaZe then responded with three-straight, only for magixx to remind the opposition that Donk isn't the only threat on the team and help give Spirit a 7-5 lead by halftime.
Spirit won the first three rounds of the second half before both sides started trading the next six rounds, eventually handing Spirit the 13-8 win in Nuke. Magixx topped the charts for Spirit to open the series with 25 frags and three assists on a map-best 10 deaths. Meanwhile, Donk had 20 kills and seven assists on 14 frags.
FaZe then struck back in map two at Ancient, where they won the first three rounds as the CT side before Donk scored an Ace in round four. But even with Donk and magixx continuing their hot streak from Ancient, ropz once again outshone the stars on the opposing team to help give FaZe a dominant 8-4 first half lead.
While Spirit managed to claim the first two rounds of the second half, FaZe looked nigh-unstoppable as they racked up five-straight rounds to lock up the 13-6 win in Ancient and send the Shanghai Major grand finals to a decider. Ropz sparked FaZe's comeback in the series with 25 frags and five assists on 12 deaths against magixx's 22 and donk's 19.
The decider at Dust II saw Spirit stomp the first half as the CT side, winning seven of the first eight rounds to eventually end the half up 8-4 behind the continued brilliance of Donk and magixx. Spirit then continued rolling in the second half and got to within championship point at 12-7 after round 17. With their backs against the wall, FaZe played some of their best Counter-Strike yet to pull off a fiery six-round streak to threaten overtime. But in the final round of regulation, sh1ro won a one-versus-two post-plant clutch that ultimately won Spirit the Shanghai Major championship.
Donk willed Spirit to their first Major championship with an incredible 30 frags and five assists on 14 deaths. Magixx also played excellently with 22 kills and four assists also on 14 deaths. The two players notably ended the series with 69 total frags apiece, proving to be the one-two punch Spirit needed to outlast a formidable opponent in FaZe.
The CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major was the second-ever Major Championship for CS2 and featured 24 of the best teams from all across the globe gun for the lion's share of a $1.25 million prize pool as well as the prestigious right to be called CS2 Major champions. The tournament was split into three distinct stages: the Opening Stage from November 30 to December 3, the Elimination Stage from December 5 to 8, and the Playoff Stage from December 12 to 15.
For everything you need to know about the CS2 Perfect World Shanghai Major, check here.
