M6 World Championship team profile: Team Spirit, the conquerors of Eastern Europe

Images: MOONTON Games

The Eastern European MLBB scene has been growing rapidly, and at the center of it all are Team Spirit.

The Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) M6 World Championship is already underway, with 23 of the best MLBB teams from all across the world fighting to claim the lion's share of a $1 million prize pool and this year's MLBB world title. In this series, we'll be taking a look at all the teams that qualified for the Swiss Stage and their chances of becoming the 2024 MLBB world champions.

The eleventh entry in our series will feature Team Spirit, the new top dogs of the Eastern European MLBB scene. Can they upstage Deus Vult’s performance in the previous year?

Team Spirit roster:

1. Stanislav “SAWO” Reshniak
2. Kemiran “Sunset Lover” Kochkarov
3. Mathaios “Kid Bomba” Panagiotis Chatzilakos 
4. Pak Anton “Hiko” Igorevich 
5. Alexander “Oneshot” Sharkov

Formed in March 2024, Team Spirit inherited Deus Vult's soul by signing five members and Sergey “Marl” Finashev. Their first roster consisted of Kid Bomba, Marl, SAWO, Sunset Lover, and Hiko, with Ruslan “Lil” Degtev as their coach. Expectations were high for Spirit as most of their roster were coming off a commendable fourth place finish in the M5 World Championship.

The team tasted instant success as they dominated Eastern Europe, winning the MLBB Continental Championship Season 3 and securing a slot in the MLBB Mid Season Cup 2024. To further improve their squad, Spirit recruited M5 World Championship-winning coach Vrendon "Vrendon Lin" Pesebre as their analyst before the start of MSC 2024.

However, Spirit's tenure in the Mid Season Cup ended in disappointment as they bowed out during the Group Stage with a 1-0-2 record. Spirit also parted ways with their coach Lil following that lowly finish. 

Despite that setback, Spirit continued to dominate domestically as they topped the Regular Season standings of the MLBB Continental Championship Season 4 with 12 match wins and two ties. 

However, Spirit stumbled in their first match in the Playoffs after getting upset by Dark Phoenix in three games. But Spirit bounced back in the lower bracket, first by outlasting Verso Time, 3-2, then getting their revenge over Dark Phoenix, 3-1, in the lower bracket finals. 

That set Spirit up for a grand finals clash with Insilio, where Kid Bomba and his teammates emerged victorious in a 4-2 rout to secure a Swiss Stage slot in the M6 World Championship.

With Deus Vult finishing fourth in the M5 World Championship, many will be looking to them to improve on that result. But with so many strong contenders in M6, time will tell if Spirit can rise to the challenge. 

M6 World Championship team profiles:

• Fnatic ONIC PH, the Philippines' top contender
• Aurora Gaming, the Filipino superteam
• NIP Flash, Singapore's rising stars
• CFU Gaming, Cambodia's finest
• BloodThirstyKings, the kings of North America
• KeepBest Gaming, China's best bet
• Twisted Minds, a new star from MENA
• Team Liquid ID, the cavalry of new blood
• RRQ Hoshi, the uncrowned kings
• S2G Esports, the new champions of Türkiye

The M6 World Championship will take place from November 21 to December 15 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is split into three distinct phases: the Wildcard Stage from November 21 to 24, the Swiss Stage from November 28 to December 5, and the Knockout Stage from December 7 to 15. 

Of the 23 participating teams, 15 directly qualified to the Swiss Stage while eight others will start in the Wildcard Stage, where they will fight for the 16th and final spot in the Swiss Stage. For everything you need to know about the M6 World Championship, check here.