Team Spirit brushed aside The MongolZ to be crowned champions of BLAST Bounty Season 2. It’s the second BLAST Bounty tournament they’ve won this year after winning the first Season in January.
donk at BLAST Open 2025. Image Credit: BLAST Open
Spirit Blast BOUNTY Season 2 Win Makes it Two in a Row
Spirit is the form team at the moment, with BLAST Bounty being their fourth trophy of the year and second on the bounce after victory at IEM Cologne 2025 last month.
The formidable force started slowly, losing a map to Ukrainian underdogs Passion UA before emphatically turning that series around, and advancing to the playoff stage in Malta after edging out G2 Esports.
Spirit were dominant in the playoffs, first moving past Virtus.pro in the quarter-finals before dispatching their big rivals MOUZ in the semi-finals.
The grand final was also won with relative ease. The IEM Cologne champions took down The MongolZ in three maps with a 13-11 on Nuke, 16-13 on Mirage, and 13-5 on Ancient.
To no one’s surprise, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets top-fragged the series, picking up a 65-48 statline and a 1.49 HLTV rating.
donk was also awarded the MVP award for the event thanks to his average rating of 1.53, sensational event-wide ADR of 103.7, and 0.95 kills per round played.
The award is the tenth of his career, an incredible feat given that he only moved up to Spirit’s main team from their academy in late 2023.
For their win in BLAST Bounty Season 2, Spirit will be awarded $287,813, just over 50 percent of the total $500,000 prize pool.
zont1x could be switching things up. Image Credit: BLAST Open
Never Good Enough: Spirit Naysayers Remain
Although this is Spirit’s second dominant tournament win in a row, naysayers are quick to point out that the Russian team has yet to play Vitality this season.
It’s no fault of their own; Vitality have struggled to live up to the levels shown during the first half of the year. Still, to some, Spirit will not be considered ahead of their rivals and the undisputed best team in the world until that match-up has been played.
There’s also the fact that Spirit will reportedly soon be making a roster change, with HEROIC’s Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich rumoured to be joining the team in place of Myroslav “zont1x” Plakhotia after the upcoming Esports World Cup event.
This is a move that could strengthen Spirit even further and could see them considered the big favorite for every event they attend as we move full-steam towards the second Major of the year, the StarLadder Budapest Major in December.