How 1w Team Caused a Sensation at ESL Pro League Season 24 — The Team Is Almost at the Major!
On October 6, 1w Team defeated Team Spirit 2-0 at ESL Pro League Season 24 following victories over G2 Esports and Legacy. Three different players led the team in rating across the three series. We break down the team’s journey from TDK to the playoffs and the players’ contributions to this result.
How the Current 1w Team Roster Came Together
The core of 1w Team consists of players who lost their spots on their previous teams:
- AMKAL ESPORTS, led by captain Vladislav “nafany” Gorshkov, won only two of its last ten series before the players were benched.
- Pyotr “fame” Bolyshev, champion of the IEM Rio Major 2022, was placed on Virtus.pro’s transfer list in February 2026.
- Sergey “Ax1Le” Rykhtorov, ranked fourth in the world by HLTV in 2022, ended up on BetBoom Team’s bench as early as the summer of 2025.
- Artem “ArtFr0st” Kharitonov gave up his spot on Team Spirit to Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov in December 2023, even though he had won two tournaments with the team prior to being replaced.
- Andrey “BELCHONOKK” Yasinsky joined on loan from PARIVISION.
- Konstantin “groove” Pikiner returned to coaching after a year-long hiatus and resumed working with nafany and Ax1Le, whom he knew from Gambit Esports.
In January 2026, nafany, Ax1Le, and groove founded TDK without organizational backing. The captain explained that he personally covers the costs of flights, hotels, and tournament entry fees. In May, TDK came back from a 1-2 deficit in the ESL Challenger League Season 51 Europe Finals against Nemesis and secured a spot in ESL Pro League Season 24 with a 3-2 victory. fame and BELCHONOKK joined in July, and on August 1, the roster was signed by 1w Team. The previous TDK roster had earned the tournament spot, but it was the revamped five-man squad that traveled to Katowice.
1w Team’s five victories on different maps
At the start of the EPL, 1w Team lost to Team Vitality 0-2. In their next match, 1w Team defeated G2 Esports on Dust2 13-11 but lost on Ancient 1-13. The series was decided on Mirage, where BELCHONOKK recorded 25 kills and 12 deaths. 1w Team won the map 13–8 and kept their playoff hopes alive.
Mirage kicked off a streak of five consecutive map wins: 1w Team then defeated Legacy on Dust2 and Ancient, as well as Spirit on Cache and Anubis. The overall round score was 65–38, meaning 1w Team won 63.1% of the rounds. No opponent managed to win ten rounds on a single map; however, when evaluating this stretch, it’s important to note that Legacy was playing with a substitute.
Legacy picked Ancient, and Spirit picked Anubis, so two of the five victories came on maps chosen by the opponent. On Ancient, 1w Team secured a victory just one day after suffering a 1-13 loss to G2. Their winning streak spanned five different maps, but with only one match played on each, it’s still too early to assess their preparation for the full map pool.
Three wins and three different leaders
In the series against G2, BELCHONOKK had the best rating among 1w Team players—1.41 on the HLTV Rating 3.0 system—and recorded 52 kills across three maps. At PARIVISION, BELCHONOKK played as a support, but on his new team, he’s been the first to engage in firefights more often. After the match, Andrei explained that his new roles and the reduced pressure of expectations help him feel more confident.
In the series against Legacy, ArtFr0st led the team in rating with 1.45, along with 35 kills and 18 deaths. fame finished the match with a similar rating—1.4—although against G2 and Spirit, his rating was 0.82 and 0.8, respectively. In the three winning series, three different players posted the best ratings.
Ax1Le maintained a rating above 1.0 in all three winning matches: 1.19 against G2, 1.22 against Legacy, and 1.51 against Spirit. His total kill-to-death ratio for these series was 110:84. After advancing to the playoffs, nafany attributed Ax1Le’s progress to their familiar roles and the resumption of their collaboration with groove. Seven maps don’t necessarily signal a return to his 2022 form, but during this stretch, Ax1Le was one of the most consistent players on the roster.
Offensive Advantage Against Spirit
In their match against Spirit, the leader of the VRS rankings, 1w Team performed particularly well on offense. The first halves on Cache and Anubis ended with scores of 8–4 and 9–3, respectively. In total, 1w Team won 17 out of 24 rounds on attack (70.8%) and 9 out of 16 on defense. On both maps, Spirit had to come from behind after the side switch.
In terms of first kills, 1w Team held a slight advantage—21–19 for the series. However, the overall round count was 26–14: the close results of the opening skirmishes did not prevent 1w Team from winning both maps. On Anubis, Spirit narrowed the gap from 3:9 to 9:10, but 1w Team took the final three rounds and closed out the match.
ArtFr0st finished the match against his former team with 27 kills and 10 deaths. By comparison, sh1ro’s kill-to-death ratio was 23:22. Ax1Le had the best rating on 1w Team at 1.51, while BELCHONOKK tied him in kills: both had 33.
What qualifying for the playoffs means for 1w Team
Reaching the playoffs has brought 1w Team closer to the PGL Major Singapore 2026. In its match report on the game against Spirit, HLTV estimated the chances of receiving an invitation at approximately 87% if 1w Team finishes 5th–8th in the EPL, and at 95% if they reach the semifinals. This is a tentative projection, not a confirmed spot: the VRS qualification ranking will be finalized on November 2.
In an interview following the victory over G2, BELCHONOKK suggested that it might take about a year to develop a shared vision for the game. He attributed this to the players’ varying experiences: nafany and groove’s approaches differ from those he and fame are accustomed to, and ArtFr0st is used to playing differently. After the match against Spirit, nafany noted another challenge: opponents will now be better prepared to face 1w Team.
In just under nine months, the unsponsored team made it to the EPL playoffs, qualifying through the qualifiers and revamping its roster. In Katowice, 1w Team won three series in a row after an opening loss, with BELCHONOKK, ArtFr0st, and Ax1Le taking turns earning the highest rating in those matches. The next stage will show whether the team can continue to win in the knockout rounds.
