Devilwalk on Team Spirit: “It’s obvious that with this break, they’re aiming exclusively for the Major.”
Analyst Jonathan “Devilwalk” Lundberg and host James “BanKs” Banks discussed Team Spirit’s form ahead of ESL Pro League Season 24 in the latest episode of the All About Counter-Strike podcast and shared their thoughts on the roster’s prospects for the tournament.
On a possible dip in form due to the break
BanKs: The main thing to understand about this is that the players themselves openly said they’d take a long break between the tournaments in Porto and the EPL. We’ve all seen tons of videos of magixx traveling to a FISSURE event in China, tN1R riding a tractor in his hometown, and things like that. The guys are just enjoying life. But at the same time, they emphasize that official matches mean much more to them than practice. So it all comes down to the form they’ll be in when they return. Of course, we’re expecting them to play their best, but the guys themselves are already keeping in mind that their conditioning might not be quite perfect at the start.
On the team’s focus on the Major
Devilwalk: It’s obvious that with a break like this, they’re focusing exclusively on the Major. The players want to rest up properly, then gradually build momentum and peak at exactly the right moment. I think this is a smart move on their part. Will we see the best version of Team Spirit? Most likely not. But there’s no reason to believe they won’t make it to the top 4 in this tournament.
On ShindeN as their first opponent and the event format
BanKs: They might need a few matches just to get into the groove.
Devilwalk: Yeah, but with this format, they’ll definitely have time to find their rhythm.
BanKs: Plus, the early opponents will be suitable. The teams themselves determine the seeding for the EPL, and everyone pushed ShindeN to the very bottom, so in the first round, Team Spirit will face that very team. It’s a great and comfortable option for a comeback. And a huge plus, by the way, is that there are no best-of-1 matches here at all—all series will be best-of-three.
In the previous episode of the podcast, Devilwalk and BanKs discussed the latest changes to CS2 related to silent reloading and the new map selection mechanics in the Premier League, and they also shared their thoughts on the return of clan tags and the introduction of pets in the game.
Photo by Stefan Petrescu, PGL.
