donk on the absence of hally and S0tF1k at the IEM Cologne Major 2026: “Nothing has really changed in terms of how we work.”
Team Spirit rifler Danil “donk” Kryshkovets reflected in a video on the club’s YouTube channel on the changes in working with the “Dragons’” coaching staff at the IEM Cologne Major 2026, highlighted the drawbacks of online collaboration, and discussed the best ways to practice in deathmatch mode.
On working with hally and S0tF1k
Nothing much has changed in terms of our workflow, the amount of work, or the scope of the work. It’s just that Dima and Boris are working from home, and Seryoga is working from the hospital. They’re working the same way they did leading up to this tournament at IEM Rio and PGL Astana. Nothing particularly significant has changed, except that people are simply working remotely. That’s all there is to it. Boris hasn’t been given any additional responsibilities due to the coaching staff’s absence at the tournament. The only thing that’s a bit stressful, I think, is that in close matches, we don’t have anyone to call timeouts. Let’s say there’s a moment when we realize something’s going wrong, or we’re facing a pivotal round. There’s no Seryoga or Dima who could call a timeout at a crucial moment and turn things around.
On the downsides of online communication
Maybe [in person] it’s easier in terms of communication—you can just turn around and call out to someone, point something out to them. It’s just simpler. But online, you have to log into TeamSpeak... [Plus] you can’t really see what the other person is doing, you don’t hear the context, and you can’t add your own input if you notice an important detail. When [you’re working] online, you can’t do that.
On deathmatch training
[You should do it] however you feel like it. Everyone plays their own way. Some play like me, while others just spam everything. I practice my mouse movements specifically so that it’s as close to the actual game as possible. It’s probably pointless to just spam shots if you don’t practice aiming for the head at all. I mean, you don’t have any time to aim for the head when you’re spamming shots—you either hit the right spot or you don’t. But if you pick a specific spot and play from there, you just move the mouse a little bit and adjust your aim. It’s just that if you’re spamming on crowded servers, you’ll get killed every second. It’s just not productive. It’s better to just practice aiming.
Earlier, Team Spirit defeated 9z Team 2-1 in a third-round match of the main stage at the IEM Cologne Major 2026. Thanks to this victory, donk’s team advanced to the event’s playoffs. In the Major’s quarterfinals, the “Dragons” will face off against G2 Esports—their match is scheduled for June 19 at 4:45 p.m. Moscow time.
Photo: PGL.
