Donk may be the Greatest Esports Prodigy since Faker

With Team Spirit’s victory at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, Danil “donk” Kryshkovets became the youngest Major winner in Counter-Strike history. He also became the youngest Major MVP, doing so with the highest-rating ever at a Major.

To top it off, donk is now the frontrunner for HLTV’s Player of the Year award, and he would be the youngest to ever win that as well. Most impressively, he’s doing so while playing one of, if not the hardest role in the game: pure entry fragger. Donk would be the first non-AWP player to win the POTY award since 2015.

I could sing this kid’s praises all day. If you’re not watching him play, it’s hard to explain the kind of impact he’s having on the whole of Counter-Strike. No one has been this good at the game in their first year ever. He’s the most prodigious talent CS has ever seen. It even reminds me a bit of…

Yes, I am about to name drop the GOAT

Yes, comparing donk to Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is something straight out of a clickbait YouTube video. They play different games, live in different nations, speak different languages, and have never/will likely never have any form of interaction.

However, in a year where we saw both donk’s meteoric rise to Major Champion and MVP and Faker’s hard carry performance en route to his fifth Worlds title, it’s hard to not look and see the similarities. And no, it’s not just “they click mouse good.”

Faker came onto the League of Legends scene in a similarly boisterous fashion. Plucked out of solo queue by SK Telecom, the org formed a squad around the talented youngster. While Faker was extremely mechanically gifted, it was unknown if he could translate his solo queue prowess into pro play.

Faker’s debut game featured him playing Nidalee mid against multi-year veteran Kang “Ambition” Chan-yong. In a two-minute sequence, Faker solo-killed his lane opponent, then roamed bot and killed the enemy ADC, Support, and Jungler on a tower dive to take over the game. If only everyone back then knew what this would be the start of.

Donk was magical in Katowice

The first tier one event of donk’s career came at IEM Katowice at the start of 2024. There was some hype over a “skilled rookie” that had been tearing up the FACEIT ladder, but no one expected what would transpire at one of the most prestigious LAN events CS has to offer.

Donk shot out of a cannon at his first big tournament, crushing all who stood in his path. The kid was playing his own brand of Counter-Strike and dominating the best teams in the world. His stat lines from Katowice are the stuff of legends. 57-36 against NAVI, 48-24 against FaZe Clan (world number one at the time), and a monstrous 82-40 in the Grand Finals against FaZe, good for a 1.92 rating on the biggest stage of donk’s young life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7qXxxil4A

Becoming the Best at Record Pace

Both Faker and donk were immediately called phenoms after just a few matches played. The way that they were able to take over the game, playing in a style that no one had ever been able to play before, made everyone turn their eyes to the young prodigies.

Faker and SKT went on to place third at that OGN Champions Spring. The split after at Champions Summer, they rose to the top and won first place, seeding them into the regional gauntlet for a spot at Season 3 Worlds. Of course, Faker and SKT pushed through and qualified for League’s biggest event.

The GOAT-to-be cemented his spot as the best player in the world as he and SKT earned a 15-3 game record across the tournament, culminating in a 3-0 sweep of Star Horn Royal Club in the Grand Finals. In his first year, Faker was a world champion.

Donk has had a similarly impressive year. His Katowice performance skyrocketed him into the best player conversation, and while he and Spirit did have a couple of ups and downs, they showed themselves as threatening trophy contenders.

Spirit earned their second trophy of the year at the BLAST Spring Finals, won the following BetBoom Dacha event, and earned a top two at the BLAST World Finals. In every run that Spirit made, donk was the driving force behind the team. By this point, he amassed five tournament MVP awards as a 17-year-old.

All of this culminated at the Perfect World Shanghai Major. Donk put up the most dominant performance in the history of the Counter-Strike Major, cementing himself a sixth MVP and a Worlds-caliber title of his own.

Mentality of a Champion

Okay, so both Faker and donk are great at their video game and had a team that could win the biggest trophy their game offers in their rookie years. Is that all? Not by a long shot.

We’ve seen over the course of Faker’s career that no one can stay at the top permanently. There have been off-years, as well as years where Faker experienced heartbreak on the same stage that crowned him king. I still remember watching the end of Worlds 2017 as the Unkillable Demon King cried into his hands as a mortal should.

Being the best doesn’t mean that you never lose, it means that even when you lose, you can get right back up and be stronger. Faker is 10 years into his professional gaming career and is likely a better player than ever. His style has evolved, the once mechanical genius kid now becoming the most cerebral player the game has ever seen.

Faker’s MVP performance at Worlds 2024 was evidence that age doesn’t mean anything, it’s all about mentality. Sure, sometimes Faker dies in lane or fails an engage, but he knows how to find the winning play better than anyone. As the meme goes, he may int sometimes, but he’ll never be a coward.

Donk is the same. He plays the most aggressive, oppressive, in-your-face style of Counter-Strike. I’ve seen him run out mid on Ancient, get flashed and killed, then do it again next round and find a double kill. Donk has nerves of steel. He knows he’s good enough to make the winning play, even if things don’t go his way prior.

At the Shanghai Major, donk had one of his worst maps ever in the Semifinals against MOUZ. He ended map one of Nuke 6-17 with 40 ADR and an abysmal 0.36 rating. For a 17-year-old under the most pressure in his life, this should be soul crushing. He should be spiraling in own young mind. Should I play more passive? Should I be more supportive? What could I have done? What can I do now?

Instead, donk did what he does best. He came back out onto the stage and clicked heads. 17 kills in 17 rounds on map two to help Spirit force a tiebreaker. In the map that decided who would earn a Major Grand Finals berth, he got 19 kills top fragging the server.

It didn’t matter to donk that he just fed face in front of thousands in that stadium and hundreds of thousands of viewers at home. It didn’t matter that his team was one map from losing a chance at their dreams. The kid just walked back out onto the stage with the composure of an old master and played his game.

How to become the GOAT?

Insane skill and talent for a game are the first step in becoming a great player. The knowledge and discipline on how to practice and refine your play are how you can become one of, if not the best player. But if you want to be the GOAT, it’s going to be the strength, resilience, and composure that get you there.

Faker has that in spades. And so far, it looks like donk is building to it too. I believe that donk is the greatest esports prodigy since Faker. Yes, it’s early in his young career and things can always change. Still, calling it this early is the point. We saw what Faker was back in 2013 and what he’s become over 10 years later. We’re seeing what donk is right now, and we know what he can become as well.

He only needs a “few” more MVP awards and Majors to surpass S1mple right?