donk on individual awards: “I cannot be the best player in the world if I will not win tournaments, it’s easy”

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets has already practically completed Counter-Strike after just two years in Tier 1. Now, with the Hall of Heroes kicking off its third chapter at IEM Krakow 2026, donk arrives in the new year with fresh goals, another event to add to his growing list of achievements. Spirit will play one of FURIA or Aurora in the Semi-Finals of IEM Krakow – ahead of their match, we had the chance to catch up with Donk to get some of his thoughts on the year so far.

donk: “[magixx] is sick of Counter-Strike and he’s just grinding non-stop… still we have a small amount of maps”

Sophie McCarthy: So first question I have is about magixx. He’s just come back in the team. He’s IGL now. How does he change the team dynamic compared to chopper?

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets: I think Boris (magixx) is more stable and he wants to do more of his things and I know he’s sick of Counter-Strike and he’s just grinding non-stop. So he’s good individually and he’s also good in calling in my opinion. But still we have a small amount of maps and we don’t have much practice I would say. And we still need to see a lot.

Sophie: I mean, it takes a bit to get into it, doesn’t it? So how has the team dynamic changed since Budapest? Obviously you guys didn’t have the outcome that you wanted at the Major.

donk: We’ve made changes and like after Budapest we all felt, I think, disappointment because like if we beat Vitality, no one has doubts that we won’t win FaZe Clan in Finals. So like it’s, it’s crazy in terms of like hunger I would say. And like I think all guys like, like me, sh1ro and the others, they feel like they want to get their revenge.

Sophie: Yeah, I mean that would be great if we, if we can knock Vitality off that pedestal, I guess. So to talk about this event in particular, so far you’ve had two pretty good, pretty easy matches. One maybe not so easy. So do you think that you’ve had enough game time together with magixx coming in now or are you still getting back into it?

donk: I think we’re still getting back into it in terms of getting shape because we got a new IGL. We have like four maps online, three maps on BLAST Bounty and like it was a disappointing event. We were awful and we still getting shape, our shape, our good shape. We are finding the keys how to make our system work and yeah, I think that’s it. Yeah, sure we wanted to play more but like we got Semi-Finals, it’s fine. We have extra days for practice.

Sophie: Because you’re going to face either FURIA or Aurora in Semi-Finals. You haven’t played either of those teams, I think since last summer, right?

donk: Yeah, I think.

Sophie: So how are you prepping for one or the other of these teams? Does it look any different?

donk: Yeah, they’re super different in terms of playstyle. Nothing special. We were facing them, but maybe not so much. But we still played them once or twice maybe and we have some knowledge how we can beat them.

Sophie: I mean, FURIA have gone on a little bit of a win streak since then. So maybe a different team to the one you played last time. So zont1x said fairly recently in an interview with HLTV that individual achievements matter more than you maybe let on. Would you say that’s true?

donk: It’s his perspective. I don’t know. It’s simple. Because I cannot be the best player in the world if I will not win tournaments, it’s easy.

Sophie: So would you agree?

donk: Not.