After their demolition job over Virtus.pro in the Quarter-Finals, Team Spirit sit just two wins away from becoming only the second-ever team to win IEM Katowice in back-to-back years. It would be a historic feat, joining the mighty Fnatic 2015 and 2016 teams who, to this day, remain the only ones to do it.
Even still, if Team Spirit can get over the line, they’ll become the first to do it back-to-back with the exact same lineup, with dennis replacing pronax between the two events back in the day.
Virtus.pro never stood a chance against Spirit
When it was revealed that Virtus.pro would be playing with stand-in mir instead of FL4MUS for the IEM Katowice Playoffs, I, perhaps disrespectfully, discounted their chances of a win against Spirit immediately. Was I wrong, though? What we saw here was domination from the off, with Virtus.pro only mustering two rounds on the first map. The second was a more competitive affair, as VP managed to pick up nine, but they still never looked like a real threat to actually take a map.
The opening map of Train was an interesting prospect, in theory. With it being so new to the Active Duty map pool, it’s a great way for underdogs to roll the dice and pray the lack of reps benefits them on the day. Here, though, this was deathmatch practice for the deadly duo donk and sh1ro, while it was magixx who stepped up his form heading into Ancient. All in, it just looked too easy for them, putting Team Spirit in a great spot to try and make history over the weekend, especially if their individual form remains as high as it is currently.
Spirit shouldn’t waste the chance to be history-makers
With a player like donk, Team Spirit are in with a chance of winning every single event they attend. Considering their good form at IEM Katowice 2025 so far, with no one player underperforming, they simply can’t afford to waste the chance to make history. Getting back-to-back Katowice winners very literally doesn’t happen often. And yes, as previous champions, their Counter-Strike legacy is already secure, but two times? Then you’re joining a truly elite club.
As mentioned, only Fnatic have won consecutive tournaments in Katowice’s Spodek. You could certainly argue that back in 2015 and 2016, the quality of play just wasn’t as high as it is today. Would that make a Team Spirit double even more impressive? In my eyes, it certainly would.
I know that I’m getting ahead of myself. Team Spirit still have to face a NAVI team that has already beaten them this event in the Semi-Finals and then one of Vitality or The MongolZ in the Grand Final if they’re going to pull off this interesting piece of CS history. Beating those opponents would make for a remarkable run, with no arguments about its legitmacy. But I’m a sucker for a legacy, and it’s been so long since we had a real era in Counter-Strike. That’s why I’m already dreaming of a consecutive IEM Katowice win for Team Spirit.
