posted by Olucaron,
Team Spirit were close to qualifying for The International 2018, but they just weren't able to overcome Espada and therefore missed out. Changes were needed, and now two players have left the CIS-based organization — first Olexandr 'DkPhobos' Kucherya and then Ilya 'Illidan Stormrage' Pivtsaev.





Spirit miss out on Vancouver



Team Spirit had tried desperately hard to get to the Vancouver showpiece. First, they lost out to Double Dimension* in the Round of 8 stage of the CIS Open Qualifier #1, in a close 2-1 loss, and then they breezed through Open Qualifier #2 to take their place in the next stage.

In The International 2018: CIS Qualifiers they also swept through the group stage, only losing to eventual qualifiers FlyToMoon (soon to become Winstrike) in the round robin. After losing to Espada in a close 2-1 loss in the semi-finals, they then faced off again in the losers finals. Another 2-1 loss saw them exit, and with that their chances of attending TI evaporated.








All was not well in Team Spirit camp



Illidan was released due to the need for more rotations and a younger core, according to the organisation, with the position 1 player simply being a victim of the post-season roster shuffle. The move was first revealed by Roman 'Resolut1on' Fominok on his Twitch stream, after receiving a Steam direct message from the Spirit hard carry.

In a comment for Cybersport.ru, Team Spirit manager Ruslana “DKLana” Berest revealed that DKPhobos ultimately left the team due to ‘a number of serious conflicts and misunderstandings’ with his teammates. These were brought on by health problems having ‘too much impact on his character and psychological state,’ she said.

While no more details were given, it was mentioned that in the end, the remaining four members of Spirit no longer wanted to play alongside DKPhobos and he himself did not want to continue. In a message on the team’s VK fanpage the CEO of Team Spirit, Nikita Chukalin, wished DKPhobos well for the future.


What do you think of these roster moves? Can Team Spirit bounce back?

  • Olucaron
    Olucaron

    Olucaron

    David W. Duffy
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