Fresh off their Esports World Cup triumph in Paris just three days prior, Team Spirit wasted no time returning to form with a commanding 2-0 sweep over DENDELE at the BLAST Open Porto opening round. The Russian squad secured victories of 13-8 on Ancient and 13-7 on Cache.
Danil "donk" Kryshkovets etched his name in Counter-Strike 2 history during the match, becoming the first player to accumulate 20 ace clutches at HLTV MVP-level tournaments. This achievement puts him ahead of elite competitors Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut and Nikola "NiKo" Kovač, who each have 18 aces to their names.
The young prodigy delivered two spectacular aces on Cache, with the first coming during the opening pistol round. What made this particular ace extraordinary was donk's perfect execution: he eliminated all five opponents while dealing 500 damage without taking a single point of damage himself. Such a flawless ace has only occurred three other times at premier events in CS2.
Notably, one similar feat was accomplished by his opponent João "koala" Pfeffer from DENDELE, who achieved a pistol ace with dual Berettas defending B apartments against TYLOO at the IEM Cologne Major. Another was executed by Danil "molodoy" Golubenko using an AWP on Mirage B site against Passion UA at IEM Rio 2026, while Buğra "Calyx" Arkın completed one against FlyQuest at ESL Pro League Season 20.
Beyond the historic aces, donk dominated throughout the series. On Ancient, he posted 24 kills with 125.1 average damage per round and a 1.97 rating. His Cache performance was even more impressive, earning a 2.34 rating with 24 kills and 133.9 ADR.
Spirit now advances to face G2 in the Group A upper semi-final, competing for a spot at Porto's Super Bock Arena, while DENDELE drops to the lower bracket where they'll battle Aurora for tournament survival.
