ames “BanKs” Banks said Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov deserved the MVP award at BLAST Open Porto over Danil “donk” Kryshkovets. Speaking on the latest episode of All About Counter-Strike, BanKs argued that sh1ro had the stronger playoff performances, while the overall numbers of donk benefited heavily from the group stage.
SH1RO WAS BETTER IN THE PLAYOFFS
donk finished the tournament with a 1.40 Rating 3.0, while sh1ro recorded 1.26. BanKs acknowledged the overall statistical gap but pointed to Spirit two playoff series as the main reason for his choice.
In the Grand Final against MOUZ, sh1ro finished with a 1.36 rating compared to 1.28 for donk. Spirit won the series and secured the BLAST Open Porto title.
The same pattern appeared in the Semi-final against Falcons, where sh1ro recorded a 1.21 rating and donk finished at 1.09.
To be fair, the rating difference between sh1ro and donk was 1.26 to 1.40 for the whole tournament. But look at Spirit in the playoffs. In the Grand Final, sh1ro had 1.36 and donk had 1.28. Against Falcons, sh1ro had 1.21 and donk had 1.09.
BanKs believes the impact of sh1ro went beyond the numbers, particularly in the match against Falcons.
The impact of sh1ro was much more than the statistics show. Without his performance in that match, Spirit might not even have beaten Falcons.
BANKS BELIEVES GROUP-STAGE MATCHES INFLATED THE NUMBERS OF DONK
According to BanKs, the main argument against giving the award to donk is how much of his overall rating came from the group stage.
He believes performances against weaker opposition should carry less weight compared to the playoff matches that directly decided the title.
In my opinion, the MVP should have gone to sh1ro because the reason the statistics of donk looked so good was that he farmed a lot of weaker teams in the group stage.
Despite that criticism, BanKs did not question the overall quality of the Spirit run. He described BLAST Open Porto as a significant event, even if he believes the title carries less weight than victories at some other top-tier tournaments.
SPIRIT NOW NEED TO PROVE IT AT THE NEXT BIG EVENT
BanKs also spoke about the position of Spirit after winning consecutive events. He noted that the team have spent more than a month traveling and competing without a proper break.
He also referenced recent comments from zont1x, who said Spirit currently feel like the best team in the world.
According to BanKs, that confidence is understandable after two consecutive tournament victories, but the next S-tier event will be the real test of whether Spirit can maintain that level.
