donk has ascended from looking like CIS’ next big star to looking like CS’ new star.

The 16-year-old is now the second youngest player to win a HLTV MVP, and at his first international LAN too.

So what the hell happened at BetBoom Dacha for him to pick that up?

In the semis, Spirit faced MIBR, where a dominant Mirage from Spirit ended MIBR’s hopes. The Brazilians only got 3 rounds, mostly thanks to Spirits rock solid CT-side helped along by donk’s 112 ADR. That’s a kill and change, every round!

On the opposite end of the bracket, VP made light work of nafany’s BetBoom.

Virtus.pro’s signature “bore them to death” style rained all over KaiR0N-’s revenge parade. Jame was so determined to see KaiR0N’s dreams shatter that he dropped a 32-14 K-D – across two maps. It’s almost obsessive how much Jame hates dying on the server.

The tables were now set for an exciting Grand Final with VP being the only team that managed to blunt donk’s impact at this event, giving him his only two non-positive ratings.

And it seemed VP’s donk-dulling strategies kept working.

The series started perfectly for VP with close, but comfortable score-lines winning both Overpass and Ancient. Spirit now had to do the impossible: come back from a 2-0. Their hopes rested on a 16-year-old who was playing a Grand Final in his first ever international LAN.

No way that works out…. But then, it worked out.

We don’t know what happened but Spirit looked like a new team on Vertigo and Mirage, helped along by masterful performances from ArtFr0st and magixx. Spirit was on the cusp of doing the impossible and all that stood in the way was Anubis.

Both teams won their T-side 7-5, sending them into overtime.

This was the opportunity for a knight in shining armor to rise up, and claim the trophy for their team. In comes donk, finding huge entries and winning the OT for Spirit.

A historic throw and the deciding star was, may we remind you, 16 years old.

Final standings:

1st 🇷🇺 Spirit - $180.000
2nd 🇷🇺 Virtus.pro - $60.000
3-4th 🇧🇷 MIBR - $30.000
3-4th 🇷🇺 BetBoom - $30.000
5-6th 🇧🇷 FURIA
5-6th 🇷🇺 Cloud9
7-8th 🇩🇰 Astralis
7-8th 🇪🇺 GamerLegion