Degster shines as Team Spirit defeat Astralis to move to New Legends Stage at PGL Antwerp Major

Spirit became the first team to qualify for the Legends stage from the 2-1 pool after a series victory over Astralis. Team Spirit won the series 2-0 (16-12 on Overpass and 16-6 on Ancient).

Overpass, Ancient and Nuke were the three maps for the series with Spirit picking Overpass as the first map and Astralis going with Ancient. Coming into the series Astralis were the favorites to win the series, a top ten team facing off against a team that’s not even in the top 20 coming into the Major. 

It was a very entertaining performance by the entire team but degster and magixx stood out for their individual performances. 

Degster is one of the stars on the team and he propelled his teammates to victory. The player had 51 kills across two maps, clearly a big reason for Spirit’s dominant 2-0 performance. In the post-match interview, the 20-year-old player spoke about his playstyle, his teammates and the team's goals at this Major.

He had a slightly more aggressive approach to this series today and it reaped wonders for the team. But he emphasizes that his playstyle depends on what his team needs from him.

"I think this is something that I've always had. Sometimes my team can say you could play a bit more aggressive," said S1ren. "And some captains in top teams that I spoke with told me that you can do really incredible things but sometimes you are passive. I just wanted to say 'Guys, when I am passive, it's not my choice. I just do what my team asked from me'."

Team Spirit added two new players, Patsy and s1ren to the roster in February 2022. The new players have integrated seamlessly into the squad and have helped elevate the team’s performance. Talking about expectations, Degster said they did not expect to qualify for the PGL Antwerp Major. 

Providing a bit of insight into the two players, Degster had nothing but praise for the youngsters. 

“Patsy is my ex-teammate in Espada and I was watching him since he was 16-years-old. [...] We played one bootcamp with him and we spoke with him a lot. We were trying to teach him and he improved on his own a lot. We understood that we are going to keep this guy with us and we are not going to change him.”

S1ren moved on to Team Spirit from their Academy roster. The youngster finished today’s series with 30 kills but he had extremely impactful frags, often dictating the pace of the round. 

"S1ren is a player from Spirit Academy. He is very good. On his role, I think he improved his role a lot since the first time I saw him on the Spirit roster. He did a lot of work and I would like to say to him that he is a very good player. He needs to understand that. Because he is feeling a bit nervous. He reads a lot of comments about him and sometimes he gets tilted."

"And then I need to say 'C'mon Pasha. Stop it, you don't need to do that’. Stop listening to people you are playing very good and I can say that to you. I see what you do, I see what you decide to do and that's great. You're playing very good. You're improving yourself, just keep it going. Don't listen to other people. But he is young and sometimes he does that." 

As a young new player, s1ren often gets nervous reading comments on his performance. As one of the veterans on the squad, Degster is often a calming influence on the player, helping him adjust to all the attention on him.

Team Spirit’s flawless performance today ensured they are now in the New Legends Stage. They are officially amongst the top sixteen best teams in the world. The team’s performance has surpassed expectations already and their journey is still not over.

A 5-0 start on Overpass for Astralis looked like the Danes were having  very easy time against the CIS squad. It was largely due to their pistol round win, however, as Outsiders won a decent number of rounds in the first half. A 10-5 score in favor of Astralis was a manageable score for Team Spirit. The final rounds of the first half were very close with a clutch performance by blameF helping Astralis to find its footing.

On the CT side, Spirit’s defense looked impenetrable. Astralis had no answer to the ironclad defense and Team Spirit won eight consecutive rounds to actually take a lead. With a 13-10 lead and the obvious mental dominance in the second half, Team Spirit rounded out Overpass with a 16-12 score.

Astralis had chosen Ancient as their map pick, but Spirit had the CT start to the map. After their dominating performance on Overpass, the team played a bit aggressive, exuding confidence in their plays. Atralis seemed always to be on the backfoot, often unable to secure the lead that it normally would have. The first half ended with a 10-5 lead for Team Spirit this time.

Just like the first map, Team sp9rit had a nearly flawless performance on the second half. This time on the T side, Team Spirit won five consecutive rounds to reach series point. They closed it out with a 16-6 score.

When asked what’s the ceiling for Team Spirit at this Major, degster said they’re not setting any goals.

“I would like to not give us any goals. We are just playing. At the time that this roster was created, we weren't thinking that we would be here at this Major. We are here. Two days ago, after we lost to G2, I said to myself 'You don't need to think what you should win or who you should win, you just need to play. Enjoy the game'. I hope we will go with this emotion into the Legends stage and play, just play. You will see where we will finish.”

With this win, Team Spirit now moves on to the Legends stage joining Vitality and G2, both having qualified via the Challengers Stage. Meanwhile, Astralis has an opportunity to reach the Legends stage tomorrow when it plays in the Round 5 matches.

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