Spirit conquer Porto and donk passes NiKo: a tenth MVP at nineteen
Spirit have won BLAST Open Porto after beating MOUZ 3-1 in the grand final at the Super Bock Arena. It's their second consecutive trophy after the Esports World Cup, and it arrives with a revenge angle impossible to ignore: MOUZ had beaten them by exactly the same scoreline in the BLAST Bounty final barely five weeks earlier.
The maps: Dust2 13-8 to Spirit, Mirage 13-11 to MOUZ, then Ancient 13-3 and Nuke 13-6 to close it out. Cache, the fifth map, was never needed.
donk enters the history books
The name of the night is the same one again. Danil "donk" Kryshkovets was named MVP with a 1.40 rating, and that award carries a meaning far beyond this tournament: it's his tenth Big Event MVP, putting him ahead of NiKo on nine and placing him alone in fourth on the all-time list.
He is 19 years old.
It's hard to overstate what that figure means. donk's 2026 has been a rollercoaster: he strung together five consecutive maps with a negative K/D in the BLAST Bounty final, unprecedented in his career, then weeks later broke the all-time FACEIT Elo record at 5,434 points, took MVP at the Esports World Cup, and now repeats in Porto. The goal he set himself — dominating the scene — is starting to sound less like bravado.
The final: two routs and one heart-stopper
The series wasn't the classic the bracket promised, but it had its moment.
On Dust2, Spirit learned from their Malta mistakes and systematically punished MOUZ's B site weakness. The Germans found no structural answer, despite xertioN topping the scoreboard with 20 kills and PR opening the CT side with two triple kills.
Mirage was another story. Spirit went 11-4 up and looked a step from sealing it, until a timeout changed everything. MOUZ coach sycrone told them bluntly they were losing "on energy and heart." It worked: MOUZ strung together nine consecutive rounds to take the map 13-11, with PR growing in confidence round by round.
But that was where the resistance ended. Ancient (13-3) was the most lopsided map of the entire playoffs, and Nuke (13-6) sealed the trophy.
Asked how the team reset after the Mirage scare, magixx gave an answer so simple it's disarming: the difference was that he started talking more and drinking water.
The other protagonist: sh1ro
Although donk took MVP, several analyses agree that this was sh1ro's final. The AWPer, usually overshadowed by his teammate, had the greatest impact in the decisive moments, and his display on Mirage carried Spirit to that 11-4 that nearly ended it.
Credit too for zont1x, who had been under pressure since returning from the bench and produced a decisive 1v3 on Dust2, along with a Glock round on Nuke that finished off MOUZ's hopes.
MOUZ's lament
On the German side, the self-criticism was harsh. xelex admitted they weren't mentally ready to play again on Nuke, that their opponents had good CT ideas to unsettle them, and conceded bluntly that he ruined that side and is deeply disappointed with his performance. He added an interesting nuance: everyone had a moment during the final where they checked out.
MOUZ take $160,000 and the sense of having come close. Spirit, $250,000 and three BLAST tokens.
What comes next
With Vitality in decline and Falcons unable to repeat their Major glory, the path Spirit are carving is starting to look like a period of dominance. They lead both world rankings, are on ten consecutive wins, and have just taken back-to-back tournaments.
The next serious test comes on the road to November's Singapore Major. Until then, the question is no longer whether Spirit are the best team in the world, but how long they'll stay that way.
Source: HLTV, Hotspawn, Timesaver, Field Level Media.