Last reviewed: August 28, 2026
Danil “donk” Kryshkovets says Team Spirit will devote more practice time to Cache after rival teams identified it as a potential weakness in the world No. 1’s CS2 map pool — a notable shift from his more confident public stance on the map only a month earlier. “I like Cache. Other teams saw that Cache is our weak map, so we’re going to practice it,” donk told Cybersport.ru.
The number behind the concern
Cybersport.ru puts Spirit’s Cache record at 2-3 across five maps over the previous three months — a small sample, but one elite opponents don’t need much of before targeting it in the veto. The pattern showed up again at BLAST Open Porto: DENDELE deliberately selected Cache against Spirit in their opening series, a direct example of the dynamic donk described. Spirit won it anyway, 13-7, after taking Ancient 13-8 to close out a 2-0 series.
donk’s answer to the pick was two aces
Spirit didn’t just survive the Cache pick, they made a statement on it. donk recorded two aces on the map, including a pistol round where he dealt 500 damage without taking any himself, and HLTV credited the performance with making him the first player to reach 20 aces at HLTV MVP-level CS2 events. That single map obviously doesn’t erase the larger sample that prompted the discussion, but it gives Spirit a concrete data point heading into their next test.
A public stance that has clearly shifted
In late July, donk said Spirit weren’t placing any particular emphasis on Cache and were ready to play it against anyone. A month later, his framing is more specific: opponents have identified it as exploitable, and Spirit are responding with dedicated practice. That’s not necessarily a contradiction — it likely reflects what additional officials have revealed to opponents about Spirit’s tendencies on the map, and Spirit are now choosing to close the gap rather than avoid it. One earlier data point supports that Spirit can already punish teams who try: OG picked Cache against them at BLAST Bounty Season 2 in July and lost 13-4.
Why this matters for the veto, not just one map
The tactical stakes extend beyond Cache itself. If opponents believe Spirit are uncomfortable there, they can preserve the map through bans or actively pick it, which narrows and simplifies the rest of the veto against a team most sides would otherwise want to avoid engaging directly. If Spirit make Cache competitive enough to discourage those automatic picks, the benefit ripples through their entire map pool rather than just adding one more viable option.
An immediate test against G2
Spirit face G2 on August 28 in the Group A upper-bracket semi-final, giving bettors an early read on whether the DENDELE result reflected genuine progress or a single good day. The clearest signals to watch: whether Cache survives the veto at all, and if it’s picked, whether Spirit’s newly declared practice focus holds up against a stronger opponent than DENDELE. Spirit currently sit atop the global VRS table, but donk’s comments make clear that even the world’s top-ranked team is actively working from a perceived weakness rather than assuming its status alone will discourage challengers.