"We’d be playing a game and suddenly do some crazy stuff”, — Miposhka and Nix discussed Team Spirit's elimination from TI14

Captain of Team Spirit Yaroslav Miposhka Naidenov highlighted the main reasons that, in his opinion, led to the team's failure at The International 2025. Among them were Denis Larl Sigitov's surgery, unsuccessful drafts, and in-game issues. The two-time TI champion shared his thoughts during a stream hosted by Aleksandr Nix Levin.

"It seemed to me that things started falling apart for us as far back as the grand final of [FISSURE Universe: Episode 6] against Falcons. It felt like we were just chilling, plus we were playing with a stand-in. And maybe the attitude we had going into that grand final started carrying over into the following games. Also, we kept playing either with one stand-in or another — Denis [Larl] wasn’t with us right away. Maybe that affected us somehow — at least it definitely affected me a little, I’d say"

Miposhka also mentioned poor scrim results, especially against Xtreme Gaming, which, according to him, showed excellent structure and coordination — something Team Spirit lacked.

"Even though we watched replays and discussed key mistakes that really led to very bad consequences… Despite all those talks, we still couldn’t fully avoid them. It felt like we lacked some composure — we didn’t finish things off, you know? We’d be playing a game and suddenly do some crazy stuff. And even though we talked about it, it would just keep happening game after game. And all that sort of piled up on each other. Some bitterness from losses kept accumulating and maybe led to wrong conclusions about our games"

Naidyonov also commented on the decisive game at TI against Team Falcons. Miposhka said that he doesn't consider Ogre Mage a bad choice on both maps, but noted that the best choice for Larl on the first map would have been Pudge or Queen of Pain, and on the second map, Drow Ranger for Ilya Yatoro Mulyarchuk.

After that, Nix asked if Spirit had someone on the roster who could bring fresh ideas or give an outside perspective. Miposhka replied that sometimes this role is taken by Airat Silent Gaziev or Dmitry Korb3n Belov:

Miposhka: “Honestly, I don’t know. We don’t really have such a person. Definitely no one who consistently does that. Sometimes Dima [Korb3n] might bring up a topic that’s floating around and worth discussing. Sometimes Airat [Silent] can chime in. Sometimes we ourselves are like, ‘This is getting rough, let’s sit down and talk it out.’”

Nix: “Also wanted to ask about a psychologist. I know CS teams often travel with one, they say it really helps. As I understand, you don’t have someone like that?”

Miposhka: “We usually don’t have a psychologist. Well, actually, we had one once at TI 2022, if I remember correctly. Or maybe I’m mistaken… Anyway, no, we don’t have one. Usually it’s just Dima or Airat — we can gather together, talk things through, and it feels okay”

At The International 2025, Team Spirit took 9th-13th place. The team has already received an invitation to BLAST SLAM IV, which starts on October 14.

As CyberScore reported earlier, Miposhka shared his plans to take a break and explained why he didn't do so after The International 2024.