“There is nothing new for me” – zont1x on returning to Spirit, increasing his voice in the team, and Spirit’s NaVi record

Esports News UK spoke to Myroslav ‘zont1x⁠’ Plakhotia at IEM Kraków prior to Team Spirit’s Semi-Final clash with Furia.

The anchor was recently restored to the Spirit roster following time away from the roster last year.

zont1x took time to discuss his restoration to the roster, his increased voice in the team, and what the team are working on to support young superstar Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets.

Esports News UK interview with Team Spirit’s zont1x

How are you feeling in your return to Spirit?

There is nothing new for me. I just have to adapt again to the pro scene, professional Counter-Strike.

Because I was away for enough time to forget some things. And that’s pretty much it.

Do you enjoy being back in competition?

Yeah, it is certainly, I would say, the main reason why I’m playing is competition.

Because if there wasn’t enough competition for me, I would just not play. So yeah, I’m glad that I’m able to compete.

Are you someone who prepares a lot for games? Who really likes to dive into the kind of little details?

Yes. So there is actually not, I would say, any unique methods I’m using to prepare. So I just like that I’m able to introduce some of my ways of preparing to the team and how my team plays.

I’m just glad I’m able to do that. And hally allows me to change a lot of things, how we prepare and how the actual game plan looks inside the game. Just because I’m saying some things while we prepare and during pauses, for example.

So I can talk to hally and be kind of able to decide what’s better.

"I got 3k elo with 600 hours. Am I genius?"@SPUNJ went through @zont1x977's HLTV comments 😅#IEM pic.twitter.com/AQICx7zDM0

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 6, 2026

You said to HLTV that you knew you’d probably return to the team because the Budapest Major wasn’t a great result for Spirit. Was there any consideration that you might go to another team if the result was different?

No, I immediately understood that I don’t want to go to another team, but obviously, if Spirit were doing great without me, I wouldn’t be back.

That’s pretty much how it works in any sport. And then I would have to accept an offer, any offer that I had at the moment.

So you also mentioned in that interview that the changes last year didn’t solve the problems within the team. What would you say the problems are with the team in 2025?

Yeah, so I would say we are a very different team right now because of the change of the IGL.

There are a lot of changes, and we have to adapt. So I wouldn’t say I really understand great how it will work in the long distance. I can say that this team is a new iteration of Spirit.

I would say we have less of those problems that I was talking about before, but we kind of have new ones. But they’re not that drastically worse, I would say.

They’re just very different, and you will not fix all the problems you have. You just have to adapt to the situation.

Are there any examples you could give us of the kind of things which couldn’t be solved in the first half when you were still in the team?

Yeah, so the problems that couldn’t be solved were caused by humans themselves. There was a lot of human effect just because of how people inside the team function.

And some things you just can’t change in people, and you kind of have to adapt to that. So when you change people, those problems disappear.

But with the addition of other people, especially to other roles, new problems can appear.

But I would say those problems were connected with how exactly those people were functioning.

So now it’s different, but you will always have some problems. It doesn’t really matter.

In the 2025 roster with you, it seemed like the team was too passive. After you left, it felt the other way, where there were too many star riflers. Do you think the balance is right within the team in terms of anchors versus aggressive rifling?

Yeah, I think it’s good because I was not naturally a very passive player. But in this team, I have like two aggressive roles. It’s CT side on Mirage and T side on Overpass.

And those aggressive roles are kind of fine for me. Like, those literally are the two best maps for me statistically because this is the only two positions I can really play aggressively.

On the other hand, I play anchor positions in all the other situations on other maps, and it’s kind of fine as well because I’m kind of used to playing passive, but still I have aggressive positions.

So I can balance it out. So I know when I can play more aggressive, more aggressive.

And we still have tN1R who likes to take a lot of duels. I would say he wants to take more duels than magixx wanted to do it in 2024 or the beginning of 2025.

So I think we’re more of a balanced team right now than we were before.

In terms of the T side, who do you think is going to step up and help donk create space?

Yeah, it depends, to be honest, but it’s not the main problem and not the main way to win the games.

There’s a lot of tactical propositions outside. Yeah, so it can appear, but it’s not the main thing. It can happen.

The first #IEM Kraków 2026 Semi-Final is nearly upon us.@Team__Spirit ⚔️ @FURIA

Who do you think it making it to the GRAND FINAL😬

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) February 7, 2026

Spirit has a very dominant record against NaVi. What do you think that is?

I think we understand very well how they prepare, and I think hally understands very well how to make a game plan against them.

After you win a few games against the same team, you get confidence in this. It’s very hard for them to play against you, and it’s easier to play for you.

So if you have a 3-0 record against some team, it’s more likely to be even more after that. Because there’s just more confidence for you and less for them.

And lastly, do you think you can challenge Vitality’s place at the top this year?

Yeah, of course. Of course, I think that, but we’ll see what happens.