SVG Offers Insight on Team Spirit's Underwhelming Performance in Elite League 2024

Team Spirit had one of its weakest performances since The International 2022 (TI12) during the recently concluded Elite League 2024, as it bombed out in 13th-14th place. The team, starting from the round robin stage, could muster only five wins in 14 games to end in the bottom half of Group A. Avery "SVG" Silverman, Dota 2 player turned caster/analyst, was an active commentator in the event and discussed Spirit's lackluster performance on the Not for Broadcast podcast with Austin "Cap" Walsh. SVG stated that Spirit has faced difficulty in finalizing lineups, particularly for its offlaner Magomed "Collapse" Khalilov's because the team has played around the player before. Furthermore, with all the competitive Dota 2 that Spirit has played over the last few years, SVG also questioned whether the team is currently fatigued.

SVG discusses lineup challenges and fatigue as potential reasons for Spirit’s performance dip

SVG and Cap discussed the form and performance of teams during Elite League in the “Why Teams Suck @ Elite League” episode of the Not for Broadcast podcast. Regarding Spirit's performance, SVG clearly stated that he sees a fundamental problem with the reigning TI champion. Using Spirit's series against PSG Quest as an example, SVG cited how the team has been facing challenges choosing the right lineups.

“This team was all over the place in terms of lineups. I feel like when Team Spirit is lost in a meta, they are really lost because this team revolves a lot around what Collapse wants to play and how he’s going to drive the game and that is just all over the place. You look through the team’s drafts. I’ll tell you one thing - when a team is playing Clinkz, you know they are f**ked. That team ain’t doing shit in that tournament. When the Clinkz comes out, you are absolutely desperate for a dub, it did come out in game two versus PSG Quest. Yatoro played Clinkz, he went 6-8, actually got to some okay items but you are not gonna win because you are playing Clinkz.”

[relevant section begins at 10:20]

In times when wins are hard to come by, such picks become desperate, SVG mentioned, adding that Team Spirit players might be mentally exhausted right now as well.

“It’s one of those things a month from now you are going to look back like why the hell were we playing Clinkz guys? This hero is never good, it will never be good. Valve does not like this hero. They will never like it and you just accept that and move on so when you are picking it you are desperate in the patch - maybe they are just fatigued honestly. I feel like this team won so much big stuff, it fatigues you and you can’t be good forever.”

A few Spirit players previously discussed during post-game interviews what they felt was going wrong with the team. Captain Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov also stressed finding the right heroes in the meta, which has remained essentially unchanged for some time.

Myroslav "Mira" Kolpakov, the position four player, stated that the team was dealing with some fundamental challenges related to discipline and consistency in gameplay.

The team will next compete at ESL One Birmingham 2024 which begins on 22nd April 2024 with the hopes of turning things around.