Spirit came through with critical clutch rounds that quelled FUT’s unrelenting aggression.
Team Spirit took on FUT in the grand final of the Esports World Cup (EWC) for a $600,000 prize for first place.
Spirit came in as a huge favorite, having won top titles as recently as May with the unstoppable Daniil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets in their ranks.
FUT were part of an academy team as recently as last year, but has had top placings in 2026, culminating in this EWC tournament where they beat FURIA with a signature aggressive style.
FUT gave a spectacle of firepower, but failed against Spirit’s experience and clutch factor.
Xfl0ud carries FUT through Cache
FUT went for the pick of Cache to kick off the best-of-five final, a punish pick intended to catch Spirit off guard.
FUT started strong, breezing through Spirit’s defense, while only stifled by Myroslav ‘zont1x’ Plakhotia overperforming as an anchor.
However, once they were up 3-0, Spirit started to come back. In Round 5, Dimitry ‘sh1ro’ Sokolov made his mark on the map, winning a 1v2 clutch retaking B-site with the rifle to break FUT’s economy and hopes at winning the half.
From there, Daniil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets went on a rant to his team, and with his fragging, Spirit streaked six together, going up 6-3 on what was supposed to be a punish pick against them.
Force buy win turns the tides and tech pause puts salt in the wound
FUT responded to Spirit’s onslaught with a clutch of their own, this time Aulon ‘Krabeni’ Fazlija won a critical 1vs1 with the Desert Eagle against the opposing in-game leader, Boris ‘magixx’ Vorobiev.
Krabeni was critical for FUT’s comeback into the map winning this critical force buy and fragging the second-most on the team behind the star, newcomer Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç.
xfl0ud tops the server with 25 kills
FUT won the pistol as Spirit had to sit in silence during a tech pause while on the receiving end of a disparaging chant from the Parisian crowd. On the restart, it was all xfl0ud.
The Turkish rifler had a monster 16-5 half defending against Spirit’s flat T-side, which had little firepower to speak of outside of donk and Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich. He could do no wrong even winning the head-to-head against donk convincingly
Once FUT got rolling, they made it all the way to 12 rounds while Spirit were kept at seven.
Spirit started to come back late into the map. A failed ninja defuse from xfl0ud and missed shots from Mykyta “cmtry” Samolotov opened the door for a choke.
However, it was another force buy that dug the grave for Spirit. FUT defended A-site with Desert Eagles and other pistols to win the first map 13-10.
Spirit almost let Anubis slip
Spirit had to start on the CT-side of Anubis, since it was their pick, and it is the much weaker side statistically. They needed to be able to stop FUT’s momentum.
FUT started strong again in the pistol, taking it convincingly as well as the conversions.
Spirit got instantly broken economically, winning a round but losing the consecutive. Then, zont1x came through with another big play sealing the next round in a 2v2.
FUT continued to lose the late-round situations, next to Dmytro “dem0n” Myroshnychenko whiffing a spray on a defusing magixx in a smoke.
Spirit took full control of the map, winning the weaker half by taking a 7-4 lead. FUT found respite in winning the final round of the half with a B-split.
FUT hold W for OT
Spirit won the pistol round with a donk double kill and quickly got to 11 rounds. They looked in pole position to close out the map and take it to Ancient.
FUT pushed their foot on the pedal as they continued to go for head-to-head duels in relentless fashion, frustrating Spirit.
Still, Spirit got to map point with tN1R finding cleanup kills in a messy B-attack, who had his way with FUT’s constantly repeeking players.
When against the corner, FUT found the solution by repeeking more. They took control of the economy, and won the critical Round 24 with Krabeni knowingly peeking into two players in the water position to catch them off-guard. They went on to win the 2v2 and take it to overtime.
Disciplinary mistakes
Though FUT’s style was difficult to deal with, they let through certain mistakes that Spirit capitalized on.
Two FUT players pushed into A-main, but failed to fully clear the right corner, and tN1R got a free double kill in a 4v5 situation.
FUT was difficult for Spirit to deal with, but the latter held their nerve and closed out the map 16-13.
Spirit steal Ancient from FUT with clutches
Ancient, FUT’s playground, was an incredibly back-and-forth affair as Spirit tried to hold on. Spirit continued to have the edge in late-rounds, capitalizing on minute mistakes in the closing seconds of rounds.
The half ended 6-6, and Spirit won the pistol. They then rapidly rushed into A without accounting for the possibility of a push. This time, dem0n capitalized, creating chaos and then winning a 1v1 against magixx.
FUT had Ancient under control, getting to 12 rounds first. One round had an incredible 3k spraydown with the FAMAS of all weapons from Džiugas “dziugss” Steponavičius.
But Spirit remained stalwart, and with their slow style grinded out rounds. They managed to reach OT at the expense of dem0n, who was inches away from a 1v3 with an MP9 that would have finished the map.
sh1ro breaks FUT’s heart
FUT took the lead in OT with a successful CT-side that netted them two out of three rounds. They moved onto the T-side, and lost the initial round but found themselves in a 2v1 at 14-14 after a brawl on the B-site.
There, sh1ro played the situation perfectly, eliminating the first player, and baiting the second to peek with a smoke and a tap on the bomb.
The score was 15-14 for Spirit, and it fell into another post-plant 2v2. FUT had the edge with players in position, but zont1x managed a 5-second defuse, surviving on little HP, clinching the map.
Spirit pick FUT apart on Nuke
Open about their weakness on Nuke, FUT genuinely had little to no chance on Nuke, despite starting on the CT-side.
Anchor player zont1x was having a flawless game easily predicting FUT’s setups and clearing angles perfectly.
Pretty much all of Spirit’s site hits were successful, and only lost rounds due to clutch plays from FUT players. FUT could not bring their playstyle and aggression into Nuke CT side.
On T-side, FUT had momentary hope by taking the pistol round, but by then, they were already at a 5-10 deficit. It did not take long for donk to come online, ending FUT’s aggressive plays
