Spirit defeated FUT 3-1 in the EWC finals to claim the championship, with MVP donk stating that the tough match stemmed from inadequate preparation. "They're young, ambitious, and extremely reactive, but we finished playing at 10 PM the night before and had virtually no time to prepare. The map ban phase was also disadvantageous—we guessed they would ban Dust2, but we didn't expect them to pick Cache first."
Talking about his personal form, donk said: "Although my form is very good this time, I still see many areas for improvement, and the team is the same. I will not stop here."
Q: Congratulations on winning the EWC championship. The final was very tough, and FUT was your first time facing them. How did you feel about their performance as opponents? Was it harder than expected?
donk: I think the match was tough, not because the opponents were particularly strong. They are indeed an excellent team—very quick to react, young, and energetic. The match was certainly difficult to play, but we had our own difficulties too: we finished our match at 10 PM the night before, leaving us absolutely no time to prepare.
In this aspect, they held a significant advantage. The same applied to the banning phase, where they took the initiative. We knew they would pick Cache, and we knew they would ban Dust2, but honestly, we really didn't expect them to first-pick Cache.
Q: They have a tendency to over-extend in certain situations, and you exploited this multiple times on Anubis. I recall a crucial 3v5 round. Was this a pre-planned strategy, or an adjustment made during the match?
donk: Hard to say, who knows? I don't want to reveal too much.
Q: It's quite mysterious. But sometimes this strategy also puts you under time pressure, for example, on Anubis, you couldn't close it out in regulation time because there wasn't enough time when entering A site. Similar situations occurred throughout the series. Can you talk about that?
donk: Well, how should I put it, CS has too many details, changing every second. Sometimes you have to finish a round in a completely unexpected direction. It often happens that a round is only completed with 20 or 15 seconds left because of unexpected incidents or unforeseen elements. That's CS, and I think this is fundamental for the T-side. On Ancient, playing T-side feels just like that.
Q: I recently saw an interview where you mentioned that your personal condition hadn't reached the level you were at the beginning of the year. After this tournament, do you feel you've returned to your peak now?
donk: I don't think so yet. I came to this event in very good form, but I still see many areas where I can improve, and there are also many details at the team level that can continue to be refined. I won't stop here.
Q: For the last question, I'd like to ask about your Dota division winning the championship. The TI finals and your match were happening at the same time. Did you know the results during your match, or did you find out afterward?
donk: Actually, we were watching the fourth game at that time and saw our team lose that round. Before the fifth game started, our match also began, and then the phone was taken away, just like usual.
The manager and staff told us they would only announce the results after our match was over. So we didn't know until after we had won ourselves—after we lifted the trophy and defeated FUT, the manager then said, "Our Dota team won TI."
Q：How does it feel to know that you've secured the double for the club?
donk: Awesome. That was their third TI championship, and... how should I put it, I really want to see our CEO's reaction to this.