donk’s 30-Bomb Powers Spirit Past Liquid as G2 Stop PUA’s Comeback at Budapest Major

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets wasted no time reminding everyone why he’s one of the most feared riflers in Counter-Strike 2, dropping a 30-bomb in Team Spirit’s very first map of the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 to sweep aside Team Liquid. On the secondary stream, G2 Esports combined a dominant CT half with late-round composure to keep Passion UA’s comeback at bay and claim their own 13-8 win on Mirage. 

Both matches were part of the second set of best-of-ones in the opening round of Stage 3, the final Swiss stage of the Major, which features the top 16 teams fighting for playoff spots at the MVM Dome in Budapest. 

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donk detonates Liquid with 30 kills in 21 rounds

The headline of the round belonged to Spirit’s 18-year-old star. Facing a Liquid side that had just fought back from an 0-2 start in Stage 2 to qualify 3-2 with a statement win over Astralis, Spirit were not walking into an easy opener. 

Playing on Train, Spirit started on the CT side – and donk immediately set the tone with an ace in the pistol round. From there he never really slowed down. By the time Spirit closed out the first half 8–4, donk was already on 22 kills with 174 ADR, completely dictating the pace of Liquid’s attacks. 

Liquid briefly fought back after the side switch, winning the first three rounds of their own T half to close the gap. But once Spirit stabilised, the game swung back the Russians’ way, and they shut the door to finish 13–8. 

The numbers underline how absurd donk’s performance was:

• 30–11 K-D,

• 137.2 ADR,

• 90.5% KAST,

• a 2.38 rating over just 21 rounds.

He wasn’t alone, either. New arrival Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov provided the perfect supporting cast, posting 24–9 with 108.9 ADR and a 1.52 rating, giving Spirit a terrifying double threat on the defensive side. 

On the Liquid side, no one could really match that level. ultimate was the only player to finish above a 1.00 rating (14–16, 1.04), while EliGE, siuhy, NertZ and NAF all ended with sub-0.85 ratings, a far cry from the form they showed in their Stage 2 comeback run where ultimate and NertZ had led the way in the decisive series versus Astralis. 

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From “I don’t need to kill” to 30 frags

What makes the performance even more striking is that it came just a day after donk spoke about trying to think less about his own stats. In a long pre-event interview, he said he’d “changed the way I think,” admitting that earlier in his career he was fixated on getting big numbers and visible impact. Now, he claims, his mentality is to “do everything to make my team shine” and that he “doesn’t really need to kill four or five” every game. 

Spirit arrived in Budapest after a rough stretch, exiting five straight tournaments earlier than they wanted, including a missed playoff at IEM Chengdu and a quarter-final loss to Vitality at BLAST Rivals. The organisation reacted by swapping out long-time players zont1x and magixx for tN1R and zweih, moves that donk described as a firepower upgrade but also something that forced the team to rebuild its system so the new players could feel comfortable. 

Against that backdrop, a 30-kill opener on a big stage does two things at once:

• it shows that donk’s ceiling as a hard-carrying star is still very much intact,

• and it suggests the new Spirit lineup can still let him off the leash within a more team-focused structure.

The win also validates his pre-match assessment that Liquid, coming in warmed up from Stage 2 with five high-pressure matches already played, would be a scary opponent – but one Spirit were ready for. 

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Liquid’s momentum halted

For Liquid, the loss is a sharp reality check. Just two days earlier they had completed their impressive 0-2 to 3-2 turnaround in Stage 2, beating MIBR, TYLOO and then dominating Astralis 2-0 behind huge performances from ultimate and NertZ. 

That run had built a narrative of a team finally clicking under new in-game leader siuhy, with EliGE back in a familiar core and NAF providing trademark stability. Instead, their first test in Stage 3 saw the entire lineup smothered by Spirit’s aggression and mid-round decisiveness, landing them immediately in the 0–1 pool of the Swiss stage and making their path to the playoffs more complicated. 

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G2 shut the door on Passion UA’s comeback

While Spirit and Liquid were trading blows on Train, the B stream featured G2 vs Passion UA on Mirage, a matchup that coach Eetu “sAw” Saha had highlighted the day before as both dangerous and slightly unknown due to PUA’s still-developing map pool. He noted that Passion UA had only recently added Mirage and that G2 would need to be ready for “fresh ideas” and a bit of randomness in a best-of-one.G2 answered those concerns with a near-perfect CT half. Starting on defence, they gave up only the bonus round to a clean A execute, cruising to an 11–1 lead with everyone contributing. 

The second half, however, showed why sAw had been wary of best-of-ones. Passion UA came roaring back on their CT side, stringing together the first four rounds to narrow the gap and put pressure on G2’s economy. Two clutch rounds kept the Ukrainian-led international squad believing:

• Nick “nicx” Lee won a 1v2,

• Vladyslav “Kvem” Korol followed up with another 1v2,
  both helping push the scoreline closer and making an improbable comeback feel possible.

In the end, it was G2’s experience that told. With the score tightening, Álvaro “SunPayus” García pulled off a vital 1v3 clutch to put G2 on match point, and Matúš “MATYS” Šimko finished the job in a final 1v1, closing the map 13–8 and avoiding what would have been a disastrous collapse. 

The scoreboard reflected a unified effort from G2’s new-look roster:

• HeavyGod led the server with a 1.56 rating (21–13, 101.5 ADR),

• MATYS and SunPayus both posted ratings above 1.25,

• malbsMd and huNter- rounded out the fragging with solid positive or even scorelines.

For Passion UA, Kvem and JT did everything they could to drag their team back in, but hallzerk in particular had a rough game, finishing with a 0.39 rating, which made it hard for them to fully convert their momentum. 

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What these results mean for Stage 3

The two best-of-ones reinforce several storylines heading into the rest of Stage 3:

• Spirit show that, despite recent struggles and roster changes, they remain terrifying when their star duo of donk and sh1ro are firing. A convincing win over a resurgent Liquid instantly positions them as one of the favourites to advance to the playoffs from the 1–0 bracket.

• Liquid are reminded that their Stage 2 run doesn’t guarantee anything at this level. Falling to 0–1 puts them under pressure in a format where a couple more missteps could end their Major.

• G2 translate the confidence of a long practice block and sAw’s stated goal of being “favoured to reach playoffs” into a solid first win, even if the second-half wobble shows there’s still room for improvement in closing games.

• Passion UA prove once again that they can push big names when they find their rhythm, but they’ll need more consistency—especially from key roles—to turn close fights into actual upsets as Stage 3 progresses. 

With Spirit and G2 both starting 1–0, and Liquid and Passion UA immediately thrown into the scrap of the 0–1 pool, the opening day of Stage 3 has already delivered on the chaos many expected from the Budapest Major. If donk’s 30-bomb and G2’s clutch resilience are any indication, the race for the eight playoff spots is only going to get more intense from here.