donk (gamer)

Donk
Kryshkovets in 2025
Current team
TeamTeam Spirit
RoleEntry Fragger And Rifler
GameCounter-Strike 2
Personal information
NameДанил Крышковец
(Danil Kryshkovets)
Born (2007-01-25) January 25, 2007
Tomsk, Russia
NationalityRussian
Career information
Playing career2021–present
Team history
2021–2023Spirit Academy[a]
2023–presentTeam Spirit
Career highlights and awards

Danil Kryshkovets,[b] better known by his nickname donk, is a Russian professional Counter-Strike 2 player for Team Spirit who is widely recognized for his aggressive playstyle.[1] He was named the HLTV player of the year in 2024,[2] becoming one of only three players, along with coldzera and ZywOo, to be named the HLTV Player of the Year in their first full year as a professional player.[2] Danil is the youngest-ever HLTV Player of the Year, winning the award at 17 years and 352 days old.[3]

Early life

Born on January 25, 2007, in Tomsk, Danil started playing Counter-Strike at the age of four when his brother introduced him to the game. Two years later, they switched to a new version, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He devoted a lot of time to developing his skills, and at the age of 14 he was able to get into the European FPL-C.[4]

Career

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

In 2021, when he was 14, he was scouted by Aleksey "OverDrive" Biryukov, who recommended him to the Team Spirit academy. He played for Team Spirit's youth roster for two years.[4]

In 2023, Danil moved to the main Team Spirit roster.[5] In the first tournament he played for them, CCT North Europe Series #6, they took first place.[6] At their first LAN tournament, Dunav Party 2023, Spirit also took first place.[7]

Counter-Strike 2

2024

He received his first MVP title from HLTV for winning BetBoom Dacha Dubai 2023, ending his run with an HLTV rating of 1.31, making him the second youngest player in history to receive an HLTV MVP award.[8] After Spirit won the IEM Katowice 2024 tournament, Danil was named the MVP and became the youngest player to be named an HLTV MVP at a Big Event.[9][10] He also tied the Big Event rating record with a 1.70 rating, previously achieved by NiKo in 2017,[9] doing so across more maps.[1]

At his first Major, PGL Copenhagen 2024, Team Spirit advanced to the playoffs. In the first match of the playoffs, they lost the series to FaZe Clan.[11] Despite this, Danil finished the tournament with a rating of 1.35.

After the Major, at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024, Danil was awarded the MVP despite his team only taking second place.[12] Spirit took first place in the final tournament of the season, the BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024, with Danil being the MVP of the championship.[13] This tournament gave Spirit the first place in both Valve and HLTV team ratings.[14]

In 2024, Team Spirit won the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, making Danil the youngest-ever Major champion, and he was awarded MVP, making him the youngest Major MVP.[15][16][17] He became the highest-rated Major MVP with a 1.49 rating, surpassing the previous record of 1.47 by s1mple.[15] In the tournament final against FaZe, Danil recorded a 1.67 rating over the three-map final, the highest rating achieved by a rifler in a Major final.[18] He set the record for most aces at a Major, with four, surpassing the previous record of three by Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev, and matched s1mple's record of four at a Big Event.[15]

Following this performance, Danil was nominated for four individual awards at the HLTV Awards 2024: Rookie of the Year, Opener of the Year, Highlight of the Year, and Player of the Year. Danil won all four awards.[19] Danil joined coldzera and ZywOo as the only players to be named the HLTV Player of the Year in their first full year as a professional player.[2] Danil is also the youngest-ever to be named HLTV Player of the Year at 17 years and 352 days old.[3]

2025

In 2025, Danil and Team Spirit claimed a win at the first Tier 1 event of the year, BLAST Bounty Season 1 Finals, earning Danil his 7th career HLTV MVP.[20] Team Spirit struggled to compete against an increasingly dominant Team Vitality in the first half of the year, but were able to score a win at PGL Astana 2025, a Tier 1 tournament which Team Vitality did not attend.[21] This earned Danil yet another HLTV MVP.[22]

Danil completed his fifth consecutive season atop the FACEIT matchmaking leaderboard in July 2025, having placed first globally in each season since the release of Counter-Strike 2; in the fifth season, he finished at 5,283 Elo, over 400 Elo ahead of second place despite continuing to compete at the tier-one professional level.[23][24]

After getting stopped in the playoffs of the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 by MOUZ,[25] Team Spirit would bounce back to win IEM Cologne 2025, taking down rivals MOUZ 3-0 in the grand finals, earning Danil his ninth career HLTV MVP.[26][27] Danil and Team Spirit followed up their IEM Cologne run with a back to back tournament win, this time defending their title as reigning BLAST Bounty champions against The MongolZ at BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals. This performance earned Danil his tenth career HLTV MVP, tying GeT_RiGhT's record of most HLTV MVPs as a rifler.[28][29][30] While Team Spirit finished third at StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, Danil recorded a 1.57 rating across nine maps, setting the record for the highest rating at a Major.[31]

Although Danil posted the highest raw statistical output ever recorded in HLTV’s top 20 rankings, he finished second in 2025 behind ZywOo. HLTV cited ZywOo’s greater number of MVP awards, deeper tournament runs, and stronger playoff performances as the deciding factors.[32] Danil won the HLTV awards for Opener of the Year and Highlight of the Year for 2025.[33]

2026

After nine months of not winning a single Tier 1 event, Danil earned an HLTV MVP after defeating rivals Team Falcons in a 3-0 at the playoffs of PGL Astana 2026.[34][35] With this award Danil became the most awarded rifler in history with 11 HLTV MVP awards, surpassing the previous joint-record of ten he shared with ⁠GeT_RiGhT and NiKo⁠.[35] He recorded a 1.61 rating, the second best at any CS2 Big Event by an MVP after his rating at IEM Katowice in 2024.[35] Later that year, Danil earned his 12th HLTV MVP at the 2026 Esports World Cup after defeating FUT Esports 3–1 in the playoffs, recording a 1.50 rating across the event and becoming the joint-fourth-most decorated player in Big Event MVPs with nine, alongside NiKo.[36] Danil also became the youngest player to surpass $1 million in career prize money in the history of Counter-Strike, reaching the milestone at 19 years and six months and surpassing the previous record held by b1t, who reached it at 19 years and ten months.[37]

In August 2026, Danil finished atop the FACEIT matchmaking leaderboard for a sixth season, in which he set an all-time record-high Elo of 5,513 on the platform during Season 8.[38][39]

Awards and accolades

Rankings

MVP

Awards

Tournament achievements

Placement[50] Tournament Location Date Award
With Team Spirit
2nd place, silver medalist(s) CCT Online Finals #2 Online August 2 – 10, 2023 —
1st place, gold medalist(s) BetBoom Dacha 2023 Dubai, UAE December 5 – 10, 2023 MVP
1st place, gold medalist(s) IEM Katowice 2024 Katowice, Poland February 3 – 11, 2024 MVP
5—8 PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 Copenhagen, Denmark March 17 – 31, 2024 EVP
2nd place, silver medalist(s) BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 Belgrade, Serbia May 14 – 19, 2024 MVP
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) IEM Dallas 2024 Dallas, TX, US May 27 – June 2, 2024 —
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024 London, United Kingdom June 12 – 16, 2024 MVP
5—8 2024 Esports World Cup Riyadh, Saudi Arabia July 3 – August 25, 2024 —
1st place, gold medalist(s) BetBoom Dacha Belgrade Season 2 Belgrade, Serbia August 28 – September 1, 2024 MVP
2nd place, silver medalist(s) BLAST Premier World Final 2024 Sentosa, Singapore October 30 – November 3, 2024 EVP
1st place, gold medalist(s) Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024 Shanghai, China December 5 – 15, 2024 MVP
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 1 Finals Copenhagen, Denmark January 23 – 26, 2025 MVP
2nd place, silver medalist(s) IEM Katowice 2025 Katowice, Poland February 1 – 9, 2025 EVP
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) ESL Pro League Season 21 Stockholm, Sweden March 1 – 16, 2025 —
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) BLAST Open Spring 2025 Lisbon, Portugal March 19 – 30, 2025 —
7—8 ESL Grand Slam Season 5 Online April 17 – 27, 2025 —
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) BLAST Rivals Spring 2025 Copenhagen, Denmark April 30 – May 4, 2025 —
1st place, gold medalist(s) PGL Astana 2025 Astana, Kazakhstan May 10 – 18, 2025 MVP
5—8 BLAST Austin Major 2025 Austin, Texas June 12 – 22, 2025 EVP
1st place, gold medalist(s) IEM Cologne 2025 Cologne, Germany July 26 – August 3, 2025 MVP
1st place, gold medalist(s) BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 2 Finals BLAST Studio, Malta August 14 – 17, 2025 MVP
9—16 2025 Esports World Cup Riyadh, Saudi Arabia August 20 – 24, 2025 —
7—8 BLAST Open London 2025 Online August 27 – September 1, 2025 —
5—8 ESL Pro League Season 22 Stockholm, Sweden October 4 – 12, 2025 —
7—8 IEM Chengdu 2025 Chengdu, China November 3 – 9, 2025 —
5—6 BLAST Rivals 2025 Season 2 Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong November 12 – 16, 2025 —
3—4 StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 Budapest, Hungary December 4 – 14, 2025 EVP
5—8 BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 Finals Malta January 22 – 25, 2026 —
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) IEM Kraków 2026 Kraków, Poland January 31 – February 8, 2026 EVP
5—8 ESL Pro League Season 23 Finals Stockholm, Sweden March 13 – 15, 2026 —
7—8 BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 Copenhagen, Denmark
Rotterdam, Netherlands[c]		 March 18 – 29, 2026 —
2nd place, silver medalist(s) IEM Rio 2026 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil April 13 – 19, 2026 EVP
1st place, gold medalist(s) PGL Astana 2026 Astana, Kazakhstan May 9 – 17, 2026 MVP
3—4 IEM Cologne Major 2026 Cologne, Germany June 2 – 21, 2026 EVP
2nd place, silver medalist(s) BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 2 Malta July 7 – August 2, 2026 —
1st place, gold medalist(s) 2026 Esports World Cup Paris, France August 12 – August 23, 2026 MVP

Notes

  1. ↑ Donk was inactive between January 2022 and May 2022.
  2. ↑ Russian: Данил Крышковец
  3. ↑ BLAST Open Rotterdam 2026 was hosted in two separate locations. The group stage is located at Copenhagen, Denmark, and the playoffs is located at Rotterdam, Netherlands.[51]

References

  1. 1 2 Verboom, Maddie (December 15, 2025). "Donk is the best Counter-Strike player in history, and I am tired of pretending he's not". Esports Insider. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Top 20 players of 2024: donk (1)". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Donk Named the Best Player in the World". RelogMedia. January 12, 2025. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "One for the future: donk". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  5. ↑ "Spirit announce new roster with academy trio including donk". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  6. ↑ "Team Spirit secure CCT North Europe Series 6 title". csgo.com. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  7. ↑ "PARI Dunav Party 2023". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  8. 1 2 "donk named BetBoom Dacha MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 "donk equals Big Event record rating to earn IEM Katowice MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  10. ↑ Ali Jones (February 13, 2024). "17-year-old Counter-Strike prodigy carries his team to tournament victory in a performance dubbed one of the greatest in the history of the game". gamesradar. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  11. ↑ "FaZe knocks out Spirit from PGL Copenhagen Major 2024 — Escorenews". escorenews.com. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  12. ↑ "donk named BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 MVP". csgo.com. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  13. ↑ "BLAST Premier Spring Final 2024". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Spirit rise to No. 1 for first time in history". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "donk becomes youngest and highest-rated Major MVP in Shanghai". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Donk completes perfect rookie year as Spirit crowned CS2 champions in Shanghai". esports.gg. January 12, 2025. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  17. ↑ 杨怡. "Donk steals the show at CS Major in Shanghai". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
  18. ↑ "donk breaks multiple Major records in Shanghai tour de force". Dust2.us. December 15, 2024. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  19. ↑ Popkes, Samuel (January 12, 2025). "All the winners of the HLTV Awards". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  20. 1 2 Županič, Žan (January 26, 2025). "donk named BLAST Bounty S1 Finals MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  21. ↑ Švejda, Milan (May 18, 2025). "PGL Astana 2025". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  22. 1 2 Švejda, Milan (May 18, 2025). "donk clinches second MVP of 2025 in Astana". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  23. ↑ "Donk wins 5th consecutive FACEIT Elo season, unbeaten since release of CS2". escorenews.com. July 22, 2025. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
  24. ↑ Nicholson, Jonno (July 22, 2025). "Donk tops FACEIT leaderboard for fifth straight season". Esports Insider. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
  25. ↑ "MOUZ earn semi-final berth over reigning Major champions Spirit". HLTV.org. June 19, 2025. Retrieved August 24, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Spirit sweep MOUZ to claim IEM Cologne trophy". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  27. ↑ "donk eases to IEM Cologne MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  28. ↑ "Spirit sweep The MongolZ to win BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  29. ↑ "The EVPs and All Stars of BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 2". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
  30. ↑ "donk wins his 10th MVP at BLAST Bounty S2". HLTV.org. August 17, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2026.
  31. ↑ "Donk sets new record for best Major performance in Budapest — Escorenews". escorenews.com. December 15, 2025. Retrieved May 23, 2026.
  32. 1 2 "Top 20 players of 2025: donk (2)". HLTV.org. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  33. ↑ Županič, Žan (January 11, 2026). "All the HLTV Awards winners". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Spirit beat Falcons in Astana to end nine-month trophy drought". HLTV.org. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  35. 1 2 3 4 "donk storms to his first MVP of 2026 at PGL Astana". HLTV.org. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  36. 1 2 Richards, Harry (August 23, 2026). "donk earns Esports World Cup MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 23, 2026.
  37. ↑ "donk could become the youngest player to eclipse $1 million in prize money at EWC 2026". Dust2.us. August 18, 2026. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  38. ↑ Русинов, Руслан (August 4, 2026). "Donk завершил 8 сезон FACEIT по CS2 с рекордными 5494 ELO". cybersport.metaratings.ru (in Russian). Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  39. ↑ @FACEITcs (August 16, 2026). "donk closed out Season 8 by setting the highest FACEIT CS2 record yet. His #FACEITReloaded shows a 16-win streak, a 1.5 average rating across 160 matches, and Mirage as his most-played map" (Tweet). Retrieved August 24, 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  40. ↑ "donk named MVP of BetBoom Dacha Belgrade". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  41. ↑ "donk awarded BLAST Premier Spring Final MVP". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  42. ↑ "donk wins his fourth MVP of 2024 at BB Dacha Belgrade S2". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  43. ↑ "IEM Cologne 2025 Overview". Retrieved August 8, 2025.
  44. ↑ "BLAST Bounty 2025 Season 2 Finals". HLTV.org. Retrieved August 17, 2025.
  45. ↑ "donk wins Rookie of the Year award". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
  46. ↑ "NAVI named HLTV's best team of 2024; donk – Rookie of the Year". csgo.com. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  47. 1 2 "HLTV reveals All-star Team of the Year". HLTV.org. Retrieved February 2, 2025.
  48. ↑ Tolan, Peter (January 13, 2025). "DANIL "DONK" KRYSHKOVETS CROWNED PLAYER OF THE YEAR, TAKING HOME FOUR TROPHIES AT HLTV AWARDS PRESENTED BY 1XBET". European Gaming Industry News. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  49. 1 2 "All the HLTV Awards winners". HLTV.org. Retrieved January 29, 2026.
  50. ↑ "HLTV.org - The home of competitive Counter-Strike". HLTV.org. Retrieved April 1, 2026.
  51. ↑ king_dempz (February 19, 2026). "BLAST unveil opening matchups of Open Rotterdam". HLTV.org. Retrieved March 31, 2026.
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