Zweih stars in dominant Spirit win over Falcons – StarLadder Budapest Major 2025

The storylines coming into the match between Spirit and Falcons at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025 were all about donk’s struggle against NiKo and m0NESY. But it was Zweih who stole the show, dropping a career best performance and two aces to carry his team across the line. How far can Spirit go?

Team Rosters – Spirit vs Falcons

Map Veto

1. Falcons removed Overpass
2. Spirit removed Inferno
3. Falcons picked Nuke
4. Spirit picked Dust2
5. Spirit removed Mirage
6. Falcons removed Train
7. Ancient was left over

Match Recap – StarLadder Budapest Major Quarterfinals – Spirit vs Falcons

Nuke – Zweih does his best Shanghai Magixx impression – 13-4

Nuke may have been Falcons’, but it was Spirit that came out swinging. Before the match, Anastasija “Heccu” Tolmačeva had discussed the struggles of Nuke with coach hally, who said the gameplan depended the player on A getting the right information. And the player on A was the one who shined. Zweih started off strong and never looked back. Whatever Falcons could throw at him was answered with a volley of bullets.

With quad kills and even an Ace on the cards for Zweih, all Spirit had to do was take care of the rest of the map. With 18 kills in the half for the former Nemiga star, Spirit took a massive 8-4 lead into halftime. And the momentum never stopped, as Spirit converted that lead into a quick 13-4 map win, dominating Falcons’ pick.

Dust2 – Spirit make the comeback to close the series – 16-12

Whatever Zonic said during the break between maps clearly worked, as it was now Falcons’ turn to be dominant. NiKo and m0NESY both started off on fire, and Spirit’s mixed buys handed Falcons a commanding lead early in the half. As is often the case with Spirit, it was donk who bailed his team out with a quad kill that finally brought his team into the map. With donk on fire, the team quickly tied the score up 5-5. But an impressive set of deagle kills from the Falcons allowed them to hold a lead into half time.

Switching sides, Falcons’ stars locked in a crucial pistol round. TeSeS was the star of round 15, with his AK-47 annihilating Spirit’s force buy, earning his team double digits. Spirit’s backs were up against the wall, as the game looked over for the Russian side. But sh1ro’s AWP finally joined the fray, putting the firepower on Spirit’s side at long last. Round after round they pushed Falcons’ attack back, and quickly Spirit found doube digits from themselves.

With the bomb crossing tunnels, and sh1ro’s AWP watching the cross, it looked like a tied map would be on the menu. But a single missed shot from the big green allowed kyxsan to jump over into the site, and gave Falcons match point.

That was when zweih stepped up again. B site of Dust2 may not be his favorite site to play, but when Overtime was on the line, he stepped up once more, dropping an all-important Ace to keep his team alive.

Much like the end of Nuke, the stars were all powered up on the Spirit side, A retake on A, a site hold on B, zweih was stepping up when it mattered. As soon as OT had begun, Spirit found matchpoint. Missed utility, missed shots, and a missed chance, Falcons were out of the major in the quarterfinals.

After a huge win over Falcons, Spirit head to the semifinals. The “problem pieces” of tn1r and zweih both performed brilliantly. If this level of firepower shows up on the Spirit side across the rest of the playoffs, they will feel comfortable taking down whoever they face. Can donk win a second major this early into his career?