Spirit won BLAST Open Porto on September 6 after defeating MOUZ 3-1 in the best-of-five grand final, HLTV reported. Spirit had beaten Falcons and MOUZ had beaten Vitality in the semi-finals. The title is Spirit's second in a row after their win at the Esports World Cup, and it reversed the result of the BLAST Bounty final just over a month earlier, which MOUZ won against the same opponents.
How the final unfolded
Spirit opened on Dust2 by repeatedly attacking MOUZ's B site, which HLTV said showed they had learned from their mistakes in the Bounty final. Czech anchor Oldřich "PR" Nový began with two triple kills on the site, but MOUZ's defense crumbled as Spirit kept returning to it. PR finished the map on a 0.55 rating, with site partner Lotan "Spinx" Giladi on 0.64 and Adrian "xelex" Vincze on 0.57.
I'm tilted, I hate this map.
MOUZ answered on Mirage. Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov collected seven kills across the two pistol rounds as Spirit built an 11-4 lead, but MOUZ won nine rounds in a row to take the map 13-11, even with Dorian "xertioN" Berman going 0-11 in opening duels.
Spirit restored their lead on Ancient, a map on which they had won 14 times in a row. Danil "donk" Kryshkovets posted a 2.39 rating there to make it 15, and Myroslav "zont1x" Plakhotia added a 1v3 clutch. zont1x was central again on Nuke, where HLTV singled out a round he won with a Glock. MOUZ took the second-half pistol round, but Spirit denied them a comeback and closed out the series a few rounds later.
donk's 10th Big Event MVP
HLTV named donk the MVP of BLAST Open Porto. The 19-year-old posted a 1.61 rating in the group stage and finished the event on a 1.40 average. His closest challenger was sh1ro, who put up standout performances across the semi-finals and the first two maps of the final before cooling off, and HLTV cited donk's Ancient performance and a solid finish on Nuke as deciding the award.
The medal is donk's 13th MVP overall and his 10th at a Big Event, which moves him past Nikola "NiKo" Kovač on HLTV's Big Event list.