W0nderful joins Team Spirit to replace degster in Serbia

Following the departure of Team Spirit’s AWPer Abdulkhalik “degster” Gasanov, the organization has announced the signing of former HellRaisers player Igor “w0nderful” Zhdanov to take his position in the team. 

Because HellRaisers put their roster on transfer due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, w0nderful was on the lookout for a new home. 

The decision to part ways with degster was mutual, as Team Spirit wanted to transfer the whole squad to Serbia and the player had personal reasons to stay in Russia. While Spirit were searching for a new addition to the team, degster joined OG as a stand-in for the recent BLAST Premier Spring Final.

Team Spirit’s new sniper

After reported tests and screenings of various candidates, Team Spirit revealed their new player — w0nderful from Ukraine. W0nderful is only 17 years old, however, he already played for multiple CS:GO teams including MAJESTY, Project X, Trasko Esports, and HellRaisers, his latest squad. In two years of competitive play, w0nderful won multiple C-tier tournaments and earned a total of $7,050, according to Liquipedia. 

According to Team Spirit’s announcement, w0nderful showed not only gaming savviness during tests, but also great social communication skills. That’s why he is considered a great fit for the squad. Soon he will travel to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, to meet Team Spirit in real life and start the training for upcoming esports tournaments. 

In Team Spirit official statement, Sergey “hally” Shavaev, Team Spirit CS:GO Coach shared:

“We are very happy to welcome Igor to Team Spirit. He proved himself perfectly during the tests and showed uncharacteristic for his age determination and confidence in his actions. We can already claim that he has high chances to become a top level player with the right amount of diligence and effort. I can say that w0nderful suits us stylistically and mentally, so I do not think he will have any problems with communication. I expect him to integrate smoothly but surely into our team. I want to see his progress from match to match. That is why I wish him to get used to us and experience the taste of big wins together in the near future.”

Why CIS teams sign young Ukrainian players? 

One of the major reasons why it is currently easier for CIS teams to sign young Ukrainian players, is that they have more opportunities to travel around the world if they are under 18. Otherwise, a contestant needs to obtain special permission to leave the country due to the martial law in Ukraine, which might not be easy to obtain.

Header credit: Team Spirit