Team Spirit has benched zont1x and signed tN1R

After heavy speculation, Team Spirit has announced the benching of Miroslav “zont1x” Plahotia. In his place, it has signed Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich from HEROIC.

When reports of tN1R’s signing first surfaced, it was believed that the Belarussian was the second stage of a team upgrade that saw Ivan “zweih” Gogin replace Boris “magixx” Vorbiev after the BLAST.tv Austin Major; the team looking to improve its firepower and consistency.

However, the announcement posted by Spirit about zont1x’s benching suggests otherwise, as it stated that zont1x informed management that he “needed some time off in order to solve certain personal issues.” Although these personal issues are unclear, rumours that circulated at the time of the reports’ first leak suggested that the Ukrainian would soon find himself facing visa issues that would prevent him from competing in many international tournaments.

Spirit’s announcement continued by saying that zont1x’s return is “highly anticipated.” The team stated: “You’re not just a part of our roster. You’re a part of Team Spirit.” That, coupled with zont1x’s own statement – “I am expecting to be back competing this Winter” – is already leading to further speculation about Spirit’s roster, with fans suggesting that the team might not be happy with zweih’s performances since joining despite the wins at BLAST Bounty Season 2 and IEM Cologne 2025.

Zont1x’s replacement, tN1R, will arrive after shining for HEROIC throughout 2025. The star in a team that impressed despite being ransacked three straight years, tN1R comes into the team with an impressive 1.19 rating and will now be looked at as a third star alongside Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov and Danil “donk” Kryshkovets.

Image Credit: João Ferreira, BLAST

More movements in CS2
Elsewhere in the world, Astralis have taken a walk down memory lane as Emil “Magisk” Reif, a three-time Major winner with the Danish organisation, has arrived in place of Martin “stavn” Lund. Like with zont1x, the benching of stavn has come at the player’s own request, with stavn stating that he required time off for his health. 

North American team Wildcard has also been active in the past week, with its latest roster changes being just as confusing as the previous ones. After just a month on loan to 9INE, Swedish AWPer Love “phzy” Smildebrandt has returned to the active roster, whilst former OG player Maciej “F1KU” Miklas has arrived on a “short-term contract” to bolster the team’s international contingency.

They replace Sebastian “fr3nd” Kusmierz and long-standing member Aran “Sonic”  Groesbeek on the team, with the latter already completing a transfer to NRG, replacing Carson “nosraC” O’Reilly after just two months. 

Finally, MIBR has followed in the footsteps of FURIA by bringing in Eastern European talents to improve their firepower. Klimentii “kl1M” Krivosheev, a young AWPer, has arrived from G2’s academy team, and Major winner Aleksi “Qikert” Golubev has joined from PARIVISION. Both players have only been signed on a loan basis.

MIBR will replace Rafael “saffee” Costa and Nicollas “nicks” Polonio, making Legacy the only team in the top five Brazilian leagues to feature an entirely Brazilian roster.