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Team Spirit have officially confirmed a major change to their Counter-Strike 2 roster, benching Miroslav “Zont1x” Plakhotia at his own request and bringing in Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich from HEROIC.

The move comes just weeks before ESL Pro League Season 22, with Spirit hoping the Belarusian rifler can provide a fresh spark heading into the next stage of the season.

Zont1x Steps Back for Personal Reasons

In a statement, Team Spirit revealed that Zont1x had asked to be placed on the inactive roster several months ago to deal with personal matters. The organisation said it delayed granting the request until they could maintain roster stability, but ultimately respected the player’s choice.

The team also stressed that this is not the end of Zont1x’s journey with Spirit, calling his eventual return “highly anticipated”.

Since his promotion from Spirit Academy, Zont1x has been an integral piece of the line-up. In his rookie season, he lifted trophies at IEM Katowice, BLAST Spring Final, and the Perfect World Shanghai Major. This year, he helped the squad win IEM Cologne, BLAST Bounty Fall, and PGL Astana 2025. His most recent appearance came at the BLAST Open Fall 2025 Closed Qualifier, where Spirit fell to G2 Esports and narrowly missed a London LAN spot.

Spirit Welcome tN1R

With Zont1x stepping away, Spirit have wasted no time securing a replacement. tN1R joins after a breakout stint with HEROIC, where he averaged an impressive 1.19 rating across 74 LAN maps.

Despite HEROIC’s struggles at tier-one events this year, tN1R still helped them secure titles at the CCT Season 2 Global Finals and MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025. His signing was announced with a short teaser trailer, marking his official debut in Spirit colours.

For fans, the news doesn’t come as a complete surprise. Rumours had been swirling for weeks that tN1R was on his way to Spirit in what was reported as a massive $1.5 million transfer. At the time, speculation was rife. Spirit initially kept Zont1x active for IEM Chengdu, but now the signing is official.

What’s Next for Team Spirit?

The roster shuffle sets Spirit up for a new chapter as they prepare for ESL Pro League Season 22, which kicks off on 27 September, and IEM Chengdu in November.

The new-look line-up is:

  • Leonid “chopper” Vishnyakov
  • Danil “donk” Kryshkovets
  • Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov
  • Ivan “zweih” Gogin
  • Andrey “tN1R” Tatarinovich
  • Sergey “hally” Shavaev (coach)

For now, Spirit fans will be eager to see how quickly tN1R adapts to the squad, while keeping a close eye on whether Zont1x eventually makes a comeback.