Spinx: stability without trophies in the 2025 season

The Israeli rifler Lotan "Spinx" Giladi made the Top 20 players of the year ranking for the fourth time in a row and finished in 10th place. His 2025 season was a model of consistency: no huge peaks, no major slumps, but also no coveted trophies on the big stages.

From FPL to top-level Counter-Strike

Spinx came onto the international scene relatively late. In 2019 he finally decided to leave the local Israeli scene and started playing in FPL, where he quickly made a name for himself. He became the first Israeli player since Noah "buue" Nethanel Türnpu to establish himself in FACEIT's elite matchmaking.

FPL was his pathway into professional Counter-Strike. There he was noticed by Danish in-game leader Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer, who was putting together a roster for c0ntact. After a trial period, Spinx received a permanent contract and went to play Flashpoint 2, but the organization soon decided to put the entire roster up for sale and leave the game. The stint in c0ntact ended almost as soon as it began.

The impression he left turned out to be strong enough: Snappi invited him to his next project, ENCE, which was abandoning its Finnish core and switching to an international lineup.

In ENCE Spinx quickly grew into a star. At first he played only online, but with the return of LAN tournaments in 2021 he immediately showed his level: a 1.18 rating at IEM Fall and qualification for the Major in Stockholm, where the team made it through the Challengers Stage.

In the spring of 2022, after Maden joined, Spinx's level rose even higher: ENCE reached the final of ESL Pro League Season 15 and the semifinal of PGL Major Antwerp. In the summer he made the logical step up and moved to Vitality, replacing Kévin "misutaaa" Rabier. He did not shine as brightly in the second half of 2022, but still made the Top 20, in 18th place.

The year 2023 became the peak of his career. In Vitality he turned into the team's second star alongside Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, easing the burden on the Frenchman. The team won five tournaments, including the year's only Major in Paris, and was named Team of the Year. Spinx himself took fifth place in the HLTV ranking.

But in 2024 everything changed. Vitality repeatedly faltered at decisive moments, winning only IEM Cologne. At the end of the season, when Robin "ropz" Kool became a free agent, the club did not miss its chance: it signed the Estonian and benched Spinx. The Israeli had already asked at the start of the year to be allowed to look for options, so this outcome was logical. In the 2024 ranking he dropped to 13th place: still solid, but without his former peaks.

The start of 2025: waiting, the bench, and a move to MOUZ

Spinx began 2025 on the Vitality bench. This cost him appearances at the first two big events of the season — BLAST Bounty and IEM Katowice. The player sat without a team and held talks with several organizations.

According to him, the first weeks of the year were above all stressful: uncertainty, the risk of missing half the season and the Major, and constant negotiations. He tried to stay in shape, practicing online while also spending time with family and friends.

Just before IEM Katowice it was announced that he was joining MOUZ in place of Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek. But due to the roster lock rule, Spinx could not play at that particular tournament, and MOUZ had to field academy player Adrian "xelex" Vincze.

The perfect debut: PGL Cluj-Napoca

His first full event for MOUZ came at PGL Cluj-Napoca with a $1.25 million prize pool. The team had an uneven tournament: they lost to FaZe and Falcons in the Swiss stage and only made the playoffs in the final round. Then came hard-fought wins over paiN and Astralis and a final where MOUZ got revenge on Falcons and won the series 3-1.

For Spinx it was an almost perfect start: he became one of the tournament's Exceptionally Valuable Players with a team-high 1.15 rating. In the playoffs his level rose to 1.20, and he played the key maps on Inferno against Astralis and on Nuke in the final at a star level.

The player himself remembers the tournament mainly as a moment of getting to know the new team and building chemistry. The victory did not shock him: in his words, a “new team effect” often happens right after fresh roster moves. And even though the field of participants was not ideal, he still calls Cluj-Napoca his best moment of 2025.

At the time it seemed this trophy would be the first of several. Reality turned out differently: it remained MOUZ's only title of the season.

The team of constant semifinals

After Cluj-Napoca, MOUZ kept themselves among the best at every big tournament, but time after time stopped just short of the summit.

At ESL Pro League Season 21 and BLAST Open Lisbon they lost back-to-back finals to Vitality. This is how a new one-sided rivalry was born and talked about throughout the year: MOUZ consistently made it to the deciding matches but could not get past Spinx's former team.

At ESL Pro League 21 Spinx's individual contribution looked mixed. He produced a powerful series against Liquid with a 1.58 rating and 91.5 ADR, but in the playoffs his level suddenly dropped to a 0.96 average. At BLAST Open Lisbon he redeemed himself: he carried against Falcons and Eternal Fire, and on the two maps MOUZ won in the final versus Vitality he was the team's best player. However, an overall 1.09 rating and only 50% of maps above 1.0 were not enough to earn another EVP mention.

Then followed a run of events where MOUZ consistently reached semifinals or finals, but something always broke down at the decisive moments.

The big-arena problem

At IEM Melbourne, MOUZ wanted to see how much they had closed the gap to Vitality, but the two never met: they were stopped by Falcons, now strengthened by Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov. Spinx had a strong group stage (1.32 rating and a dominant match against The MongolZ), but in the arena semifinal he looked much more subdued than usual (0.83).

The next big tournament, BLAST Rivals, showed the issue was not only Vitality. Once again MOUZ fell to Falcons in the semifinal, and once again Spinx was inconsistent: standout maps against Vitality and FaZe, but only a 1.06 rating overall and serious problems on the CT side, where his stats slumped to 0.90 — his worst figure of the year.

At IEM Dallas, however, the Israeli returned to EVP form. In the group stage he posted a 1.45 rating and 108 ADR, and across the whole tournament he had just one map below 1.0 — in the final against Vitality, where he was still MOUZ's best performer (1.05 over the series). It was the third straight time a team with Spinx lost a deciding series to Vitality.

At the Austin Major, MOUZ recovered from a dangerous 0-2 start in the Swiss stage and reached the semifinal, once again running into Vitality. Spinx was added to the EVP list only after the stats were recalculated to rating 3.0: his ceiling on the maps they won was impressive (1.38), but at times he disappeared in individual games, dragging down his overall numbers.

IEM Cologne: breaking through Vitality and losing to Spirit

After the summer break MOUZ returned for one of the year's main tournaments — IEM Cologne. In the group stage Spinx was inconsistent, alternating strong maps with sub-1.0 performances, but in the quarterfinal against FURIA he produced his best series of the event (1.34).

In the semifinal they once again faced Vitality, which looked like a death sentence. But MOUZ unexpectedly won the series 2-0, even though Spinx had one of his worst matches (0.86 rating). That win snapped their streak of seven straight losses to Dan "apEX" Madesclaire's team.

Then came another blow. In the final against Spirit, MOUZ collapsed: the series was one-sided, with only Ancient remaining competitive. According to Spinx, the team was "too happy" with the victory over Vitality and failed to reset for the new opponent.

Season finish: steady top fours and a painful Major

The last stretch of the season turned into a series of "almosts" for MOUZ.

At BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals, Spinx played his only LAN event of the year with an overall rating below 1.0. He looked convincing online, but on stage in Malta he was only slightly positive against Astralis and fell flat in the semifinal versus Spirit.

At Esports World Cup the team went out already in the quarterfinals to Falcons. Once again Spinx showed an incredible ceiling on the maps they won (1.60 — his best figure of the year), but low ratings in the other matches dragged his overall result down to 1.07.

BLAST Open London began badly for him online (0.76 rating against FURIA), but on LAN he returned to top form: he destroyed M80, especially on Inferno with a 2.22 rating and massive positive round impact, and was the only truly convincing MOUZ player in yet another semifinal loss to Vitality.

At ESL Pro League Season 22 Spinx once again became an EVP. In the group stage he rolled over GamerLegion, Gentle Mates, and 3DMAX with a 1.37 rating, and in the playoffs his best individual maps again came in losses — versus Natus Vincere and Falcons. In the third-place decider against FaZe he helped the team close the tournament on a high note with a 1.24 rating.

Before the last Major of the year in Budapest, MOUZ played IEM Chengdu. There the familiar script repeated: a strong group stage with wins over FaZe, Vitality, and FURIA and a shared team-high 1.28 rating, followed by a drop-off in the playoffs. In the semifinal against Vitality and the third-place match versus Falcons, Spinx no longer had his usual level of impact.

He himself admits that the real "wall" for MOUZ was not their opponents but the team itself. They consistently reached the late stages, but psychologically and tactically could not take the final step to the next level.

Budapest Major: a "grey" exit at torzsi's home

At the Budapest Major, MOUZ were expected to fully contend for the title: over the year they had shown that they could reliably make at least semifinals. In Stage 3 Spinx was solid (1.13 rating), especially on the opening day when the team started 2-0: he was Dorian "xertioN" Berman's right-hand man in a tough win over PARIVISION and dominated B8.

In the playoff-qualifying match against Spirit he struggled on Train and Overpass, but then regained his form in the deciding series versus Falcons, where MOUZ came back from 0-1 in maps and closed Inferno and Nuke largely thanks to his individual play.

It seemed the quarterfinal against FaZe was a very manageable challenge. Instead, MOUZ played an essentially faceless match: they let a 11-9 lead slip away on Nuke, and on Inferno they won only two rounds. FaZe finished the series to chants of "send them home", even though it was MOUZ who had the tournament's only local player in their ranks — Ádám "torzsi" Torzsás.

Spinx concedes that the opponent played very well, but stresses that on the second map it was MOUZ who failed to do the bare minimum and "let everything slip out of their hands too quickly". For the team and for torzsi this loss was a real blow, softened only by the fact that the Hungarian had already had a chance to perform in front of the home crowd in Stage 3.

Despite the lack of titles, in terms of depth of runs MOUZ were objectively one of the most consistent teams of the year and by many metrics can claim to have been the second-best team of the season. Spinx himself, however, disagrees with that assessment: in his view, the team was a top side and a constant contender, but not a true "top 2".

Why Spinx became the 10th-best player in the world

For Spinx, 2025 was a year of a high "floor" rather than record-breaking "ceilings". And it was exactly this that earned him 10th place in the HLTV ranking and his fourth appearance in the Top 20.

He played 14 tournaments and at each of them at least reached the level of a notable contributor. At ten events his impact was especially visible, and at four he received Exceptionally Valuable Player status: PGL Cluj-Napoca, IEM Dallas, BLAST.tv Austin Major, and ESL Pro League Season 22.

It is important that all these stats came not in a convenient calendar, but in an extremely demanding season with a large number of elite tournaments. At five Elite+ events he maintained a strong level, and against top-5 teams he played with a 1.09 rating, which is a very respectable figure in such a competitive environment.

But there is a flip side. MOUZ failed to turn their consistency into championships. In arena matches, finals, and duels against the very best teams in the world, Spinx performed better than most of his teammates, but even he clearly dropped off in playoffs: a 1.05 rating on the deciding stages is a decline compared to the group phase and a serious drawback next to his Top 20 peers, many of whom instead raised their level in playoffs.

Because of this, he never reached MVP-contender status and, in terms of peaks, looked weaker than many of his neighbors on the list. His year is a story about a reliable core, not about explosive performances.

Spinx himself formulates his priorities simply: returning to the Top 20 is nice, but the main goal is to win with the team. In his view, individual awards will come on their own if MOUZ finally start winning big finals.

Prediction: a new talent from FACEIT

As part of the "Bold prediction" segment, Spinx named a player to watch in the coming years. His choice fell on Swedish rifler Liam "MaiL09" Tügel, who has already received high praise from Nikola "NiKo" Kovač and Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş.

MaiL09 was the one who ended Danil "donk" Kryshkovets's five-year dominance at the top of the ELO rankings on FACEIT Europe. At the same time, his own future is unclear: at the end of last year Metizport unexpectedly benched him.

Spinx says he has queued with him several times in FACEIT matches and each time noted his "sharp" and very high-quality game. He emphasizes how quickly you can grow if you are already near the top of the FACEIT leaderboards and are able to dominate online consistently.

You can learn more about Spinx's career on his HLTV player page: Spinx profile.

You can see what Snappi was already saying about him back in 2021 in this episode of HLTV Confirmed: video on YouTube.

More about the structure and criteria of the Top 20 Players of 2025 ranking can be found in the introductory article: Introduction article.