Many Counter-Strike 2 fans held high expectations for the Saudi-backed Team Falcons project, with hype hitting overdrive after a top-four finish at IEM Katowice. However, the team’s big money gamble has backfired as they won’t be present at CS2’s first Major in Denmark following their RMR elimination this week.
The high-flying Falcons have plummed back to earth following Feb. 16’s 1-2 defeat to Russian squad AMKAL Esports at the PGL Copenhagen Major Europe RMR A. With the loss, coach zonic and former Astralis and Vitality veteran Magisk won’t be in the Danish capital to defend their BLAST Paris Major crown.
“Most disappointing moment of my career. Sorry,” Magisk said succinctly on X (formerly Twitter) after the loss, which saw the team reverse-swept in the best-of-three by AMKAL who formed in the offseason with the core of 1win and led by Aleksey “NickelBack” Trofimov.
AMKAL stormed back in the second half of decider map Mirage with an incredible five clutches and had three map points in regulation, but ultimately needed overtime to defeat the Katowice semifinalists. In comparison, Falcons failed to convert any of their clutch opportunities, with Pavle “Maden” Bošković’s 22-17 effort going to waste in the finale.
The loss means Falcons’ dream of attending the first CS2 Major is no more, meaning zonic, Magisk, and in-game leader Snappi will also miss their home Major in Denmark. It’s a shocking turn of events for the squad who looked set to challenge the best squads in CS2 after acquiring the former ENCE core of SunPayus and Maden.
Falcons looked like executing a major coup at the end of the 2023 season with reports G2 rifler NiKo and departing FaZe veteran Twistzz were offered sizeable contracts to join the Saudi-based org, but both rejected the offers to extend with G2 and move to Team Liquid instead. Twistzz at the time stated he “had morals” and “it wasn’t about the money,” possibly highlighting his disdain at representing an organization backed by the Saudi group.
Time will tell whether this setback will affect the team’s roster. Falcons are expected to attend the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in early March leaving them with little time for a change. For victors AMKAL, their win over Falcons has locked them in for the RMR decider bracket, but they can skip this if they win their final best-of-three against 9Pandas later today.
