The CS:GO G.O.A.T played one tournament for Falcons and returned to Natus Vincere’s bench. Since then, Falcons have been playing with dupreeh.
Falcons isn't having an easy ride in CS2 esports in 2024 thus far, despite all the investment made to assemble an international super team. The Saudi-backed organization started the year strong as they made it to the semifinals of IEM Katowice in February, but just one week after, the team failed to qualify for the PGL Copenhagen Major. After a roster change, Falcons expect better results at ESL Pro League (EPL) Season 19.
But, before we touch on how five-time Major champion Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen is helping change the mood around in Falcons, one of the players, Pavle "maden" Bošković, answered esports.gg on why the legend Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev didn't stay longer in Falcons after they tried to recover from the Major fiasco.
S1mple and Falcons: A short marriage that didn't work out
Mohammad "BOROS" Malhas was benched from Falcons' starting lineup a couple of days after they didn't make the PGL Copenhagen Major, and the organization picked up nobody other than Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev, the greatest to ever play CS:GO, on a one-month loan from Natus Vincere.
The move was promising, but ultimately s1mple's signing didn't pan off. Falcons fell short at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in March, the only tournament they attended with s1mple, and the superstar returned to Natus Vincere's bench. Maden told esports.gg during EPL Season 19's media day on Monday, April 22 that Falcons and s1mple tried to make it work, but role clashes prevented the Ukrainian from possibly staying longer.
"s1mple's usually the best when he plays the AWP or when he's hybrid and puts himself in the best positions, but he wasn't able to do it because we have SunPayus as the AWPer and it was very tough because they were having the same roles. If things were going great and all of a sudden we win BLAST online, maybe we would stay a bit longer with s1mple. You never know what would happen, but it was just not meant to be."
Signing dupreeh as a permanent fifth player
Falcons signed dupreeh a couple of weeks after the experiment with s1mple. Even though the team bowed out of the qualifier for the Esports World Cup, the team is showing improvement, according to maden.
It was clear that the mood in Falcons was awful after they failed to qualify for the PGL Copenhagen Major, especially after the organization showed in a documentary how the staff and the players were mad at some of BOROS' antics throughout the qualifier.
But, since dupreeh joined almost a month ago, the mood in Falcons has changed drastically, according to maden.
"To be honest, dupreeh is just overall a very experienced player and he brings a lot of stability to the team," maden said. "When we missed the Major, it was very tough for us and it took some time to bounce back. Now, we've had a very productive one month with dupreeh and fixed the map pool. He's very easy to work with and our vibes have been great since the moment he came in.
Falcons' expectations for EPL Season 19
Falcons will have the opportunity to turn things around and move on from their recent fiascos at EPL Season 19. The tournament will kick off on April 23 with the Falcons a part of Group B alongside Vitality, Sharks, BetBoom, M80, The MongolZ, TYLOO, and G2.
Given that the top four will advance to playoffs, it's feasible that Falcons will be one of the teams in the final stage of the event. This is also the only goal they have set as they lowered their expectations after the roster changes, according to maden.
Falcons will debut in EPL Season 19 versus The MongolZ on Wednesday, March 24 at 4:30 a.m PT.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest CS2 news and updates.