Falcons played better than anyone else. And lost!

The two facts below don’t sit well with the third:

• The three best players of FISSURE Playground 2 by stats were Falcons riflers: NiKo, Kyousuke, and – surprisingly – TeSeS.

• Falcons were by far the best team of the tournament in terms of average rating – 1.22. G2 came second with 1.11, FURIA third with 1.09.

• Falcons were knocked out in the semifinals, losing to FURIA.

On one hand, Falcons proved that their roster at the tournament was the strongest in terms of individual form. On the other hand, they failed to convert it into results. Under ideal conditions – NiKo’s home city, the absence of some top teams, and far less pressure compared to Majors or Cologne – the team still fell short.

This only reinforced the main fear about their roster: too many stars make it too hard to win. Even in CS2, where individual skill matters more than ever, it’s not players who win – it’s teams. Especially over the long run.

Special emphasis should be placed on m0NESY’s performance. His rating in Belgrade was 1.13. Not a failure, but far from elite. The numbers were heavily boosted by a demolition of Virtus.pro, who managed to win only 4 rounds across two maps against Falcons. Outside of that, Ilya had a rather average tournament, and especially struggled in the playoffs, where across four maps he only went positive once.

The Mongols’ Hidden Secret. Nobody Else in CS2 Does This

Overall, m0NESY’s year hasn’t been as bright as the last one. Maybe it’s just a temporary dip caused by switching teams and roster rebuilding. Or maybe the reason runs deeper – in the very trends of CS2 itself. AWPers are taking a back seat, riflers are dominating. At FISSURE Playground 2, the best sniper was woxic. And he ranked only 12th among all players.