I’m willing to let PGL Astana slide for Falcons, they were never beating hally-less Spirit. But lads, you had to beat Legacy.

Even with the limited practice time with karrigan, even with the shocking CT-side display from NiKo in the final, CAC should have been Falcons’ tournament from the very first round, and the fact the trophy will be flying back to Brazil should go down in history as being as embarrassing as the BLAST.tv Austin Major exit.

A complete failure meet the (in my opinion) reasonable expectations placed on them, the loss against Legacy as well as the performances before that have already begun to expose some worrying trends for this new karrigan-led Falcons lineup.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again here for the sake of it: Falcons should have never signed karrigan, and their decision to do so is one they will pay the price for, for a long time to come.

The least-deadly shooter since ptr

karrigan has never been a great fragger. You know it, I know it, and none of us probably gave a f-ck about it, because he didn’t need frags to win.

He had stars. A rain who could pull a magical game out of nowhere, a late-round trio of Twistzz (or frozen), ropz, and broky who made any round feel possible, and back on MOUZ, a trio of woxic, ropz, and frozen who would become world-class players under his tutelage.

The same, of course, is true on Falcons. m0NESY is one of the best AWPers to ever play CS, and NiKo arguably its greatest ever rifler. Even kyousuke, who had previously been poor in playoffs prior to karrigan’s arrival, was a group-tage-stomper who virtually guaranteed Falcons’ advancement to playoffs on his own.

The difference is, though, outside of the fact that TeSeS isn’t rain, is that karrigan himself is now like having a player on your team playing with a steering wheel, rather than a mouse and keyboard.

In his first month on Falcons, the Dane has recorded a frankly appalling 0.73 rating, despite getting to play some games against some pretty poor opposition. For comparison, and even with the larger sample size in theory acting against him, HooXi has a 0.88 rating in the last three months.

Although IGLs aren’t necessarily meant to frag and instead provide value through their calling, there is, at some point, a trade off. Eventually, the core concept of CS - as in, you have to actually shoot people - begins to take over, and having a player who performs this badly this frequently can not be allowed to be on your team.

When you add in the fact that karrigan isn’t even calling with the same degree of success as he used to, you have to ask what he really adds to the team. Is there really that much of an upside to the T sides? Or is he just an incredibly large target for the opposing T side to use and abuse liek the cheapest window in Amsterdam’s Red Light district?

One more star is a necessity

Falcons could have superstars in every position and “one more star” will continue to haunt them, but where it may have been a joke in the past, the byproduct of karrigan’s individual level is that the necessity for another star is staring them right in the face.

There have been strides to prevent this, TeSeS and kyousuke have both seen improvements under karrigan, but with a NiKo who is inconsistent in roles not best suited to him and with the existence of Vitality, those improvements aren’t enough.

Seriously, look at them across the board: the only player who beats his opposing number in ratings is kyousuke, and that’s purely based on his performances since karrigan arrived on the team. Not that I don’t expect them to continue, this is likely a new version of kyousuke that teams will now have to get used to playing.

Rating is just one metric, though. There’s also something to be said about the overall comfort factor and role-fit. NiKo isn’t ropz and TeSeS isn’t mezii - these things matter at the super elite level.

Add in the fact that Falcons don’t even have that signature map they can virtually guarantee a map win on, and you realise this isn’t a team that’s truly built for success in any meaningful way.

The wrong decision

Falcons’ biggest mistake will always be signing karrigan.

That’s not just because he’s karrigan, either. I’d say that if they’d signed any IGL after kyxsan. They just didn’t need one.

In NiKo, Falcons have a player who might just be the next great IGL. In fact, I’d go as far to say that NiKo’s inevitable IGL switch could go so well, they his carfeer ultimately becomes defined by his stint as a captain.

Given that he’s also no longer at the height of his powers and has chosen to pass the torch to kyousuke, it also felt like to was just time for NiKo to become an IGL. He’s been calling CT sides for god knows how long, and he’s pretty good at it, going back to the tip of the spear alongside kyousuke would’ve made much more sense than cursing himself with his current spots.

Think about it. It just makes sense. By doing that, Falcons could have used their roster move to sign someone like frozen, or b1t, someone far more suited to the passive style that Falcons now require from NiKo. They could have even signed an upgrade on TeSeS when it was just a nice-to-have, not the necessity it feels like now.

They also - and for me, this is the biggest reason of all - could then have had a team that was built to actually last. We all knew that kyxsan’s (and TeSeS’ if required) days were numbered, so with NiKo as an IGL and a new star signed, Falcons could have really built up a team over an extended period of time.

Instead, they opted for a geriatric karrigan, who, when he still can’t find his form or call his team past Legacy - Legacy, ffs - will almost certainly require with his tail between his legs and his legacy in tatters in the eyes of the proles.

It’s a shame because I truly do believe that Falcons were the team best placed to unseat Vitality, but I guess they decided it’s better to just settle for unseating MOUZ, who in turn decided to get up from their seat and dive head first off a cliff.

Congratulations to Vitality for their back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back Major wins, I will enjoy each one.