Falcons defeated FURIA 2-1 at BLAST Open Rotterdam to eliminate the faltering Brazilian roster from the Counter-Strike competition, qualifying Falcons for the six-team playoffs.
The two were playing for the final Group A spot in BLAST Open Rotterdam’s playoffs after being sent to the lower bracket by NAVI and Aurora, respectively.
FURIA’s T sides once again let the roster down, as they continue to struggle to recapture their 2025 form.
Falcons show proactive CT side on Mirage
The series started on Mirage, with FURIA’s dynamic duo of Yuri ‘yuurih’ Santos and Kaike ‘KSCERATO’ Cerato delivering FURIA a 7-5 halftime lead.
Again, FURIA’s struggling T-sides became an issue on Mirage. Extraordinarily, they seemed to completely run out of ideas only six rounds into their T half.
Instead, it was Falcons that took the chance to make their own plays, proactively taking space in mid and on the peripherals to stomp FURIA’s attacks out before they could even reach a site.
René ‘TeSeS’ Madsen once again put in good for Falcons after vowing to be a less sacrificial piece of the roster, leading Falcons to an 8-4 CT-side half and a 13-11 victory.
FURIA controversially capitalizes as YEKINDAR breaks his mouse
On Dust 2, it was a different story as Falcons’ pistol and conversion gave way to seven consecutive T-side rounds for the Brazilian roster, ending with an 8-4 half.
Falcons began the fightback with another pistol victory before a run of rounds put Falcons 10-8 up. But it was Furia who had the first opportunity to convert the map, after a series of successful reads delivered FURIA one map point.
It was not to be, however, as the Brazilians failed to convert against Falcons’ broken buy, as FURIA over-reacted to the Mid to B smoke, with Falcons catching them by surprise by rushing Short.
The frustration mounted as Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis smashed his mouse on the desk after losing the first round of overtime, facing elimination dead in the eye.
The result was a strange scene, where FURIA’s players were seemingly talking during the resultant tech pause, something which is normally prohibited. BLAST later stated that any communication held was in reference to the admins, which is permitted.
For YEKINDAR, breaking the mouse seemed to help his aim as he delivered a triple kill in the next round. That triple equalised the match, before a series of B hits on the T half meant the series went to the third map.
FURIA’s T sides fail them again as Falcons fight back on Nuke
Falcons at first seemed to shake off Dust 2, winning the crucial T-sided pistol on Nuke, but their progress came to a grinding halt against FURIA’s forcebuy, which included a five-seven and an MP9.
The round saw Falcons needlessly drop the bomb outside as they looked to wrap around to hell before panicking and hastily running into a lower set up from FURIA.
The expensively-assembled Falcons roster failed to win another round on the T side, completely squandering their start to the game.
A sharp round from Ilya ‘m0NESY’ Osipov saw the second pistol give Falcons a much-needed basis for the half, with FURIA’s T sides once again set to be tested.
It was a test FURIA were thoroughly failing, losing six rounds in a row before an advantaged postplant was demolished by under-pressure Falcons IGL Damjan ‘kyxsan’ Stoilkovski.
FURIA were already three map points down by the time they won a single round, but that round was the only one they would get as another hapless round doomed them to a 13-10 loss.
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As teams fight for those IEM Cologne 2026 Major spots, see our DraculaN Season 6 preview.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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