Team Falcons have revealed that Maksim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin will miss their opening BLAST Open Rotterdam contest against NRG due to ‘Visa complications.’
The org now faces a bureaucratic fight to field the young Russian rifler later in the event, with the double-elimination groups starting on Wednesday.
kyousuke suffers Visa issues for the second time in 2026
The 18-year-old star rifler already missed the BLAST Bounty LAN Finals in January due to Visa issues, resulting in Falcons Academy player, Matej ‘Nucleonz’ Trajkoski, standing in for the roster.
The roster had a commendable run at BLAST with the stand-in, defeating Liquid before completing a notable 2-1 victory over Vitality in the semi-finals.
However, Falcons fell short in the Grand Final, playing a nervous series against Parivision, which saw them fall 0-3 at the final hurdle.
Nucleonz will once again return to Falcons as they aim to recover from two tough exits at IEM Kraków and Cluj-Napoca, which saw the roster look further from a title than ever.
Falcons are also playing the event with a place in Stage 3 of the IEM Cologne 2026 Major likely on the line.
The roster will probably need a win or two to guarantee that they start the major in the third Swiss Stage, which requires the roster to sit in the top seven of the EU VRS picture on April 5th.
With Falcons hoping to build into the season to compete for the Cologne Major, the hindrance of missing their young rifler again will hurt their progress.
Worst of all, with Visa issues being prevalent amongst Russian players, Falcons will be wary that it may happen again sooner rather than later.
Team Falcons shared the following on social media:
“Due to a visa complication, Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin will not be able to join the team at the start of the event. We’re doing everything we can to get this resolved and ensure he’s back on the server with the team as soon as possible.
“In the meantime, Matej ‘Nucleonz’ Trajkoski will step in for the team. No stranger to the Falcons, Nucleonz has stood in with us before and knows exactly what this team is about, so be sure to show your love and support.
“We appreciate your patience and support as we work to get this sorted and will provide further updates as they come.”
Can Falcons plan around kyousuke’s Visa issues? Discuss that on our Discord!
For more Falcons insight, see our interview with Falcons rifler Rene ‘TeSeS’ Madsen.
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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