Falcons Submit Complaint to BLAST After zonic Clip Goes Viral

Falcons have confirmed that the organization has submitted an official complaint to BLAST over its airing of a recent clip during a timeout at BLAST Open Spring 2025. In the mentioned clip, the veteran coach appears to be lost for ideas during the timeout in the match between Virtus.pro and Falcons, before star rifler NiKo jumps in to ask the Dane to “call something.” The clip (and its subsequent post on social media) has drawn some ire from Liquid and G2 coaches mithR and TaZ.

zonic clip prompts complaint from Falcons

In a post on X, Falcons’ Global Director of Esports Grant Rousseau confirmed the complaint had been submitted to BLAST, claiming the clip “forcibly lacks context by not showing the entire timeout,” and says the tournament organization was looking to create “a bait tweet and noise and giving a false impression of the coach and players.” He also pointed out the negative response to the post from mithR and TaZ, stating that it “says it all.”

We have submitted an official complaint to @BLASTPremier regarding this social post (and it being put out during broadcast).

It forcibly lacks context by not showing the entire timeout (which they can't do because there was tactical elements discussed towards the end of it) for… https://t.co/Ek87KoA2WZ

— Grant Rousseau (@GrantRous) March 23, 2025

BLAST is yet to publicly respond to Falcons’ complaint. However, it isn’t the first time the tournament organizer has been in hot water with teams in recent times. At BLAST Bounty Season 1 earlier this year, it apologized after it took an out-of-context pre-match clip between flameZ and the cameraman, airing it between rounds mid-game and subsequently changing the context entirely. It isn’t clear why it happened, but the TO did admit fault in that specific case.

Scrawny jumps to BLAST’s defense

In the wake of the complaint, commentator Scrawny has jumped to BLAST’s defense, claiming Falcons are the “Same organization that complains to TOs behind closed doors in order to control what casters are allowed to discuss on broadcast.” He also confirmed that “Falcons aren’t the only culprits in this regard.”

Same organization that complains to TOs behind closed doors in order to control what casters are allowed to discuss on broadcast – soft asf.

— Conner (@ScrawnyCG) March 23, 2025

Scrawny compared the situation with the aforementioned flameZ incident, claiming BLAST was wrong in that instance. However, his feelings don’t align with the team here. With BLAST’s lack of response so far, this is still a developing situation. It could be a few days before we get to see the full fallout from this incident.