One of the worst kept secrets in Counter-Strike has finally been confirmed by Team Falcons. After a devastating 3rd – 4th place finish at the Perfect World Shanghai Major, Nikola “NiKo” Kovač ended his 4 year stint at G2 Esports. Everyone knew it was going to happen and I, for one, was low key hoping to see this roster go out on a high with a Major win. But now, NiKo is the latest CS superstar to officially join Team Falcons.
Can NiKo save Team Falcons?
Team Falcons has been fielding Counter-Strike rosters since 2020 but they’ve never really reached the heights this game has to offer. Their debut S tier event was Gamers8 back in 2023 and since then, despite contracting some of the most insane players in the world including Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev, they just haven’t been able to keep up with the likes of Team Vitality, Team Spirit and many others. Now, it seems they’re putting all of their eggs in the NiKo basket, and honestly, this could make a real difference.
As one of the most prolific Counter-Strike players in the world, NiKo has one hell of a record. His most recent win was at the BLAST Premier World Final in November but that’s putting aside wins at the Falls Finals, Fall Groups and IEM Dallas in 2024 alone. His reputation is well earned and he has proved time and again that his strategies and commitment work, making him one of the best CS2 players in 2024. I expect there will be at least some growing pains while he acclimatises to a new set of teammates but if the balance works, maybe Falcons CS can replicate some the success of their Dota 2 roster.
NiKo will be playing alongside Emil “Magisk” Reif and coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen but the rest of the roster hasn’t yet been announced. They’ll need to get cracking with the rest of the players though as Team Falcons are set to compete in the closed qualifiers for BLAST Bounty Spring 2025 as a wildcard invite, which is due to kick off on January 14th.
Snappi leaves Falcons
Just before the announcement that NiKo had joined, the official Falcons Esports X account also confirmed that captain Snappi was leaving the team. I can’t say I’m too surprised by this and I doubt anyone else is either. Snappi moved to the inactive roster along with maden and dupreeh back in November the same day that s1mple’s loan from NaVi ended.
We had high hopes for this super roster but they ended up being eliminated on the very first day of the Thunderpick World Championship, which was then followed disappointing results at both ESL Challenger Katowice and the Shanghai Major RMRs. So not exactly what we’d hoped for.
There are going to be a lot of eyes on Team Falcons heading into the 2025 season and it’s going to be a busy one. Let’s see if they can finally get themselves to the top.
