Expectations were sky-high for Team Falcons at the BLAST Austin Major 2025. Many projected them to to cruise through Stage 2 with a clean 3-0 record and potentially challenge Team Vitality once again for a title.
Instead, it was a total curveball. Falcons were knocked out of this year’s first CS2 Major—and blew everyone’s Pick’Ems—after a shocking 1-2 loss to MIBR (13-6 on Ancient, 9-13 on Nuke, and 20-22 on Inferno) in their Stage 2 Round 4 elimination match.
The turning point came in the final round of the second overtime on Inferno. Falcons had a five-versus-three advantage on the T-side with the bomb already planted at B. But things unraveled quickly, as brnz4n punished TeSeS’ aggressive peek on Banana and m0NESY’s rare AWP miss to even the odds. Saffe dropped kyxsan, then brnz4n took down the cornered NiKo and Magisk for a crucial quad-kill to force a third OT.
MIBR pulled off another clutch play in the succeeding OT, turning around a three-versus-five disadvantage on the T-side to reach match point at 21-19. Falcons managed to hold on for one more round, but MIBR’s sharp A-site hit against m0NESY and Magisk sealed the deal, as they capitalized on the man advantage and closed out the intense series.
After the stinging loss, NiKo didn’t mince his words. “Obviously, very disappointed and frustrated. It was a tough game, and losing this 5vs3 on a match point is just heartbreaking. It’s just so unacceptable to drop the ball on such a crucial moment from a team like ours,” he said in an interview with HLTV.
M0NESY echoed the same frustration. “Terrible game from us at the Major, nothing to say. Sad to end the season with such a performance. Very disappointed in myself for now, that’s all. See you next season,” he wrote on Telegram.
It was a bitter end for the Falcons squad that had looked so promising just weeks earlier. They were inches away from back-to-back titles, nearly beating Vitality in two consecutive grand finals at IEM Melbourne and BLAST Rivals Spring. They also put up a strong fight against the world No. 1 in the IEM Dallas semifinals.
But when the most important tournament arrived, their momentum vanished. Falcons were stunned in their opening match by B8 (8-13 on Ancient), then got blindsided by Lynn Vision (9-13 on Nuke), putting them on the brink of elimination early. A hard-fought 2-1 win over OG gave them hope, but that was dashed by MIBR in a heartbreaking series.
“A lot of things are going through my mind. I could never really imagine that we would have been in this situation considering how we performed before this and the preparation that we have put in. Just very sad and frustrated,” NiKo added.
Now that Falcons are out of the Austin Major, rumors of big roster changes are swirling again. In fact, teenage sensation kyousuke is reportedly on the radar even before the event started.
All eyes are on the bigger picture though: NiKo missed yet another opportunity to win a Major, and so did m0NESY. The difference is that the former might have his chances numbered.
