The Major champions went out in a LAN group stage for the first time since February, and their own map picks are the problem the coach cannot fix.
Team Falcons have one map they trust, and even that one is not safe. Coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen told HLTV on Wednesday evening that Dust2 is “the only map that we can actually rely on, but it’s not even 100% sure”, hours after NAVI knocked them out of IEM Beijing 2026 with a 2-1 win in the Group A lower-bracket final.
It was the first time Falcons have gone out in the group stage of a LAN event since IEM Kraków in February. The Dane said the same thing keeps breaking them:
We have to be stronger mentally in those situations. And it’s frustrating to see because it is something that we are addressing and talking about daily. When we are playing good, having momentum, even comes down to maybe winning the first three or four rounds, the entire half looks really good. But when we get off to a bad start, it can destroy our entire game, and there we have to be stronger.
NAVI2-0
FalconsAncient 13-5, Mirage 13-11Falcons2-1
FaZeAncient 13-3, Anubis 10-13, Mirage 13-7Falcons2-0
HEROICAncient 13-8, Dust2 13-6NAVI2-1FalconsAncient 11-13, Inferno 13-4, Mirage 13-3Seven of their last nine picks lost
The numbers back him up. Falcons have lost seven of their last nine map picks, and they went into Wednesday morning on five straight defeats on their own choice. Dust2 against HEROIC ended that run 13-6, but a few hours later NAVI beat them 13-4 on their Inferno pick.
| Date | Event | Opponent | Falcons’ pick | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 November | IEM Beijing | NAVI | Inferno | 4-13 |
| 4 November | IEM Beijing | HEROIC | Dust2 | 13-6 |
| 3 November | IEM Beijing | FaZe | Anubis | 10-13 |
| 2 November | IEM Beijing | NAVI | Mirage | 11-13 |
| 18 October | Thunderpick WC |  Aurora | Dust2 | 17-19 |
| 17 October | Thunderpick WC |  BetBoom | Dust2 | 14-16 |
| 15 October | Thunderpick WC |  9z | Mirage | 8-13 |
| 14 October | Thunderpick WC |  NIP | Dust2 | 13-6 |
| 9 October | ESL Pro League S24 |  Spirit | Anubis | 10-13 |
Even the map zonic named has slipped. Falcons lost Dust2 in overtime twice in Malta, 14-16 to BetBoom in the semi-final and 17-19 to Aurora in the third-place match. Anubis has been lost three times in a row: 15-19 to NAVI and 10-13 to Spirit at the Pro League, then 10-13 to FaZe in Beijing.
zonic could not say whether it is nerves or starting on the T side. “When it comes to our own, we fall flat,” he told HLTV. A rough start, he explained, leaves the team stressed and impatient, and the communication goes with it.
Wednesday’s Inferno followed that script. Falcons did not win an opening duel in the first nine rounds of their T side, w0nderful went 17-1 before they killed him a second time, and NAVI led 9-3 at the break. From 11-13 down on Ancient, NAVI won 26 of the last 33 rounds.
It was not a new worry. Before the rematch, zonic told ESL’s broadcast what had gone wrong in the 2-0 defeat to NAVI on Monday: “I mean, I think obviously a slow start, to be honest.”
First group exit since Kraków
The last time Falcons failed to get out of a LAN group was in Kraków nine months ago, with a different leader. kyxsan was still calling then, and MOUZ ended their event in the lower-bracket final of their Stage 1 group with two overtime maps, 16-14 on Inferno and 19-17 on Dust2.
karrigan replaced kyxsan in April, and two months later Falcons beat FURIA 3-0 to win the IEM Cologne Major. Since then they have not reached a final:
- BLAST Bounty Season 2 Finals: out in their first match, 2-1 to 100 Thieves
- Esports World Cup: 5th to 8th, 2-0 to Legacy in the quarter-finals
- BLAST Open Porto: 3rd to 4th, 2-0 to Spirit in the semi-finals
- ESL Pro League Season 24: 5th to 8th, 2-0 to Spirit in the quarter-finals
- Thunderpick World Championship: 4th, 2-1 to BetBoom in the semi-finals and 2-1 to Aurora for third place
- IEM Beijing: 7th to 8th, 2-1 to NAVI in the Group A lower-bracket final
We wrote after Malta that the slump was deepening. Beijing is the first time in that run they have not reached the playoffs.
How hard to push kyousuke
There were bright spots in Beijing, and most of them came from kyousuke. The 18-year-old was the best player on the server against HEROIC and opened Ancient against NAVI with three kills in the pistol round and an ace in the eco that followed. In the same pre-match interview, zonic said the staff had made the Russian a focus point after two weaker events:
We’re kind of depending on him, giving his roles, that he also has good games, and I’m really proud of how he has reacted based on the last two events. He’s still very young. He will have tournaments here and there where things doesn’t click for him, and it’s also part of his development. But I think one thing as well is also how much do you push him, because he needs to enjoy the game.
The same balance runs through the rest of the team. In an ESL studio interview from the Cologne Major, replayed during Wednesday’s broadcast, karrigan explained why he had told m0NESY in freeze time not to peek long while Falcons were ahead. “I don’t care how, it can be him popping off, it can be NiKo popping off, it can be calls,” the IGL said, but in that moment he wanted fewer individual mistakes.
NiKo, asked about the level of the game in an ESL feature filmed at Beijing’s Beihai Park, pointed at discipline too. “I don’t think it’s that high of a quality. I think the discipline was much stronger and higher, like 2018, 19,” he said, before adding that “it’s also different times”.
Hong Kong before Singapore
There is no time for a long reset. Falcons are one of the eight teams at BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 2 in Hong Kong from 11 to 15 November, where they open Group A against Team Vitality, the side that beat them in the first Rivals final in May 2025.
After that comes the title defence. Falcons are a Stage 3 invite at the PGL Major Singapore, so their first match is on 2 December at the earliest, four weeks after Beijing. In Stage 3 every series is a Bo3, which means at least one map pick of their own in every match.
