Falcons took the series despite karrigan averaging 9 kills per map.
Team Falcons defeated Monte in 2-1 fashion to put themselves in the pool to qualify to the IEM Cologne 2026 Major playoffs. They await their opponent in the 2-1 bracket of the Swiss system.
A hard-fought series ended with a Falcons victory as they struggled to close out on the decider. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač has taken a step forward in fragging, while kyousuke has taken a step backwards, and karrigan serves as a meat shield.
Monte’s map pick goes wrong
Monte opened the series on their map pick of Inferno. Starting on the T side, the squad quickly established a 4-0 lead. Falcons responded as their defensive setups stabilized, fueled by the vocal energy of Finn “karrigan” Andersen.
The score equalized at 7-7 early in the second half before Falcons managed to convert a 2vs4 situation. That clutch round shifted control of the map, allowing Falcons to string together the following rounds.
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač was a central component of the success, continuing his strong form in Cologne. The Bosnian star has occasionally struggled to find his footing within the current Falcons system, but his performance on Inferno resembled his peak individual level. Falcons closed out the map 13-9 to secure an early series advantage.
Gizmy secures Dust2 for Monte to tie the series
The battle moved to Dust2, where the teams traded rounds throughout the first half. Unlike his impact on Inferno, NiKo was effectively shut down early on, posting a 2-11 scoreline. Aleks “Rainwaker” Petrov anchored the defense for Monte to keep the scoreline tight.
Monte carried their momentum into the second half, winning the first three rounds on their T side. Falcons found their footing during their first full buy round, which was immediately followed by a four-kill highlight from Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov that shattered the economy of Monte. The sequence pushed Falcons into a 10-9 lead.
Monte recovered in the final stages of the map. In a late round where the team failed to plant the bomb within the time limit, in-game leader Gizmy salvaged the situation with a double kill to secure the round regardless. Monte carried that narrow advantage across the finish line, winning Dust2 13-11.
The series now moves to the decider map on Mirage.
Falcons take firm control of Mirage
The decider map had Falcons on the CT-side, where they quickly took control after losing the pistol round. They strung five rounds together with NiKo in stunning form once again.
However, Monte was able to grind out occasional rounds here and there, and were able to get a 5-7 half at the very end when Falcons could have run away with it.
The second pistol was an intense clutch round as Falcons fell into a man disadvantage, but succesfully took the A-bombsite. Despite his atrocious fragging since donning the Falcons jersey, karrigan put together a triple kill at the end to give his team a firm lead.
Falcons then had their way with Monte, finding openings left and right as the defense crumbled. At 11-5, NiKo clutched a 1vs3 after Gizmy needlessly pushed into Falcons’ spawn, giving up the round.
Monte mounts late comeback but fall
The potential of a Falcons choke kept increasing with each coming round, as they failed to find solutions to close out the map.
Monte showed they could keep up with Falcons, but it was too late. A great call came late in the game, as usual for karrigan, as they went for a B-play at an awkward timing for Monte.
With that, Falcons put themselves a step closer to NiKo’s first Major trophy.
Player of the match: NiKo
Nikola “NiKo” Kovač was the player of the match here, continuing his resurgent form at IEM Cologne. Recently underperforming in the Falcons jersey, he has taken a step forward at this Major.
Taking a step backwards is Maxim ‘kyousuke’ Lukin, who has averaged only a 1.00 rating at Cologne, on top of karrigan’s atrocious fragging of less than half a kill per round (0.40 kills per round).
NiKo made up for his underperforming teammates, bagging 28 kills on Inferno, a necessary map win. On top of that, he clutched a 1vs3 at a time when Monte could have capitalized on a Falcons choke.
