Bubzkji: "I have a hard time seeing Magisk, Maden, and dupreeh being a long-term trio"
When Falcons signed zonic from Vitality, the Counter-Strike world was instantly filled with anticipation for the project the legendary Dane would be starting.
The five-time Major winning coach announced it was intention to do so again in CS2 with Falcons, and as he looked to build the team, there wasn't a star player in the world whose name wasn't mentioned as being linked to the Saudi organisation.
Many of those transfer plans didn't pay out. NiKo's move to the team famously broke down.
Eventually, the organisation retained BOROS to play alongside initial signings Magisk and Snappi before completing their roster with the latter's former ENCE teammates, Maden and SunPayus.
Photo: Michal KonkolThe team's time together started well.
Although they failed to qualify for BLAST Premier Spring Final, they placed 3rd-4th at IEM Katowice 2024, and given BOROS' 1.12 HLTV rating at the event, it seemed that retaining BOROS had, in fact, been a gift.
However, in Counter-Strike, bright starts are often quickly dimmed, and a disastrous 0.95 HLTV rating for BOROS at the PGL Major Copenhagen RMR saw Falcons both fail to qualify for the first CS2 Major and the Jordanian lose his place on the team.
We spoke to Bubzkji about this, and he was rather frank when he said, "Falcons have failed to deliver."
"They screwed up big time by keeping BOROS on the roster in the first place. They’re kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere, as all the obvious candidates were still playing the Major," Bubzkji told BLAST.tv.
Long-term trio?
There was one candidate not playing the Major, however, and Falcons quickly snapped him up from Preasy, securing themselves an experienced Danish core that took their team's average age up to 28.3.
That candidate, dupreeh, needs no introduction. He's a five-time CS:GO Major winner; there are very few players who can boast the achievements he can, but that doesn't mean Bubzkji is confident about the move.
It's not hard to see why Bubzkji holds this belief either.
dupreeh's addition,while it may solve some of the issues based upon mistakes BOROS would make in-game, doesn't fix any firepower issues Falcons may have.
Photo: Michal KonkolDespite winning IEM Rio and the BLAST.tv Paris Major in 2023, dupreeh had a 1.05 HLTV rating on LAN during the year, which is vastly inferior to BOROS' 1.22.
If this new Falcons team is going to improve on their previous results, they will need dupreeh to return to form from his peak on Astralis or for someone else to step up and become a star.
While firepower is always a topic in CS, roles have been a key discussion in the early months of 2024.
Falcons have already been criticised for the original lineup putting Maden, BOROS, and Magisk on one team, so too were Astralis for the combination of blameF and stavn.
Fortunately for Falcons, Bubzkji thinks that this won't be an issue for the team moving forward, especially because they have Magisk.
"I think Magisk will move into his old positions. He’s basically a swiss army knife who can fix a lot of problems," he says.
In truth, it's a move that could be a masterstroke.
People thought dupreeh was already past his best when he won his fifth Major in Paris, he continued to prove them wrong by being an effective member of both Heroic and Preasy in the following months.
Photo: Stephanie LindgrenAs Bubzkji says, Falcons "know what they get from dupreeh", but that doesn't mean he thinks dupreeh would have been the organisation's first choice had a Major not been going on.
He added that "FL1T or NiKo would definitely help them in terms of becoming a top-five team instantly", and it's hard to argue, but ultimately as Bubzkji says, "There's just no one to buy right now."
We guess we'll just have to wait and find out how much dupreeh can bring to his new team when he makes his debut at ESL Pro League Season 19 later this month.