FalleN's Major-attending spree ends as Imperial head home from Americas RMR

The Brazilian captain is set to miss his first Major since 2014 as Imperial exit the RMR in Mexico in 9-11th place.

Imperial are the fifth team to be sent packing from the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR after suffering a 0-2 defeat to Complexity.

The North American roster drew first blood on Overpass (16-13) after a superb 11-round T-side before wrapping up the series and eliminating the Brazilians after another hard-fought brawl on Nuke (16-12).

The Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou-led roster now advance to the 2-1 pool in Monterrey, Mexico, where the two teams will each play one final best-of-three series on Sunday for a chance to make it to the Parisian Major, which is set to run on May 8-21.

Imperial stumbled out of the gates in their 9-11th place run through the Americas RMR, suffering a surprise loss to Evil Geniuses, who received a last-minute invite to the Major qualifier in place of DETONATE, in the opening round to instantly be one best-of-three loss away from early elimination.

The Brazilians stabilized by besting their countrymen of TeamOne in two straight maps, but Imperial were unable to carry the momentum forward as they were dispatched by Complexity to have their dreams of a BLAST.tv Paris Major berth crushed.

The Brazilians initially got off to a more-than-ideal start on their Overpass pick, racing to a 10-5 lead on the CT-side thanks to 1.79 and 1.72-rated performances from Ricardo "⁠boltz⁠" Prass and Vinicius "⁠VINI⁠" Figueiredo. Things soon came crashing down for Imperial, however, as the North American troupe slowly but surely mounted a comeback, adding 11 rounds to their tally as they stole away a hotly-contested victory, 16-13, and forced a trip to Nuke.

Complexity kept their foot on the gas once Nuke got underway, unraveling Imperial's defensive setups by accruing a nine-round T-side half. A to-and-fro exchanging of sprees kept the two teams honest and raised the prospect of a three-map affair, but Complexity maintained their grip on the game; the South African-led lineup eventually closed things out with two rounds to spare to progress to the 2-2 pool and keep their Major dreams alive.

For Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo, the loss brings an end to a 14-Major-attending streak, one which dated all the way back to ESL One Katowice 2015 when the AWPer raised eyebrows and led Keyd Stars to a spot in the quarter-finals. The Brazilian captain built on his team's surprisingly strong performance by being at the helm of the Luminosity and SK rosters that went on to win back-to-back Major championships in 2016, first at MLG Colombus and then at ESL One Cologne.

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FalleN: "For me it feels like a last dance every time"

FalleN has been candid about the possibility of hanging up the mouse at some point in the near future. "I'm already 31 years old, I have other things to do in my life too," the in-game leader said to HLTV at the RMR on Saturday. "I have a wife, I have a family... I don't know how much more I'm going to play."

FalleN's Major-attending résumé is:

ESL One Katowice 2015 - 5th-8th
ESL One Cologne 2015 - 5th-8th
DreamHack Open Cluj-Napoca 2015 - 5th-8th
MLG Columbus 2016 - 1st
ESL One Cologne 2016 - 1st
ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017 - 3rd-4th
PGL Major Kraków 2017 - 5th-8th
ELEAGUE Major Boston 2018 - 3rd-4th
FACEIT Major London 2018 - 3rd-4th
IEM Katowice Major 2019 - 3rd-4th
StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 - 12th-14th
PGL Major Stockholm 2021 - 12th-14th
PGL Major Antwerp 2022 - 9th-11th
IEM Rio Major 2022 - 23rd-24th
BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 - did not qualify

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You can check out more of HLTV's coverage of all three RMRs and the BLAST.tv Paris Major itself in the dedicated hub.