Falcons remain winless with s1mple after last-place exit in Katowice

The team now has a 0-7 map record with the Ukrainian superstar.

Eternal Fire have condemned Falcons to a last-place exit at ESL Challenger Katowice after getting the better of Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company in a 2-0 series (Dust2 16-12, Inferno 13-4).

While Falcons were able to give the Turkish squad a run for their money on Dust2 and could have closed out the map in regulation, their gamble to remove Vertigo instead of their usual permaban of Inferno failed to bear fruit.

Falcons now exit the tournament without a map victory to their name and extend their loss streak with s1mple to seven maps in a row. Their lackluster form extends far beyond the Ukrainian's signing, however, as they have now won only one of their last 14 series — with their solitary win coming against ATOX.

While the result will be a tough pill to swallow for the Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer-led team, s1mple did show glimpses of his star power, especially in the Dust2 loss against Eternal Fire. The 27-year-old averaged a 1.06 rating on his return to LAN and was his team's highest-rated player.

The focus for Falcons now switches to the RMR set to start on November 17, with Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen sharing that the team is set to attend a bootcamp before the tournament in China.

Meanwhile, Eternal Fire have qualified for the decider match against B8, who they will face at 17:45 for a playoff spot.

Date	Matches
ESL Challenger Katowice 2024
26/10/2024	B8 18:00 Eternal Fire	Match

The series began on Falcons' pick of Dust2, where s1mple and company got off to a decent start only to be reeled in by Eternal Fire at the end of the half. s1mple and Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković both racked up 13 kills at the switch, but that was only enough for a 6-6 half.

Eternal Fire then rallied to take a 10-7 lead before Falcons won an unlikely round with unarmored pistols, and that swing round proved enough for them to force out overtime after a plethora of chaotic rounds going their way by the skin of their teeth.

In overtime, however, Falcons ran out of steam and lost four rounds in a row. Maden and s1mple continued to be the shining lights for their team, but none of their three teammates put up over 60 ADR, which ultimately cost Falcons the map.

The second map of the series was Inferno, which was the first time Falcons played it under the leadership of Snappi. The lack of repetition certainly showed, as they could only muster one round on the offensive half and avoided a complete demolition by winning three rounds on the defensive side to go down in a 4-13 loss.