Falcons bench trio after EU RMR failure

The Saudi organization will rebuild around Magisk as s1mple's loan will not be extended.

Falcons have announced that they have benched Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer, Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen and Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković with immediate effect. The decision comes just days after the team's disappointing 1-3 run at the Europe RMR.

Falcons also said that Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's loan deal will not be extended, confirming the Ukrainian superstar's comment that he would not be moving to the Saudi organization.

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"Missing the Shanghai Major has been an incredibly disappointing and heartbreaking setback for us," the Saudi organization said in a statement. "We are now dedicating the time and effort needed to rebuild our roster for 2025."

The announcement marks the start of another rebuild for Falcons, who benched four players at the end of 2023 and filled those voids with the former ENCE core of Snappi, Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García and Maden plus Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif from Vitality.

However, the team, coached by five-time Major winner Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen, never managed to live up to expectations. The cracks began to show just two months into 2024 as Mohammad "⁠BOROS⁠" Malhas, the only remaining member of the previous lineup, was benched shortly after a failed qualifying campaign for the PGL Copenhagen Major.

Falcons eventually decided, after getting s1mple on a short-term loan from Natus Vincere, to sign dupreeh to fill the vacancy. But the 31-year-old's experience and status couldn't mask that the team continued to lack firepower.

That became especially apparent as dupreeh struggled to have the sort of impact he was known for, even towards the end of his Vitality tenure.

Pressure mounted as results continued to dip, and Falcons once again pulled the trigger on changes, replacing SunPayus with s1mple in an attempt to shake things up before the RMR. In Shanghai, the team couldn't even reach the qualification stages of the tournament, losing to FaZe, SAW and GamerLegion.

In an interview with HLTV in October at ESL Challenger Katowice, zonic had already suggested that there would be changes for 2025. "A lot of the players, they know that next year might be different, and by being transparent and open about it with the players," he said.

This wave of changes leaves Falcons with the task of building around Magisk, though it's unclear at this point if the Danish player is considering becoming an IGL. (He took over as Astralis' IGL in 2021 while Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander was on paternity leave.)

The Saudi organization has reportedly reached an agreement with Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač to sign the G2 star at the end of the season. Alban Dechelotte, G2's CEO, all but confirmed last month that the Bosnian player is on his way out of the team. "If we wanted to keep NiKo, we could have done so," he said in an interview with MGG France.

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G2 CEO: "If we wanted to keep NiKo, we could have done so"

Falcons currently have:

Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif

Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)

Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García (benched)
Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer (benched)
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen (benched)
Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković (benched)