FalleN on new circuit: "I don't think anyone is starting from scratch, it's almost impossible"

The Brazilian veteran spoke about the new-look CS2 ecosystem.

FURIA have had an up-and-down 2025 so far. They beat Nemiga at BLAST Bounty but came crashing down to earth after a loss to BetBoom, which meant they came into IEM Katowice with uncertain expectations.

Things were far from convincing in Poland, too, as they narrowly won the first map in an overtime affair against Imperial Valkyries before another close-fought victory against Wildcard got them into Stage 2.

"If things go according to what we want it to be, we can beat the best teams in the world on a lot of maps. But, at the same time, we're not as decisive and comfortable as other top-tier teams, who mostly don't really lose smaller games," Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo told HLTV after the win against Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's troops.

FalleN, you're straight to stage 2 after a pretty intense finish against Wildcard on Nuke. Tell me about it, without that KSCERATO play it might have gone the other way.

I think they won a 2v4, he and yuurih, right? We felt like they could have chance at the very end of the round just because of the bomb exploding and it's so strong, sometimes you can capitalize on people trying to save their guns. yuurih came out of vents and got a kill and was able to pick up the defuse kit after the first kill, straight on the right timing - perfect play. The game was very close, it could have gone either way, and that round was crucial for us, too.

Tell me about the first T round of overtime as well. It felt like you had something very specific in mind with the molly on top of hut and one more to prevent a cross, perhaps? Can you tell me about the thinking behind it?

It's a strategy we have been using a lot, it's not the first time we use it, so it's nothing new about it. We had been playing a very slow T side overall in the first half, and in overtime chelo called both rounds. I was a little bit out of ideas, trying to think what's gonna work or not, yeah, that's a good thing, it's a round we're gonna be playing together even though it's not as clean as it went, we can win the 2v3 and stuff like that, so we went for it.

After that chelo was like 'give me permission, I have another one in mind.' So chelo called both of our overtime rounds, I'm very happy about it because he found a way to help the team even though he wasn't having a perfect game, he was still 100% on it and believing, helping as he could.

Now that you're talking about chelo, it seems you have given more of a responsibility, putting him in more of the star roles. Can you explain the thinking behind some of these changes in the team?

He has a lot of good understanding of the game and he's improving in some roles that he wasn't doing lately. He had been playing for other teams in the past where he was playing on such positions. When he started playing for FURIA almost two years ago, he had to sacrifice a lot of roles. We understand that chelo has an ability to micro-manage and really pay attention to more than one thing at the same time, so positions like Nuke CT, he has a good understanding, an ability to communicate a lot of things.

We did some switches and it's paying off. With more games, he's gonna be playing those positions even better. And when he's feeling comfortable, his gameplay is insane. He's very strong aim-wise, so as soon as he gets comfortable with the positions, win some maps, get the confidence, it's gonna be even better for us.

I wanted to ask you about the first day against Imperial. You sweat through that and I heard you give the girls a lot of praise. Tell me about that match, preparing for it and playing through it, it was quite historic stuff.

Yeah, a very historic game, the first time I play in a super big event like that against girls. I would say their Mirage is pretty strong, they know exactly what they're doing, they were able to punish us in a lot of moments in the game. Their CT side, they had an AWPer who was able to kill chelo more than w0nderful, more than other AWPers playing against, she was punishing chelo more than those guys, she was playing amazingly. Twenty3, she was anchoring the A site so well.

They were doing some gamblish setups, playing 4 towards mid-A a little bit, and that was good reads from them. It was just unlucky for them that at the very end, they doubted themselves and played more towards B in the 5v4 and lost the game. I think they should have won Mirage against us, they deserved it.

The last map would have been Train in that series. You haven't played it in an official just yet, but you have had to adopt it as one of the teams who played Vertigo before. What are your thoughts? You were in one of the big teams on Train all the way back in 2016-2017.

I feel like I have a good understanding of how Train should be played because of the historical Train matches in the past. Of course it's a different map now, what changed the most was the ladder control with B halls control. Back in the days, the CTs could really use the ladder for that control, and nowadays they can. That already changed a lot in how teams have to default on the T side.

I do think that teams are trying to see if they can work very fast with their strategies going outside towards A, they're seeing if they're getting countered or not, other teams are approaching it with a very slow and methodical playstyle, which I think is very famous for Train gameplay. With time we'll see how the map is gonna develop, people are already showing some good signs.

I think we have like eight, seven professional big matches on the map, so it's very early to say. I still have to watch to Astralis and FlyQuest match, I think it went very well for FlyQuest. There's a lot to catch up on Train, we have our own ideas, and hopefully next day we'll be able to play it, I'm kinda excited to play it.

FURIA finished last year with such a close run in Shanghai, which could have ended with a playoff appearance. This year didn't get off to the best start, but you're recovering at the moment in Katowice. Where do you think the team stands heading into the rest of Katowice and potentially Cluj and further into the season?

I think the team is in a position where, if we can play the game we expect to play, if things go according to what we want it to be, we can beat the best teams in the world on a lot of maps. But, at the same time, we're not as decisive and comfortable as other top-tier teams, who mostly don't really lose smaller games. I don't think we are in that position yet. So it's all about finding that balance, all about finding a little bit more form, including myself as an AWPer, putting up some more numbers. I think the team is in a good shape, we are improving this year.

This match, for example, you're gonna feel like we progressed and it's a good result, but if we look back at the tournament we lost at the beginning of the year, the game was 11-11, it could have ended 2-0 for us and we lost a forcebuy, we lost, and the feeling is 'oh, we failed the first tournament.' CS is very, very close right now, and in a game where one or two rounds can decide, the overall feeling is bigger than what it should be. I think the team is progressing, we're working, and we enjoy playing with each other, that's very important. I think with time we're gonna be even better.

Lastly, as a veteran have been through it all in the circuit, very different looks of the circuit over the years. We had the open part of it before COVID, then during COVID we went into the partner era, and now we're getting back to everything being about the ranking, a lot of tournaments. What are your thoughts on how we moved back into that direction for 2025?

Being honest, I do feel that the changes Valve made had their specific goals, but as they really couldn't have foreseen before, some problems arrived as well. The tier-two scene right now has not too many tournaments to be played. If you're not one of the top 25 or top 20 right now, you really have almost no reason to be playing CS because of the way it is structured.

I think the qualification processes for tournaments are going to start now in a little bit, but I think it just makes the ecosystem even harder for the smaller organizations to jump into CS. In Brazil, for example, we have the feeling that having CS teams is very expensive and very difficult, and right now if you have to start from scratch, I don't think anyone is doing it. It's almost impossible.

I do feel like there are a lot of good things coming from that change. I really like the fact that Valve stepped up and is helping to shape what it should look like, but in the other sense I already see some backlash and some things I didn't want to see happen. I already heard of teams prioritizing tournaments, others not. We know that organizations need to find a way to secure themselves financially. If you don't have things like Louvre, if you don't have those deals with organizations, you can't really depend on prizepool.

Prizepool has been, it's very well known, mostly distributed to the players over the years of CS, and teams can't really rely their business model according to prizepools. I do feel the pain on the organizational side as well. It's a very complicated subject, I don't think everyone is completely correct and the other side is wrong, but I do feel like we have to find a balance. We need new orgs picking up CS, we need new teams with the opportunity to show [themselves], and we also need the big orgs to be able to survive. I hope Valve keeps the communication going on and we can adjust within time as we see things develop.