Falcons avoid 0-3 exit by eliminating paiN

Not the last ride quite yet for this Falcons five.

Falcons have eliminated paiN from PGL Bucharest after claiming a 2-1 victory in the 0-2 elimination pool.

The Brazilians arrived in Romania sporting academy member Iago "⁠deemO⁠" Henrique on trial, with reports indicating they are targeting 9z's Franco "⁠dgt⁠" Garcia, and put up a good fight despite a difficult draw against Aurora and FaZe before getting cast out.

Falcons move up to the 1-2 pool with their backs still against the wall after losing to Complexity and GamerLegion, and their path is unlikely to get any easier with several other teams suffering upsets in the early rounds.

It was the Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač show for much of the series, but in the end he had help from René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen to take things over the line.

The Bosnian rifler tallied 1.41 and 1.95 ratings on Nuke and Train before leading Falcons' CT effort on the Inferno decider (1.40 rating), with TeSeS coming alive after the swap with a 2.00-rated T side to shut down a recovery effort by paiN.

NiKo's heroics weren't enough to make up for a dismal showing from the rest of Falcons on Nuke, where several advantages were squandered and they couldn't buy a clutch to save their lives (0-4 record).

paiN ran away the victors on their pick 13-6, but couldn't fend off the combo of NiKo and Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov on Train as Falcons took the series to a decider with a 13-8 win.

paiN took early leads in both halves of the decider but struggled once Falcons had guns in hand, leading to an early 0-3 exit in Bucharest.

NiKo: 1-2 | NiKo's cousin: 3-0

NiKo will have to fight tooth-and-nail to reach playoffs with two more best-of-threes ahead, whereas his former team, G2, ended the group stage undefeated with wins over GamerLegion, Rare Atom, and Complexity.

Both teams are thought to be dead rosters in Bucharest, with reports indicating Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov could be bound for Falcons as early as after the event, but right now it seems only one of them is getting the 'dead team buff' often seen when teams are in this kind of situation.