FalleN on giving up AWPing: "My mission here is to make FURIA a super competitive team in the best way I can"

FURIA's captain has commented on the team's international move and his transition to a rifling in-game leader.

After announcing the addition of 20-year-old Kazakh AWPer Danil "⁠molodoy⁠" Golubenko to the team as a replacement for Marcelo "⁠chelo⁠" Cespedes, FURIA released a video in which Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo explained the shock move.

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For the 33-year-old veteran, the roster change comes with a shift to a rifling in-game leader, away from the AWPing role he has played for most of his nearly two-decade-long career.

The reason for that, FalleN says, is that it is the first step in a change of direction for FURIA that will ultimately end with the veteran's replacement on the roster, which he has foreshadowed for some time now.

"The main reason for this was that I now intend to start focusing more on being a captain," FalleN explained. "Passing my responsibility to another player so I can have more time and more vision to eventually, in the future, also replace myself with a new captain within FURIA."

"I don't know how much longer I'll be in this role, but I'm really excited to challenge myself, to play and see the game from a different angle," he went on.

"We are very focused on making FURIA a super competitive team and my mission here is to do that in the best way I can. These last two years I tried to do that as captain/AWP of the team, and now I will do it as captain only, and who knows, in the future I will do it in other ways, too."

FalleN also shared his thoughts on molodoy, who averaged a 1.21 rating playing for DMS and AMKAL in less than a year since first appearing on HLTV's records.

"We found [him] after a lot of research and after meeting him in some practice sessions. In my opinion he is a gem, just waiting to be developed," FalleN said about the Kazakh youngster.

"He already plays at a very high level. We got smashed by him in practice, and just like I saw other players stand out and had that feeling of 'wow, this guy plays really well,' molodoy is a guy who has everything to break out, too."

FURIA now have nearly a month to get acclimatized with a transition to English language, the new AWPer and FalleN's role change. Their first outing with molodoy will come at PGL Astana, taking place on May 10-18, followed by IEM Dallas on May 19-25.