Lars Robl interview: Falcons' miraculous PGL Bucharest win, onboarding of m0NESY, Austin Major dream

Falcons' Director of Performance addresses criticism of taking credit for the team's miracle PGL Bucharest win and pulls back the curtain on his performance model.

Some people don't believe all the stuff performance coaches say about their job.

It's me. I'm some people.

It's not that I don't believe their work can make a difference — I'm sure it can, even if it is impossible to know how much. However, many of them tend to undermine their credibility in my eyes by hogging credit anytime things go well, almost to a degree where you'd think their work is all that matters.

One such example irked me last month, when Falcons' Performance Director, Lars Robl, was quick to attribute his team's miraculous victory at PGL Bucharest to the processes he had set up for the team.

"Nothing embodies 'trust the plan, trust the process' more than this run. From a 0-2 start to lifting the trophy with a clean sweep over G2 in the final," he said on X.

Considering the context, in which Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov had just been told he was going to be replaced by Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and went on to put on the best performance of his career knowing that, it was hard to see how the title run had anything to do with any plan or processes in place. If anything, the impending lineup change was a clear deviation from that plan.

In response to that opinion, which I made clear on HLTV Confirmed a few days after the event, I was approached by Robl's agent with the hope of setting up an interview with the Performance Director in order to explain the background of that comment.

In the end, we were able to meet in Copenhagen while at BLAST Rivals in early May. The result was an over an hour-long talk, in which Robl addressed the PGL Bucharest success and my criticism and pulled back the curtain on what his performance model looks like.

The Dane also spoke at length about his work with the players, especially degster and the pressure that was on him for the first half of the year with rumors of a "NiKo and m0NESY future" flying around and his impression and intriguing onboarding process of m0NESY himself.

He touched on the disappointing first year with Falcons, past experiences with Astralis and Vitality dating back to 2018, and his background in professional sports and the Danish special forces and how it compares to his approach in esports.

The full talk is available in audio form on Spotify, and you can read some of the biggest highlights from it below:

What is the Lars Robl performance model?

When tackling the Bucharest topic, Robl felt he needed to explain what lies behind the "trust the plan, trust the process" mantra first. He pulled back the curtain on the "performance-enhancing structure" he puts in place, and shared his approach to what he calls the transition from gamer to athlete.

"We are all good at this level, so where do we find the winning edge? These small percentages, from my perspective and with my experience, have to come from wider performance elements, not more hours behind the computer," he began. "It's about getting better sleep to get even more out of practice, a better sleep quality, quantity, having the right nutrition…

"You can have the best aim, you can have the best understanding of the game, the best comms, but if your platform [isn't good enough], if you don't sleep enough, if you're not there, not focused enough and keep your concentration, then you won't get the most out of all the skills you have in game," he went on.

A key concept to the beginning of this process, which he has shared in the past and has utilized since his first esports team, Astralis in 2018, is a bootcamp without PCs.

"We spend three to four days and talk about the dream," he explained. "What is it that we're gonna achieve? What is the long-term dream? What are the short-term goals? Then we break those goals down into actual process goals and result goals. Then there is a tactical/technical track, where we identify focal points to work on [in-game], there is a mental track, where we introduce things I'm working on, there's a physical track, and there's also a cultural track, the team culture."

"That process gives clarity, cohesion and a safety that decreases anxiety," he says about the benefits. "So whenever it doesn't go right, then we have the plan. And it never goes like we have planned, things will change. Now with the change of Abdul, there was a possibility to make a change that was not foreseen when we had the bootcamp, but then something happens and we adjust."

Unlike in professional sports, processes like this are still more of a luxury in esports rather than the standard, and it is difficult to grasp from the outside just how much of a difference they can make. And that goes for the players, too — Robl believes the potential for gains is huge, but convincing the players and getting them to buy in can be tricky.

"I'm coming with the knowledge and experience I have from traditional sports. If I explain that to people and try to convince them, they don't really buy into it, but if I meet them where they are and try to lower my own ambition, create their curiosity… It's a very thin line.

"I can come and say, 'I've worked at the Olympic level, bla bla bla…' They don't give a shit," Robl chuckled when asked about whether it's hard to get esports players on board. "They got this far by doing what they're doing. I can't tell them. I need to create curiosity, and then we can start moving."

So how did Bucharest happen?

When talking about the Bucharest victory itself, Robl stressed that an impending player change does not constitute a change to that plan.

"When a challenge like that comes up, it doesn't affect the overall plan and the structure, and that is the key. No matter what is happening, now, here in this tournament, it doesn't affect it, we know what we are doing, we are just adjusting on the way," he said.

Falcons went into the tournament knowing they're a dead team. That can release pressure on performance and, paradoxically, improve the result, but it can also remove the motivation to do well.

In an attempt to prevent the latter, the approach could be three-fold, Robl outlined: "In this specific case, it was about finding where we have the motivation now, because it could go either way, it could go badly or we step up.

"The [approach] could be, 'let's try to give Abdul a good exit out of this.' Another would be to narrow their focus, to take one step at a time — we're not gonna talk about the consequences, it's just about the next map now. It could also be talking to the professionalism — we still have a job to do."

But in their first two matches in Bucharest, Falcons barely got a say in losses to Complexity and GamerLegion, and they were heading to a quick exit. So why didn't that approach work from the start? "Sometimes you have to get to the edge of the cliff, backs against the wall, and face the reality," Robl responded.

From looking defeated, the team made the miraculous run from 0-2 to winning the tournament, and degster, who was about to get replaced by m0NESY, was the spearhead, putting up a performance that rewarded him with his career-first MVP.

Ultimately, Robl agreed it was the acceptance of his situation and the release of pressure, which degster had felt all throughout his Falcons stint, that enabled that boost.

"degster coming into the team along with NiKo and the new team, he knew there was a m0NESY out there, there was a possibility along the way," Robl shared.

"It was a stress factor for him, and I know from my talks with degster that he had this feeling that he needed to prove himself all the time. That was in close connection to a NiKo and m0NESY future, and the rumors had been there before," the Dane went on.

"I think what happened, why degster released his full potential and played to his absolute best, was the relief that the decision was made. 'No more proving myself, I can play freely.'"

The onboarding of m0NESY

Just a few days after lifting the trophy in Bucharest, Falcons traveled to IEM Melbourne with m0NESY in their ranks. To get ready for the new iteration of the lineup, one where the team dynamics were certain to drastically change with the arrival of such a heavyweight player, Robl organized an extensive onboarding process of the AWPer on their first day together.

"The way I normally do it, and I did it with Spinx when he entered Vitality, it's a two or three-phase process," Robl shared.

"First I have the team all sitting in a circle, and m0NESY is with his back to the circle, in the listening position, while the team talks. I have four or five questions that we address, and one of them is, 'What do we think Ilya expects from the team?' or 'How would you describe the culture of the team?' Ilya's task in this case is just to listen, to take notes, to reflect on what's being said.

"Then we turn around, he comes in and the others are in the listening position, and Ilya shares his reflections on what made an impact on him, what his expectations of the team are, and things like that."

What does this achieve? "We are on the same page much faster," Robl responds.

When asked about his opinion of m0NESY, Robl was full of praise. "This guy has just turned 20 and it's amazing," he said. "When I had my first talk with him in Melbourne, that's what struck me on the first team walk he had. He's very mature for his age. He's very reflective. He's humble, and being humble, being willing to learn, being willing to listen, is a pre-condition to be as good as he is — and still improving."

Outlook for reaching the Austin Major dream

The Russian AWPer's arrival and instant success, with a near-miss in the IEM Melbourne final against Vitality in their debut, made the team view the Austin Major as a much bigger milestone than before. "Now our goal is to compete for the Austin Major, whereas before it was a step of looking at where we are at that point," Robl said.

Since the interview the team has gone on to lose two more close series to Vitality, but already at that point Robl was mostly positive about the team's outlook to reach their short-term dream.

"It's not a lot of time. It comes down to prioritization of our time. My background from the military is, if you wanna make a breakthrough, you've gotta concentrate your effort and not spread it," he slammed a fist into his hand.

But what is the breakthrough? "I don't know, I'll let Danny [zonic] speak about that," he chuckled. "On a team level and what I'm working with, we are in a very good spot, the unity, the cohesion in the team, the trust in the team. Of course it's fragile, but I don't think it's the honeymoon effect. It is something that was created some months ago that we are building on."

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Listen to the full talk on Spotify.