IEM Cologne 2025Falcons best GamerLegion on kyousuke debut in Cologne
The Russian rifler put up a 1.28 rating against ztr's troops.
Falcons defeated GamerLegion in the opening round of the IEM Cologne Stage 2 to get their stint with Maxim "kyousuke" Lukin off to a successful start.
"It went good, better than last event," Nikola "NiKo" Kovač joked in a broadcast post-match interview.
Falcons got off to a slow start on Nuke as Fredrik "REZ" Sterner's multikills netted GamerLegion a 5-3 lead, but the star-studded roster answered with a win with unarmored pistols. kyousuke got his first highlight with a crisp 4k on the Ramp hold, which helped his team take a two-round lead.
The second half remained a close affair. GamerLegion's second-round force kept them in the game, and the same can be said for Sebastian "Tauson" Tauson Lindelof's 1vs2 clutch late on, but Falcons' experience shone through at the end to secure a 13-11 win.
Mirage began as a much more comfortable map for Falcons, who ran away to a 6-0 lead in a half that eventually ended 8-4 in their favor, a scoreline made relatively close thanks to REZ's miraculous 1vs3 clutch.
GamerLegion had a quick start to their T side, but René "TeSeS" Madsen, who has now been moved to be the B anchor, had other ideas. He stopped the B play with 4 crisp Deagle headshots to turn the tide of the game, which eventually ended 13-6 in Falcons' favor.
kyousuke shows he belongs in tier-one
kyousuke is one of the most talked-about players despite just making his debut in tier-one, and his performance backed that fact up. He had a steady performance on Nuke, where he played Ramp on CT side and Outside on T, and averaged a 1.09 rating, but took over on his home turf on Mirage.
As the Short player he averaged a 1.60 rating and had a couple of crisp multi-kills, helping his team secure a comfortable win to start IEM Cologne on the right foot.
"It's a weird feeling I can call someone 11 years younger than me," NiKo said about the young superstar in a post-match interview. "Rene [TeSeS] sacrificed a lot, and I'm also glad I can take a step back from some positions and focus on the lurks," he added, saying the team is happy to facilitate kyousuke's aggressive plays.
More highlights from Falcons-GamerLegion:
 Falcons |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 - 22 | +5.44% | 91.3 | 79.1% | 1.43 | |
| 36 - 25 | +5.79% | 91.2 | 79.1% | 1.41 | |
| 35 - 30 | +1.04% | 90.7 | 79.1% | 1.28 | |
| 28 - 27 | -0.18% | 75.5 | 81.4% | 1.14 | |
| 21 - 31 | -1.50% | 52.3 | 58.1% | 0.76 |
 GamerLegion |
K - D | Swing | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 - 30 | +2.51% | 87.4 | 74.4% | 1.05 | |
| 31 - 37 | -1.20% | 83.3 | 67.4% | 1.01 | |
| 27 - 30 | -2.04% | 65.0 | 65.1% | 0.85 | |
| 23 - 32 | -3.00% | 58.5 | 69.8% | 0.76 | |
| 20 - 32 | -6.96% | 46.0 | 60.5% | 0.60 |
Sebastian 'Tauson' Tauson Lindelof
Ashley 'ash' Battye
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