FURIA eliminate Falcons from Cologne despite kyousuke's heroics

The Russian rifler topped the server with a 1.51 rating to no avail.

FURIA have upset Falcons in a three-map series (Train 7-13, Mirage 13-11, Dust2 13-7) to eliminate the star-studded roster from IEM Cologne.

The loss came despite Maxim "⁠kyousuke⁠" Lukin having three fantastic maps and averaging a 1.51 rating in the series, 0.35 more than his closest teammate Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov.

FURIA went for a Train pick in the series but couldn't get much done on the T side. Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski found five successful entries in the first half while kyousuke provided a consistent fragging output, which helped Falcons take a 9-3 half.

The start of their T side was dicey as they struggled to break through FURIA's defences, but m0NESY's AWP proved crucial in breaking the deadlock and securing them a 13-7 win.

Mirage began with Falcons abusing FURIA's B hold, which built a solid platform for a 7-5 half as FURIA caught on to their gameplan late on.

Falcons seemed to be edging towards victory after a second-half pistol victory before Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato finally woke up and found back-to-back 4ks that netted FURIA a 10-9 lead. FURIA's talisman eventually finished the T half with 132 ADR and a 2.00 rating to help them tie up the series with a 13-11 win.

The Dust2 decider then began as the kyousuke show. The Russian youngster aced in the pistol and continued to frag throughout the first half, putting up five multis before the switch — enough for a 7-5 half.

The second half was smooth sailing for Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo's troops, as they won eight rounds in a row to consign Falcons' multi-million project to yet another disappointment.

kyousuke enters tier-one with a bang despite the exit

Falcons might be out of Cologne, but one player that can hold his head up high is kyousuke. He finishes his debut event with a 1.39 rating even though his team is out of the event, and currently sits third on the player-rating leaderboard behind Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets and Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov.

He topped the scoreboard on all three maps in the high-pressure elimination game against FURIA, but couldn't overcome the lack of fragging by the team's other members bar m0NESY.

"I played like shit, which definitely helps them," Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač said in a post-match interview.

"kyousuke kept us alive and was amazing, it just sucks we couldn't help him on the last map." he added.

More highlights from Falcons-FURIA:

TeSeS saves Falcons against eco
yuurih finds four on the Dualies
FURIA find map point after chaotic post-plant
TeSeS snappy double keeps Falcons ahead