s1mple eliminated from Shanghai Major RMR

The greatest player of all time, Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyljev, fails to attend his first Major event in 2024 after dropping the ball alongside Team Falcons in the Perfect World Shanghai Major Europe RMR.

The Falcons kicked off their journey in Shanghai with a victory against ECLOT, earned in blood, sweat, and tears. However, this turned out to be their only win at the RMR, as they lost three consecutive series against FaZe Clan, SAW, and GamerLegion.

The ghosts of the RMR

Coming into the Regional Major Rankings expectations were low for the Falcons considering their lackluster performances and losing streak. Yet fielding the Ukrainian AWPer meant there’s room for upsets.

The squad hit the ground running against ECLOT in their BO1 with s1mple delivering vintage performance, netting 20 kills and 82.3 ADR, one of the best players in the server.

Their victory put them against a tough challenge in FaZe Clan which surprisingly turned into a heated back and forth with Finn "karrigan" Andersen’s team having the final say.

Despite the loss, the Falcons were resilient and with their heroic showing, the odds slightly tipped in their favor to reach the opening stage of the Shanghai Major. But that was refuted after getting hammered by SAW with a 13-5 scoreline. The inconsistency from their star players proved to be a high price to pay with all the players turning into ghosts of their previous glory.

FL4MUS clipped the falcons’ wings

While GamerLegion lost their flair from their legendary run at the BLAST Paris Major, their current young roster isn’t one to underestimate.

They dominated Falcons on Vertigo, where only Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif and Pavle "⁠Maden⁠" Bošković delivered standout performances. This marked Falcons' first outing on the map since adding Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev to their roster.

In the second map, the Falcons gave GamerLegion a taste of their own medicine with both Magisk and Maden relatively keeping their form on Nuke. This pushed the series into the decider map, Mirage, where Timur "FL4MUS" Maryev put the final nail in the Falcons’ coffin.

The Russian rifler collected 20 crucial frags and a whopping 112 ADR. His multi kill rounds often gave GamerLegion the early advantage, especially, with the majority of Falcons players failing to find any impact. Despite s1mple’s heroics as the shining light, it wasn’t enough to keep their Major dreams alive as it was all set and done at 13-7.

Following his elimination, s1mple stated on X that he will be back stronger regardless of what it takes to win the Major again.

“Don’t worry I will be back stronger, even if I am gonna be on bench, I will practice until I lose my pulse to win the major, btw +train -vertigo asap, full spaceship map for me.” – s1mple on X 

S1mple is not the solution

It’s clear by now that s1mple isn’t enough to fix one of the worst teams this year. With nothing left to play for and roster changes on the horizon, the Ukrainian's future with Falcons remains uncertain. The same can be said for most of the roster, except for Magisk, who has been the team’s standout performer during an extended period of struggles.

With the team sliding down the rankings just as invites for 2025 tournaments distributed, Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen might opt for a complete overhaul, dismantling the core for another rebuild.

Featured Image source: Perfect World

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