Falcons eliminated at the StarLadder Budapest Major as zweih stars for Spirit

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 11/12/2025

Nikola ‘NiKo’ Kovač’s long wait for a Counter-Strike Major goes on as Team Spirit eliminated Falcons 2-0 at the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025.

Spirit dominated the first map of Nuke, before a back-and-forth Dust 2 led to a decisive overtime victory for the Russian roster.

Spirit start strong on Nuke

Prior to the match, Falcons had dominated the head-to-head between the two rosters, but Thursday’s quarter-final played out in a completely different fashion.

A pistol and conversion gave Falcons two T-side rounds to start, but Spirit quickly turned the tide and crushed the Falcons economy as they fought back into the map.

Ivan ‘zweih’ Gogin stood out throughout the first half, securing a 4k in Round 8, followed by an ace to close out the half with an 18-8 K/D in the CT-side.

Despite that, an 8-4 half could easily have been enough for Falcons to fight back on the CT-side, but a pistol was required.

Instead, Spirit took firm control of the match with a pistol victory, and took clean control of the map.

Falcons would fail to win a single CT round on their own map pick as Spirit’s new duo of zweih and Andrey ‘tN1R’ Tatarinovich topped the board to give Spirit a 1-0 series lead.

Dust 2 brawl breaks Falcons dream

Falcons never came online on Nuke, letting Spirit run away from them.

On Dust 2, they seemed determined to drag Spirit into a fight, getting their first round in a USP rush of under and taking Spirit completely by surprise.

Taking a 5-2 lead, Spirit answered with their own forcebuy, leading to them equalising the series before Falcons once again rebounded to lead 7-5 on the half.

It seemed that Falcons would be the ones to run away with it on the T-side, taking the first four rounds to take an 11-5 lead, only two away from victory.

A retake started the revival for Spirit as they clawed the map back round by agonising round, but again it was zweih who provided the decisive impact.

Providing an ace as the sole defender of the B-site on Round 24, the teenager stood tall when all the pressure rested on his young shoulders.

As Overtime arrived, the Falcons departed.

Danil ‘donk’ Kryshkovets had been given the room by his supportive cast to come online, and took control in Overtime to leave Falcons without a round on their T-side in Overtime.

An agonising retake came through mere seconds too late, and Falcons dreams were blown away.

Falcons left looking for answers for inconsistency

There is no doubt that zweih’s performance was hugely impactful, but Falcons must look at themselves as they swallow another bitter defeat.

The expensively assembled team of superstars simply failed to show up at the beginning of the series and were left in a desperate position after losing their own map pick.

Danny ‘zonic’ Sørensen, the most successful coach in Counter-Strike Major history, could only conjure a team that did not seem awake, nor did he help matters by not calling timeouts when they were clearly struggling on Nuke.

Falcons had faced a stern test in recovering against G2 to reach playoffs. That well-earned victory exemplified their best both in fight and individual prowess.

Following that win, NiKo professed that the win would put them in a strong position for these playoffs, telling HLTV: “I really believe that this game and the way that we have played to get to the playoffs will make us stronger in the playoffs.”

By all accounts, it should have, but Falcons are still yet to nail a formula that sees them maintain their level throughout an event, hence why the team has become somewhat infamous for 3rd/4th place finishes.

This time, they did not reach even that height. A bitter end to a year of so many ‘close but no cigars.’

For Spirit, the match was the best the team has functioned as a unit since tN1R was added, a proof of concept of how the team can look when donk is getting his help.

The roster made a plethora of fine adjustments to keep Falcons off balance, setting up an intriguing possibility that the Spirit roster has peaked at just the right time in Budapest.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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