“I think the schedule is complete ass” – YEKINDAR speaks out about gruelling Counter-Strike calendar

Esports News UK spoke to Mareks ‘YEKINDAR’ Gaļinskis before the IEM Kraków 2026 playoffs, where Furia start in the quarter-finals against Aurora.

YEKINDAR spoke to ENUK about the current struggles within teams to manage Counter-Strike’s ever-expanding global calendar.

The Latvian also touched on the team’s 2026 so far, playing with Danil ‘molodoy’ Golubenko, and the lessons he took from his time IGLing a struggling Liquid roster.

“You don’t really see the best versions of the best teams in the world because they are going from an event to event… Many, many players, and especially staff, are working a lot of overtime, and with all this travel and overtime, you definitely get burned out.”- YEKINDAR on the Counter-Strike calendar

So far, it’s been a bit up and down. BLAST was a bit up and down. How are you feeling at IEM Kraków?

Well, overall, I feel like this year started a little bit rough for us. We had many close games, and even though we qualified for BLAST playoffs.

I feel like we got a little bit unlucky with the draw in terms of like we haven’t played against the style of the team like Parivision.

We kind of didn’t know how to play against them on our T-sides, and we lost confidence a little bit after that loss.

And when you come to Kraków, and you play the first game, and you instantly lose against FUT, it’s not a great feeling.

But I feel like during the MongolZ game, everything changed, and we kind of started feeling it again.

Maybe we were missing the LANs. Maybe it was something about the atmosphere.

I’m not really sure, but we’re playing a lot better, even though we switched a lot of positions and everything, but we feel confident now and ready to play.

Obviously, part of that is that molodoy has activated in a big way. What’s it like playing with this young talent?

Yeah, I mean, he’s very good. He’s sick, he has the flu now, and he’s been playing sick the whole time.

I’ve seen his potential throughout this year many, many times, and I know this guy’s good.

It’s all about what he’s going to do with his talent and how he’s going to work with it.

We’re trying to guide him, we’re trying to help him, but at the end of the day, it’s his own decisions on how to move forward, how to adapt and whatever.

He’s been doing very good with this, and he definitely has a bright future.

FalleN: "molodoy, I was rookie of the year in 2006 btw" 😭 pic.twitter.com/VaXFZ3tz9h

— Ozzny (@Ozzny_CS2) February 2, 2026

You got revenge for Budapest as well against NaVi. What lessons did you take from the major?

Yeah, we felt a little bit exhausted, honestly, especially on the third map. Many of us were sick with flu during group stage.

It was very hard because the tournament lasts for so long, and then you come into playoffs, and it’s a major, it’s stress and everything. But at the same time, we didn’t prepare accordingly.

For example, this event, when we played Na’Vi, we spent a lot of time preparing, a lot of time understanding, trying to understand what was going to be our plan and what maps we were going to play, and it worked out, and I’m very happy about it.

Always happy to play against them. NaVi’s a great team, and honestly, it was very hard to win.

“You finish the game, for example, at 11 PM or 12 at night, and then the only thing you can eat is McDonalds.” – YEKINDAR on the struggle to stay healthy in the Tier 1 circuit

Looking into the subtext of that, do you think the season is too long? Do you think players are under too much stress? A lot of players are getting burnt out.

Yeah, I mean, I think the schedule is complete ass.

If you’re a team of calibre that qualifies for playoffs and reaches semifinals or finals, there’s many, many times where you travel instantly to the next event, and you play next event, and then, again, you play the group stage, and then you go to playoffs and everything.

I feel like, to some degree, you don’t really see the best versions of Tier 1 teams, you don’t really see the best versions of the best teams in the world because they are going from an event to event.

At some point, for a top team in the world, you need to, during an event, change the system, create new things, and adapt to what you’ve shown, what you have not shown, what opponents are going to be picking and everything.

Many, many players, and especially staff, are working a lot of overtime, and with all this travel and overtime, you definitely get burned out, and it’s a matter of balancing this out.

Of course, I would prefer to have a bigger break in between the events, have an opportunity to come home more.

At the end of the day, it is our job, and we’re trying to build the best schedule for ourselves, and our staff is helping with this.

We’re trying to go to the gym. We’re trying to eat healthy and whatever, but at the end of the day, sometimes you’re playing a match, especially for us, a South American team, the organisers put our games very late, so they get more viewership.

Because of that, you finish the game, for example, at 11 PM or 12 at night, and then the only thing you can eat is McDonalds.

So there’s a lot of nuances that definitely are hitting us hard on health-wise, but in an ideal world, of course, it changes, but we’re trying our best.

FalleN praised you after the NaVi match because of your preparation for that match. How do you help the team in preparing for those games?

Well, we try to, me and FalleN, sidde of course, the analysts, we’re trying to find a balance between not giving too much information for our players so they’re able to play their game.

It’s more about watching and preparing, creating direction, and then using this direction and showing this, explaining this direction to everybody else in the team, so we can follow the same goal in mind during the game.

I feel like being on the same page during a game is the most important thing that you can have, and this is our goal when we’re preparing.

We’re trying to find a specific way that we know we can play against this team, that’s going to help us win and help us understand what’s happening on the map.

So that’s basically what we’re doing, and I’m more responsible for the CT side and how we’re going to be moving around the map, what the opening is going to be, and FalleN is more responsible for the CT side.

“Me and FalleN are a great combination because FalleN is very lighthearted and very warm as a person, and I’m a little bit more strict and kind of the bad cop of the team.” – YEKINDAR on partnership with FalleN

That’s interesting. Do you withhold information in the game to not overload the players?

Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of details and nuances. It depends on the team we’re playing against or whatever, but if I see some sort of signals that can help me indicate something, I will always warn my team, ‘Careful, this could be happening,’ or whatever.

It doesn’t need to be happening. Maybe it’s not going to happen, but my warning or my indication, at least, is going to prepare my team for something that may happen.

“At some point when we started losing and losing, my mental was just dropping down. Eventually, I started to be a little bit toxic.” – YEKINDAR on his time IGLin at Liquid

You’ve gone through a great reinvention. I loved watching you when you first emerged, then you had a difficult period in Liquid. Seems like everyone has, to be honest. In retrospect, is there something you didn’t know about IGLing that you’ve now learned from FalleN?

My problem was not on the tactical side, I feel like. Of course, I’m learning a lot from FalleN, in my opinion, mainly in terms of leadership and some sort of mind games or whatever.

But the foundation was there, and it’s still there, in my opinion. The problem was the leadership part, the leadership quality and missing a second voice in the team.

So it’s very hard to play the style I would want to play, the one we’re playing now in Furia when you don’t have the right pieces for it.

For example, when you don’t have a secondary voice who can call one side of the map or maybe who can navigate while you’re playing on the other side of the map.

And at some point when we started losing and losing, my mental was just dropping down. Eventually, I started to be a little bit toxic.

You know, that’s why me and FalleN are a great combination because FalleN is very lighthearted and very warm as a person, and I’m a little bit more strict and kind of the bad cop of the team.

So this combination is kind of something that makes everything work.

Tivemos um período incrível com o stand-in relâmpago da #FURIACS, @yek1ndar.
Internacionalizamos, crescemos como time e somos gratos por toda a evolução em conjunto.

Seu empenho não passou despercebido, e por tudo que vivemos juntos nesse tempo, fica nosso agradecimento.

Boa… pic.twitter.com/a1EM0K5iad

— FURIA (@FURIA) July 4, 2025

FalleN’s obviously playing this year, but one day Fallen will go, that’s something he has discussed. Do you think that Furia have a system that can go beyond FalleN’s career?

Well, I think it depends on the players.

If you have skilled players that are able to analyse their own situations and react accordingly, and communicate accordingly, then you can play the system in any team.

But obviously, you cannot change a player and play the same system. There’s always going to be, for example, if FalleN leaves and there’s going to be another player, some other player, the system is going to be adapted to this player.

And maybe FalleN is going to leave. We’re going to get a different IGL, and this IGL will want to play differently. Then the system is going to change completely.

So it’s not something that we can plan for the future. It’s just something that’s going to happen on the fly.