Early debut jitters clear, m0NESY and Falcons set sights on the top step in Melbourne.
New Falcons pickup Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov got straight to work doing what he loves best, topping the kill charts in his team's opening 2-0 (13-8, 13-9) win over SAW at IEM Melbourne.
It was like he and partner-in-crime Nikola "NiKo" Kovac were barely separated as the two — with help from captain Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski — sent out a warning message to the Melbourne teams: Falcons is here to back up their win in Romania last week.
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The 19-year-old megastar shone in his Falcons debut at IEM Melbourne, landing critical kills on both Nuke and Dust 2. It was a team-wide effort in the opener with all five Falcons finding double-digit kills.
An impressive T side closed out Nuke 13-8, before Falcons got to work on the same side of Dust 2. Kyxsan backed up his great individual form from Nuke, but it was m0NESY who took over the series with a dominant Dust 2 display.
At a glance: m0NESY vs. SAW
- 1.17 HLTV rating
- 32-25 K/D; 20-13 on Dust 2
- 11 AWP kills, 7 entry kills
"It wasn't pretty, but a win is a win!" NiKo said following the victory. He went on to explain that, outside of a quick reunion, there was little time for m0NESY to integrate with the Falcons system.
"This event for us is to get practice in, we've had one day of practice with m0NESY," NiKo said. "The reason why we got him before the major is to be as ready as possible. I'm still not sure if this will be enough for us but we'll do our best."
"At the beginning of the year I was fully focused on playing without NiKo and doing my best in G2 when we got HeavyGod," m0NESY said. When pressed about recent revelations surrounding G2 and drama in the background of the squad, m0NESY deflected.
"I don't care. Let me play CS, man."
Falcons have now won seven straight matches and come into Melbourne fresh off a massive win at PGL Bucharest. Now, with m0NESY joining, the Saudi-backed squad is looking to flex ahead of the Austin Major — and winning in Melbourne is the first target.
They'll meet the winner of the NaVi-versus-MIBR series, which stretched into a third map here in Melbourne. For more CS2 news stay tuned to esports.gg.
