This marks the return of the Ukrainian Counter-Strike superstar, who last appeared in a match in March when he stood in for the Falcons at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2024.
That was also s1mple’s first and only professional fixture on Counter-Strike 2.
Time to be back at LAN, that��s was my goal from the very beginning – to play the Shanghai Major! I��m very glad that we will have official games before we fix the mistakes and play the main tournament of this year! Thank you for opportunity both @TeamFalconsGG and @natusvincere�� https://t.co/PUEFjEPK2T
— Sasha (@s1mpleO) September 27, 2024
S1mple’s arrival comes amid a rough period for the Falcons, who have been struggling to make noise in the upper echelons of the Counter-Strike esports scene.
Their struggles, however, reached a new low earlier this month.
S1mple to the Rescue
Since the turn of the year, Team Falcons’s most notable accomplishments were two semifinal appearances at Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024 in February and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade 2024 #1 in May.
More recently, Danny “zonic” S?rensen’s men crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 20 in 21st-28th and BLAST Premier Fall Final 2024 in last place.
After the abysmal showing in Copenhagen, zonic talked about how the team needs to make some roster changes to find more stability.
And it did not take long for the changes to come into effect.
The 26-year-old replaces ��lvaro “SunPayus” Garc��a, who got benched from the starting five nine months after joining Team Falcons from ENCE.
!THE LEGEND RETURNS
S1mple is back on a 3-month loan
Time to soar higher
???????? @s1mpleO ???? ????? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ???????!
#FalconsAreHere pic.twitter.com/ZafLO1YXqF
— Falcons Esports (@FalconsEsport) September 27, 2024
SunPayus’s benching comes as a bit of a shock, as the Spanish AWPer had been the team’s highest-rated player, averaging a 1.13 performance rating during his stint.
Despite his strong showings, SunPayus later commented that the roster did not click and they agreed some change was needed.
��We tried everything to make this work but it just didn��t click as a team, it was really tough for everyone and a change was needed, wishing the best for my teammates. For me, will keep grinding and doing what I love to refind myself in the game,�� said SunPayus.
S1mple will debut for Team Falcons at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, which kicks off on October 21.
The tournament will feature 16 Counter-Strike teams, including BIG, Fnatic, and HEROIC, who, alongside Team Falcons, received direct invites.
Counter-Strike betting sites have yet to release outright markets for Thunderpick World Championship 2024; however, those will become available after the tournament organisers hand out the final six invitations for the event.
Team Falcons’ biggest challenge, however, will come in November, then s1mple and co. attend Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMRs, where they will vie for a spot at the second Counter-Strike 2 Major.
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ENCE’s CS:GO team, led by Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia, left no chance for the Spanish squad with impressive score lines of 16-2 on Overpass and 16-5 on Anubis.
SunPayus, the AWPer for ENCE, delivered a stellar performance with a remarkable 1.72 rating.
In a pre-game interview, Guy “NertZ” Iluz offered praise for his teammate’s outstanding performance by saying, “when SunPayus is feeling the game, I don’t think anyone can stop him.”
Movistar Riders struggled to hold their ground, lasting less than ten rounds on Overpass before succumbing to ENCE’s dominance.
Despite some close and chaotic situations early in the match, Riders failed to capitalize on them, allowing ENCE to cruise to victory.
ENCE displayed their superiority with a convincing 16-2 win.
The momentum carried into the Anubis map, where SunPayus continued to shine by quickly securing rounds for his team.
Although Alejandro “alex” Masanet and his team managed to win three of the last five rounds in the first half, the switch favoured Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer’s ENCE squad.
ENCE’s pistol round victory sealed the deal as they went on a 6-0 run to finish the map 16-5.
Despite the one-sided nature of the series, Antonio “Martinez” Martinez of Movistar Riders maintained a respectable 1.07 rating, offering a silver lining for his team in the face of such a dominant defeat.
.@ENCE demolish @Movistar_Riders 2-0, securing their spot in the SEMI FINALS of #ESLProLeague Season 18!
16-2 Overpass
16-5 Anubis pic.twitter.com/D8MBLkwvjc— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 29, 2023
In an upset, MOUZ eliminated G2 from the ESL Pro League with a 2-1 victory.
They secured wins on Mirage (16-13) and Inferno (16-7) while narrowly losing on Ancient (14-16).
G2 entered the match as favourites but were plagued by disappointing individual performances.
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov struggled in the second half of Mirage, Nikola “NiKo” Kova? had a tough time on Inferno, and G2’s renowned mechanical skill didn’t fully materialize.
The Mirage map started poorly for MOUZ, falling behind 1-7 while G2 dominated. However, MOUZ made a comeback, narrowing the score to 7-8 at halftime.
G2 struggled in the second half, and MOUZ secured a 16-13 victory.
On G2’s pick of Ancient, they took an early lead, but MOUZ mounted a comeback.
The game appeared to be firmly in control of G2 until MOUZ rallied late, bringing the score close.
However, NiKo’s exceptional performance with a three-kill clutch secured the win for G2 and forced a decider.
In the decider on Inferno, MOUZ took control early on, limiting G2 to just one round in the second half.
MOUZ secured a convincing 16-7 victory to seal the series win in their favour.
��d��m “torzsi” Torzs��s, speaking after the game, expressed excitement about their upcoming rematch with ENCE, the team that defeated MOUZ in the IEM Dallas grand final earlier in the year.
He acknowledged the challenge posed by ENCE and the tough playoff bracket ahead.
ENCE will go into the semi-final as slight favourites with most esports betting sites at $1.72 with MOUZ being marked as $2.00 outsiders.
.@mousesports are going to the SEMI FINALS by taking down @G2CSGO 2-1 at #ESLProLeague Season 18
16-13 Mirage
14-16 Ancient
16-7 Inferno pic.twitter.com/I9J9AadW0W— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 29, 2023
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IT IS DONE.@ENCE FINALLY GET THEIR TROPHY IN TEXAS
YOUR #IEM DALLAS CHAMPIONS
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) June 4, 2023
After claiming top spot in Group B, the world no.11 advanced straight into the semifinals, awaiting the winner of the titanic clash between G2 Esports and FaZe Clan.
FaZe got the win and set up a rematch of their Group A upper-bracket semifinal with ENCE from earlier on in the tournament.
MOUZ, meanwhile, had to qualify through the lower bracket of Group A and take on Astralis in the quarterfinals before setting up a semifinal matchup with Heroic.
With Heroic (2) and FaZe (3) both ranked among the top three teams in the world, ENCE and MOUZ went into their respective semifinals as clear underdogs with most esports betting sites.
However, MOUZ took the opening map against Heroic, before the favourites claimed the second to send the series to a third map, where it took all 30 rounds to find the winner.
Christopher ��dexter�� Nong and his team took the final map 16-14 to send Heroic packing and take MOUZ to their first CS:GO tier-one grand final of the year.
As for ENCE, their clash with FaZe Clan turned into the best series we saw at IEM Dallas, with both teams trading blows and map wins before going to overtime on the third and final map.
Both sides had chances to win the series in overtime, but it was Marco ��Snappi�� Pfeiffer and his team who claimed the series with a 31-28 map win on Ancient.
Those results set up a tantalising decider between two teams that few observers would have expected to contend for the title.
Unfortunately for neutral Counter-Strike fans, ENCE dominated both maps in the final to claim an easy 2-0 victory, with their rising star Alvaro ��SunPayus�� Garcia taking out the Most Valuable Player award.
The AWPer finished the grand final with server highs in kill/death difference (+16), ADR (97.7) and rating (1.45) as ENCE clinched their first tier-one CS:GO title since 2019.
IEM Dallas 2023 final standings
- 1st: ENCE
- 2nd: MOUZ
- 3rd�C4th: FaZe Clan, Heroic
- 5th-6th: G2 Esports, Astralis
- 7th�C8th: Cloud9, OG
- 9th-12th: Complexity, Team Liquid, 9z, FURIA
- 13th�C16th: Grayhound, Evil Genuises, Fnatic, Nouns