Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin said Falcons are not satisfied with winning only the IEM Cologne Major 2026 and want to add more major trophies with the current roster. Speaking to Pley, the 18-year-old explained that the motivation inside the collective remains high despite disappointing results in the first two tournaments after the summer break.
Falcons won the Cologne Major in June but then exited BLAST Bounty Season 2 in the opening round and finished 5th–8th at the Esports World Cup. The collective now enters BLAST Open Porto looking to return to the form that brought its first Major title.
Falcons want more than one Major trophy
Falcons completed their biggest achievement of the year at IEM Cologne Major 2026, defeating FURIA 3:0 in the grand final. The victory also gave Nikola “NiKo” Kovač his first Major title after years of attempts.
kyousuke was one of the strongest players in the final, finishing the series with 55 kills, 93.0 ADR and a 1.34 Rating 3.0.
Despite already winning the biggest trophy of his career, kyousuke said the collective does not want the Cologne victory to become its only major success.
“We want to create something more than just a single Major win.”
According to kyousuke, the players remain hungry to win more tournaments rather than treating the Major as the final goal of the roster.
Falcons struggled after the summer break
The return from the player break was much less successful. Falcons were eliminated from BLAST Bounty Season 2 by 100 Thieves in their first match, losing the Bo3 1:2 despite taking the opening map 13:4.
kyousuke does not believe the defeat was primarily caused by long-term problems inside the collective. Instead, he pointed to Falcons failing to find their competitive rhythm quickly enough after the break.
“The first game being an elimination match is hard for everyone.”
Falcons then returned at the Esports World Cup and reached the quarterfinals. After victories over Astralis and The MongolZ, they were eliminated 0:2 by Legacy, losing Mirage 7:13 and Dust2 10:13 to finish 5th–8th.
karrigan and NiKo push kyousuke to speak more
kyousuke also spoke about his role inside a roster filled with experienced players. According to him, every Falcons player is encouraged to participate in discussions during practice and theory sessions.
The rifler admitted that he is naturally not one of the most talkative players, but Finn “karrigan” Andersen and NiKo regularly ask for his opinion and encourage him to communicate more.
“They push me to talk more.”
kyousuke also praised the atmosphere created by karrigan, saying the experienced IGL brings jokes and energy while giving the players freedom inside the server.
For kyousuke, however, personal achievements are currently secondary. He said he is not setting goals such as becoming a top-three player in the world and is instead focused on winning tournaments including Katowice, Cologne and the Esports World Cup.
Falcons look to recover at BLAST Open Porto 2026
Falcons begin their BLAST Open Porto 2026 campaign against Lynn Vision on August 27. The Bo3 will be played in the Group B upper bracket quarterfinal.
The collective enters the match at No. 2 in both the HLTV world ranking and VRS, with 1,871 Valve points. Lynn Vision are No. 32 in both rankings. A Falcons victory would add 19 VRS points, while a defeat would cost them 28 points and could drop them to third place.
If Falcons advance, they will face the winner of Legacy vs FUT in the upper bracket semifinal, meaning a victory by Legacy could immediately give Falcons a chance to avenge their EWC elimination.
For kyousuke, the objective in Porto is straightforward: show that Falcons have corrected the mistakes from their first tournaments after the break and prove that the Cologne Major was the beginning of something bigger rather than the peak of the roster.
