BETBOOM reverse-swept Falcons in the semi-finals of the Thunderpick World Championship (5-13 Anubis, 16-14 Dust2, 13-7 Mirage) to complete the upset of the tournament, bringing an end to Falcons’ hopes of getting a trophy to lift morale after a rough Fall season.
It marks the first grand final appearance for Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov at an MVP-eligible event since PGL Major Antwerp 2022, and the Russian in-game leader was all smiles after his team put away the tournament favorite in dominant fashion.
Falcons’ struggles since winning the Cologne Major looked to be turning around in Malta, particularly with Finn “karrigan” Andersen showing better form, but errors plagued the team in the semi-final. Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin’s level was also a glaring sore spot, with the Russian rifler ending the series at the bottom of the board with a 0.84 rating to cap off a miserable tournament, and Falcons will now have to fight for bronze against Aurora.
Falcons never looked troubled on Anubis, making up for a lost pistol and conversion with a methodical approach to their offense. An early clutch by René “TeSeS” Madsen gave them momentum to begin running away with the lead, and another 1v2 by Nikola “NiKo” Kovač kept them in firm control en route to an 8-4 half.
karrigan’s uptick in form in Malta also continued as he found several impactful kills down the stretch, including a triple to crack open Middle, and BETBOOM were never given the chance to recover as the Danish captain combined with NiKo and Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov to romp to a 13-5 victory.
Falcons carried that momentum onto Dust2 with a 5-1 start, but struggled to make a dent in BETBOOM’s defenses for a string of rounds as the gap closed to just two rounds by the break.
Individual errors plagued Falcons after the swap, with overextensions and dry swings getting punished time and time again by Kirill “Magnojez” Rodnov and Aleksandr “zorte” Zagodyrenko. kyousuke gave away a few key early fights that allowed BETBOOM to storm ahead, 12-9, but they couldn’t get the job done in regulation as Falcons recovered from a 1v3 clutch from Daniil “d1Ledez” Kustov to force overtime.
That looked to be where Falcons would come alive after a masterclass AWP ace from m0NESY was followed by a vintage NiKo triple to lead 14-13, but two triple kill rounds from Magnojez helped BETBOOM sweep the defensive half to clinch victory, 16-14.
Magnojez continued to dominate on the Mirage decider, where Falcons squandered a few prime chances to stabilize. Both pistol wins, and a 4-1 start to the map, served only to make the scoreline look respectable in what was otherwise a masterclass map from BETBOOM and Magnojez, who romped to a 13-7 victory off the back of a seven-round spree after winning the second-round force-buy in the second half.
