FURIA have had a labored 2026, bereft of titles and the kind of form they elevated to in the final months of 2025. A few grand final appearances, including at IEM Krakow and the IEM Cologne Major, have been bright spots, but the team is now focused on figuring out its issues and recovering amidst a grueling schedule.
“There are a lot of things happening in the team from the start of the year, and it’s more about focusing on and figuring out the problems and the things we have to fix, one by one,” Mareks “YEKINDAR” Gaļinskis told HLTV on the media day for StarSeries Fall. “I don’t think anyone is thinking like, ‘Oh, we’re itching to win an event, [so] we deserve to win an event.'”
The looming spectre of Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo’s retirement has dominated conversations around the team’s form and its future, but YEKINDAR says they are doing their best to stay focused on the present.
“I think that this specific season, as well, everyone is elevating their work ethic in many ways, and we’re truly trying to fix our problems, and we had a couple of talks where we laid everything out,” he said. “‘Guys, we know FalleN is going to be retiring; we know we’re playing bad right now. How can we fix it?’ That’s basically the mojo.”
Listen to the interview here.
We’re here at the StarSeries Fall media day with Mareks YEKINDAR…
I like it when you say Mareks. I like it.
I did the first name-nickname…
Yeah, it’s cool. It’s cool. If you would have said Gaļinskis, I would have been ‘hmm, damn!’ It sounds like the Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund signature, you know that one? Very formal, but very nice! It’s cool.
Right now we’re trying to rebuild the chemistry
You just got here from China. You’re playing MIBR in the opening game as well, who also flew in from that event. I was watching you set up now, and it seems like you’re all pretty loose, and the mood is kind of chill. How has it been getting here, setting up, and getting ready for the match tomorrow?
Everybody knows we’re playing many events in a row, and it definitely hits you. Like, you’re getting tired and whatever, and there was a period when we were little bitches, in a way — we were complaining and whatever — but at some point, after complaining for a few hours, you understand that you’re in this situation and that you just have to do it. That’s basically what we took to heart, and this is one more event we have to do, and then afterwards we’ll finally have a break.
Thankfully we had a good flight, business class and everything, because otherwise I can’t imagine how we’d be surviving. But yeah, everybody’s in a great mood because after the loss against G2, we went to the team room in the arena, we sat down, and there was no conflict or anything. The basic talk was that there’s no point in choosing who’s wrong, or if somebody did something wrong or whatever. We’re just failing as a team right now, and that’s what we went with after losing in China.
Right now we’re trying to rebuild the chemistry because even though we started the season pretty good, we had our chances against FUT or whatever, but then the later the events, the more… I wouldn’t say stupid situations, but the situations we were putting ourselves in were just worse and worse and starting to snowball. So for us, after this event, it was just important to refresh and focus on the next one.
You lost to Legacy in China, and you’re playing MIBR tomorrow. As an honorary Brazilian, what are these matches like? Do they carry a bit extra for you?
I don’t know how much extra they’re carrying. Probably Legacy more because of the VRS system and the rankings for the South American teams. Of course, MIBR in this case as well; they’re gaining rank pretty fast, so it’s important, but I don’t think we consider these games more important than any of the other ones.
It’s interesting to play against them and to learn how to play against them because when a new team comes in hot, for example, Legacy, right? Who have shown many good wins, great potential, and great form, it’s important to play as much as you can against them and against any team that’s coming in hot because you also try to get the knowledge on how to beat them.
So for us, it’s important to play against Legacy. Like at EWC, we played the third-place decider, and we played them in China a couple of days ago, and it’s important for us to play [them] as much as we can before the Major and all of those later stages of events where it’s going to be closer to FalleN’s retirement.
This season, we had bad signals, and we’re focusing on just figuring those out
You are now coming close to a year without a title, that end of 2025 when you had those strong events. Are you itching a bit to get back up there? You were talking about rebuilding the chemistry.
You know, there are a lot of things happening in the team from the start of the year, and it’s more about focusing on and figuring out the problems and the things we have to fix, one by one. I don’t think anyone is thinking like, ‘Oh, we’re itching to win an event, [so] we deserve to win an event.’
Some tournaments, our form was very good, and there were probably events we could have won. Krakow, for example. At the Major, we got smacked in the final, but some certain rounds, if they go our direction, maybe we have a chance. But these are the good signals for us. We’re focusing on the good signals, the things that are in front of us.
This season, we had bad signals, and we’re focusing on just figuring those out. We’re not thinking about, ‘Oh, we have to win an event.’ It just doesn’t work like that. If we’re just thinking that we have to win an event, that we’ll magically win an event.
You brought up FalleN’s retirement, which is something I don’t want to bring up all of the time because I feel like it’s going to get talked about a lot…
Yeah, I’ve heard about it over a hundred times, probably…
But since you bring it up, maybe we can give it a twist. It’s probably taking up a lot of energy and focus, so do you think that once you get there, it will also be a chance to get renewed?
As much as you want to say that it doesn’t necessarily affect us, you never know what’s at the back of your mind that’s affecting you, right? There’s never going to be an answer for whether FalleN’s retirement, or the announcement of his retirement, or understanding that this team is going to have changes, is impacting the way we play or not. We’re never going to know that.
It’s a matter of just knowing the situation we’re in. We’re in a situation where we know it’s going to happen, and we’re thinking about the future, and there are a lot of rumors, and a lot of things we’re going to worry about, a lot of events we have to go to. There’s many things that can kind of fuck with your energy or your momentum.
It’s hard, but this is the situation we’re in, and the only thing we can do is focus on the next game and the next tournament, and individually on ourselves. I think that this specific season, as well, everyone is elevating their work ethic in many ways, and we’re truly trying to fix our problems, and we had a couple of talks where we laid everything out. ‘Guys, we know FalleN is going to be retiring; we know we’re playing bad right now. How can we fix it?’ That’s basically the mojo.
Have you come up with some ways to deal with it or work through it? It’s a part of being a pro, right? Things will pop up that get into your routines and the way you work. You say you laid it out, so is there something that’s working for you guys?
There are things that are working, and there are times when it’s brought up, but mainly it’s everyone’s individual responsibility to be the best version of themselves for the game, for the tournament, and we trust each other. We don’t have talks with a psychologist to deal with this situation. We trust each other.
One of the things that I heard was FalleN kind of joking, because there is the consolidation final and the grand final, BO3 and BO5, on the same day, and the setups here with the computers across from each other, talking about the old-school throwing a flashbang and seeing where people are. Are we getting ready to see a bit of an old-school, studio LAN sort of situation?
I think it’s pretty cool. Everything that’s… not normal, I think it can be a fresh bit of air, especially because we’ve been to many events back-to-back (laughs). But yeah, I don’t know how it’s going to be exactly, but a different format, why not? I think it’s cool, specifically because this tournament only has eight teams, so it’s cool to experiment with something like that. If this would be a tournament with 16 teams or 32 teams, then there would be a little bit of questions.
