kassad on Team Falcons: “This roster has zero chance of achieving anything at a Major this season”


Host Duncan “Thorin” Shields and analysts Alexander “kassad” Trifunovic and Alex “Mauisnake” Ellenberg assessed Finn “karrigan” Andersen’s transfer to Team Falcons, discussed the best riflers in Counter-Strike history, and attempted to outline ways to rebuild Team Liquid’s roster in the latest episode of the Hot Take Point Made podcast.
kassad: I think the effects of the potion of delusion that the club’s management drank before signing karrigan are slowly wearing off. And I’m not talking about the Dane’s decision at all: he was given a chance, and he seized it. Qualifying for the Major with FaZe Clan didn’t work out, and the last year and a half with his former team were terrible, so why not? I would have done exactly the same in his shoes. The blame for this lies entirely with that clueless person who came up with and approved the transfer. I understand that many got caught up in the hype when the roster made it to the finals of the last two tournaments in Astana and China, but that means absolutely nothing. Falcons lost to Legacy, 9z Team, and other opponents who aren’t actually strong enough. This shows that this roster has zero chance of achieving anything at a Major this season.
Mauisnake: I think donk is the best rifler we’ve ever seen. At least to me, he seems clearly stronger than ropz. As for GeT_RiGhT, whose matches I’ve watched in huge numbers, this guy was unstoppable. Not only did he manage to pull off lurks on maps with perfect timing like ropz, but he could also wipe out three opponents with a single spray right after. The way he took down his opponents was like a superhero in a movie. I don’t think we’ll ever see anything like that in CS again, at least because people have started playing at a much higher level. I can say something similar about coldzera. While ropz and GeT_RiGhT are free to choose which duels to engage in and when, the Brazilian often had to trade off his teammates back in the day. Yes, of course, he often went for kills, but at the same time, he regularly found himself in one-on-two or one-on-three situations against opponents trying to retake his bomb site, and he emerged victorious. He really did win such crucial and intense clutch moments with frightening regularity.
Thorin: Team Liquid definitely needs a major overhaul. I don’t think it’s necessary to fire all five players and the coach in a row, because that’s unrealistic, to say the least: no one would ever do that. Of course, there’s the option of putting the roster up for transfer, but in that case, the club will most likely fail to make any decent money. Such a move would look like a fire sale, where there shouldn’t be high price tags. Plus, if the organization sells someone, say EliGE, he’ll join a team like Passion UA the very next day, and Liquid, in turn, lacking strong players, will start losing to that very team in all future events and qualifiers. So personally, I wouldn’t completely disband the roster or shut down the division, but I would definitely make significant changes. If I think about it, the only ones I’d keep would probably be EliGE and malbsMd.
Earlier on the podcast, kassad, Thorin, and Mauisnake discussed the prospects of Team Falcons, compared the achievements of Robin “ropz” Kolja and Nikola “NiKo” Kovac, and shared their thoughts on Team Liquid’s current situation.