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In a stunning finale that few saw coming, Team Falcons have secured their first-ever Counter-Strike LAN title, dismantling one of the tournament favourites, G2 Esports, with a flawless 3-0 sweep (Mirage 13-5, Nuke 13-7, Ancient 13-8) in the PGL Bucharest 2025 grand final.
It’s a moment of redemption for an organisation that, until recently, struggled to break through at the tier-one level, and for coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen, it’s a long-awaited return to the winner’s circle.
“It’s been a long time, no see, regarding trophies,” zonic said post-match.
“I’m super proud of these five players. They’ve done an amazing job this week.”
@FalconsEsport ARE THE CHAMPIONS
They sweep @G2CSGO 3-0 in the Final and lift the trophy at
PGL Bucharest 2025
What a run.
@TesesCS @degsterof @G2NiKo @MagiskCS @kyxsancs @zonic #PGLBucharest pic.twitter.com/ziAgDvDYSy
— PGL (@pglesports) April 13, 2025
Coming into the final, G2 was widely expected to take the crown, entering as the favourite with esports betting sites.
But from the opening rounds on Mirage, Falcons seized control and never let go.
G2’s pick backfired immediately, with a string of costly 5v3 losses in the first half leaving them 1-8 down.
Falcons punished every mistake, closing the map 13-5 on the back of a 1.79-rated performance from Abdul “degster” Gasanov.
Nuke offered G2 another early lifeline with a 3-0 start, but Falcons quickly snatched momentum.
Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski’s mid-round calling exposed gaps in G2’s setup, and despite a tied 7-7 scoreline at one point, the Falcons ran away with six straight rounds to close it out.
Ancient played out in similar fashion.
G2 won early force-buy wars but were again outclassed in gun rounds.
Falcons ended the half tied 6-6 and cruised in the second half, with Emil “Magisk” Reif and degster combining for key rounds to shut the door on a 13-8 finish and the title.
While the win was a team effort, the standout was degster, who capped off a tournament MVP performance by outshining his rumoured replacement, Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov, in the final—posting a 1.27 rating compared to m0NESY’s 1.00.
The Russian AWPer finished the event with a 1.12 average rating, second only to Nikola “NiKo” Kovac overall, and was the highest-impact player for Falcons in their playoff run.
“It’s my first trophy, I’ve worked so hard for this,” degster said on stage.
“Seven or eight years it took me. I don’t even know how to lift the trophy the right way!”
Despite his heroics, the expectation remains that Falcons will bring in m0NESY ahead of their next event.
If so, degster’s MVP performance in Bucharest may have earned him a new home sooner than later.
— Abdul Gasanov (@degsterof) April 13, 2025
The title not only marks a career breakthrough for degster and kyxsan, but also confirms Falcons’ arrival as a serious contender.
After a year of trial and error, the additions of NiKo and the core of Heroic have finally turned the project into a winner.
Their runner-up finish at PGL Cluj-Napoca hinted at potential, but Bucharest proved it.
Falcons are now the fourth team to lift a tier-one Counter-Strike 2 title in 2025.
Earlier in the day, FaZe Clan claimed third place with a 2-0 win over Complexity (Dust2 13-10, Inferno 13-11).
While the scores were tight, FaZe controlled most of the action, showing signs of improvement after a turbulent start to the year.
Dust2 was one-way traffic after an early 0-2 deficit, with FaZe winning seven straight counter-terrorist rounds and carrying momentum into a dominant terrorist side.
Inferno was more contested, but clutch calls and multi-kill rounds from David “frozen” Čerňanský proved decisive.
Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski slowly started to find his feet in the new system, while Helvijs “broky” Saukants delivered his best event of the year despite a quiet semifinal against Falcons.
“We’ve been making some progress,” coach Filip “NEO” Kubski said.
“It’s starting to come together.”
Despite falling to FaZe, Complexity leave Bucharest with heads held high.
The North American squad bounced back from early-season struggles, with Michael “Grim” Wince and Håkon “hallzerk” Fjærli leading the charge to a surprise playoff run.
While both faded in the third-place decider, Danny “Cxzi” Strzelczyk continued to impress and proved he belongs at this level.
If Grim and hallzerk can recapture their form, Complexity may have turned a corner heading into the second half of the year.
Most of the teams that competed in Bucharest will now turn their attention to IEM Melbourne, which kicks off on Monday, April 21.
