NiKo says Falcons failed to show progress, Cybersport.ru reports

Team Falcons player Nikola “NiKo” Kovač said the team set out to show progress at IEM Beijing 2026 but did not manage it, Cybersport.ru reported. He spoke in a post-match interview on the tournament’s official broadcast after Falcons were knocked out.

What NiKo said about the match

NiKo called Mirage very hard and said Natus Vincere (NAVI) looked much stronger than Falcons on both Mirage and Inferno. Falcons struggled to find the right solution, he said, and had the feeling that NAVI punished each of their attempts in certain rounds.

Even when Falcons made the right decisions and gained an advantage, they still lost those rounds, according to NiKo. They could not close out rounds on the defense side, he said. NiKo added that he could not remember when the team was last beaten so heavily, and that they need to work out what went wrong.

The season and what comes next

NiKo said the team understood before arriving that they were not among the title contenders. Their goal was therefore to at least show progress, which they did not do.

Falcons need to go through the problems they met at IEM Beijing 2026, pick out the positives and try to play better at BLAST Rivals Fall 2026, he said. NiKo said the season has been hard so far, and that the team is doing everything it can to turn it around and reach PGL Major Singapore 2026 in the best possible form.

The match

NAVI beat Falcons 2-1 in the Group A decider, Cybersport.ru reported. Falcons won Ancient 13-11, then lost Inferno 4-13 and Mirage 3-13.