Although the Grand Finals for IEM Cologne were boring I watched the whole stream just to see how far Falcons has made it as a team to finally win a major.
FURIA did not make any resistance in the last map at all and it ended just like the previous two having this one go 3:0 with many predicting this how this was going to go.
After 10 years Niko got his major win and I think they mentioned Karrigan last played with him in a major back in 2018. Those were some great memories these two have had played on numerous teams in professional CounterStrike.
Really sad for Fallen to go out on a loss and I think that will be it for him with competing at this level.

I also watched that choke happen live because the IEM finals were already a wrap midway through the third map. That fourth map was a must win for PRX because LEV has been playing well on Lotus during their run in the lower bracket.

It's unfortunate to end his career like that, but still it's a grand final appearance that only a few good teams can achieve.

TI qualifier in the SEA is now concluded and that one very slot has been taken by OG with a full roster of filipino's. The org trusted them and they didn't disappoint. Currently, here are the qualified teams and as well as the invited. There are 4 more slots in EU and then 1 for NA to be filled.

Regarding the CS Major, I haven't seen many comments here about coach Zonic's sixth major title. He won four with Astralis when they were at the top. And of those four, three were consecutive. Then he got another one with Vitality and this one with Falcons. It's truly a great story, so much so that in the news I saw, he's already considering retirement.

Yes, Fallen did exactly that in Brazil in the past, creating a separate system from CS to rank players and create balanced and competitive matches. It's quite famous in the Brazilian CS community. So, it's something he's been doing for a long time and will certainly continue and improve.

Now that CS2 is in the offseason, it's likely happening when the roster has already reached its peak and it's barely getting any better.

It reminds me of the situation with FaZe, if they didn't make it to the final of the Budapest Major, then karrigan stepping down from the roster might've happened earlier.

They have done a team restructuring before remember when they known as Eternal Fire? Looking at some background information I believe they were a Norwegian based organization back then.
But as ralle14 had mentioned any changes done to their squad will most likely happen during the offseason where CS2 are at now with their tournaments.

No, there was TNC before which was an all filipino roster who beat OG with prime miracle and teammates on TI 2016 and there was Team Nemesis last TI 2025 but they got an early exit for being the first team IIRC to get eliminated. I think it's an exciting team to watch and it's just sad that the SEA region only got one roster because just like SA, these two regions should have that 2 slots because a lot of amazing teams have been rising there.

They were eliminated quickly during the group stages but that's a good participation for them. Maybe this time raven with OG could do end good. SEA doesn't much get love from gaben. Even SA is doing well, they only get one slot. It's either EU and China always being loved by Volvo. Anyway, the teams for TI2026 are now complete with the current prize pool of $1.6M which I think that Valve will later increase it through the commission from the dark carnival or maybe with another followed up event. Even topson is calling out valve about it.