At the BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 2 media day in Hong Kong, Falcons' Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov said he expects the team to reach the playoffs at this event and at the Major. He said it is hard for now to call them title contenders, as the team is not showing its best results or its best play in the server.
Falcons are coming off a 7th-8th place finish at IEM Beijing. m0NESY said the team keeps its belief and is confident it can improve. He added that winning BLAST Hong Kong or the Major would help save the season, but he does not want to put pressure on the team.
He pointed to rounds the team should not lose, which cost them economy and create a snowball effect. In his view, discipline in those rounds needs fixing, and the team must play without fear of mistakes. He said outside noise, including talk of roster changes, is not a distraction for the players.
On the world ranking, where Falcons are sixth, m0NESY said the team deserves its position and that anyone can beat anyone in the top 10. He cited the large amount of data on every team, little preparation time between events and improvement from teams such as Legacy and BetBoom as reasons for the more open field. MOUZ recently became No. 1 after winning in Beijing.
Ahead of the Singapore Major, Falcons will travel home from Hong Kong, practice for a few days and then hold a bootcamp.
