zonic Says Team Falcons is ‘A Little Shaky’ in BLAST Open Porto

Team Falcons is finishing up its BLAST Open Porto run, and the team is tackling some serious strategy shifts. In a recent interview, coach zonic opened up about keeping energy levels high, map picks, and the org’s struggles on Ancient. Let’s recap.

zonic Talks About Team Falcons in New BLAST Interview

Counter-Strike org Team Falcons went into 2025 and 2026 riding the high of winning the IEM Cologne Major, but since that summer break, the trophy cabinet has stayed empty. In a new September 4 interview with BLAST staff at BLAST Open Porto, coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen gave fresh insight into the team’s status.

Admitting the team felt “a little shaky,” zonic said and that 2026 is “Not what we expected […] Had a little bit of a rough start to the season. I think it goes for a lot of the top teams.”

“Obviously I’m only focusing on my team,” zonic clarified. He said he is happy to remain in the tournament, but “obviously a bit disappointed that it’s not more smooth, to be honest.”

karrigan and the Falcons ‘Bootcamp’

In the interview with Sam McKenzie, zonic pointed to the stretch before the Major as part of the problem. He explained that once former FaZe IGL karrigan joined the roster, the team basically ran what felt like a two-month bootcamp built entirely around getting ready for that one event. “I think before the Major, when we got karrigan in, it just felt like a two-month-long bootcamp, to be honest, obviously with some tournaments, but everything was set for the Major.”

While karrigan’s leadership has been a major turning point for the organization, this mentality left the team struggling to build strategy, and that kind of tunnel vision left some gaps once the pressure of the Major was gone.

NiKo, kyousuke, The Players, and Momentum

BLAST staff asked zonic if the team had felt a decline in momentum after the Major. While zonic did feel this was a real experience, he clarified that it’s something many and even most of the ‘top teams’ in the Tier 1 league go through.

“I don’t think that people have taken the foot off the gas, but I think from a more mental perspective, if you take players like NiKo and kyousuke: NiKo has been hunting the Major for so many years, and kyousuke just got it, it’s also important that they figure out what is the next step, and that Maxim also knows that he’s still a young player that needs to improve and evolve, and that we don’t relax.

But so far I’ve not seen any one of us relax; it’s just a bit more that we need to set our goal for the team, and taking it step by step. It’s been some long months before the Major, and I think maybe some of the top teams are feeling it.”

Team Falcons is ‘Experimenting’ to Solve Map Pool Issues

One of the biggest issues zonic flagged with the 2026 season was the team’s map pool. “We could obviously also see that we played a lot of the same maps. We were not really aware of our map pool. I think that’s also why we, during the Major, recognised that OK, Anubis could be a pick that we just bring up.”

zonic said the team has begun ‘experimenting’ to solve its map pool dilemma. The team is testing out picks to see what works, also refreshing its plays on existing maps where it’s comfortable.

“I think a lot of the realisation came after the Major: what is it that we actually need? Right now, we are just trying to get a bit smarter around our map pool, which is also why we are experimenting. We are picking maps that are good in practice, but we don’t know how good they actually are when we come into officials.”

“It’s been some long months,” zonic said about the Cologne Major and the Esports World Cup.

Team Falcons and Ancient

Ancient has consistently been a map Team Falcons struggles with. zonic was refreshingly candid about this, saying the team performs poorly with the mid area. He reiterated that Falcons is “a bit behind the meta, to be honest” and need to spend more time studying it.

He also pointed out that the squad has looked weaker on the T-side lately and needs to nail down fundamentals across the board. Zonic made it clear this isn’t only about Ancient, noting that Nuke and Mirage gave them rough T-side showings too, so the fix has to be a team-wide effort rather than a single map focus.

T-Side and Mid Issues

“I think we are slightly behind on T-side; maybe we need to be working a bit more in different directions, and we need to have the basics in place. At least this is what the three matches have shown: that we barely get to take mid, and if we get mid, we are a bit clueless on how to approach the mid-round. And this is something we have to align the team on after, when we get a bit more of a break, because now it’s been a month on the road.”

zonic also said he spoke with other players to decide Team Falcons’ 2026 map pool. In particular, he asked karrigan about his comfort maps and IGL style. “Before karrigan came in, [Ancient] was one of our weaker maps, and looking at the roster, it should be one of our stronger maps, and we put a lot of effort into that. But we can’t just keep doing that — we need to work on all maps, and it goes the same here for Ancient. […]

We also had rough T-sides on Nuke and Mirage, so you have to work on all maps. But of course, you put a little bit more focus on the maps you feel would suit us, and that we should be better on.”

Where is Team Falcons Headed?

With a heavy travel schedule wearing the team down, zonic’s main takeaway was that Falcons need a proper break to regroup. The team has been in ‘on’ mode for too long, and hasn’t had time to sit down and analyze their core play.

The BLAST Open finals weekend will continue until September 6. After the tournament concludes, the Falcons will appear at ESL Pro League Season 24 in October. Later in November, IEM Beijing 2026 will once more put them to the test.

Stay tuned for more Counter-Strike esports news.