To place it plainly, Counter-Strike rostermania was a disappointment. Though we had been promised numerous massive strikes, only a few of these materialised, with rumoured adjustments to Falcons and MOUZ being amongst those who didn’t occur.
The 2 groups had been undoubtedly two of the very best all through 2025, however their failure to make a change will seemingly see them battle to construct on their success this 12 months. Each groups have hit a plateau, and each groups wanted a change to push previous that tumbler ceiling.
That is very true provided that they had been each overtaken on the finish of the 12 months by FURIA, and Spirit additionally made adjustments in an try to regain the lead. Consider that FaZe and NAVI additionally closed out 2025 in far stronger positions than they had been beforehand, and we would as a substitute be Falcons and MOUZ groups that start to fall behind in 2026.
MOUZ Want Change to Win Trophies
The Counter-Strike group is keen on criticizing MOUZ. Whether or not it’s for his or her lack of aura or the truth that they’ll solely make it to the semi-finals of occasions, persons are at all times blissful to abuse them quite than commend them for his or her spectacular outcomes, no matter whether or not it ends with a trophy or not.
However what if it doesn’t have to be that manner?
MOUZ have two evident points. The primary is that Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo hasn’t been the identical participant because the arrival of Lotan “Spinx” Giladi, and the second is that their T aspect win charge got here in seventh out of the highest 10 groups final 12 months. On condition that MOUZ already lacks the superstars that FURIA, Vitality, Spirit, and Falcons all possess, these are two massive issues that stop them from going even additional.
There are a number of methods to method this concern. The primary could be accepting that you simply seemingly can’t have Jimpphat and Spinx on the identical crew, and benching Jimpphat as a consequence of Spinx’s star energy, making him the extra steady determine on the roster.
From that time, discovering a substitute could be fairly easy. Oldrick “PR” Novy and Justinas “jL” Lekavicius are each gamers who would undoubtedly convey firepower upgrades on Jimpphat, and neither would have an effect on the function stability of the crew an excessive amount of as a consequence of their versatility.
Alternatively, MOUZ may search for a change in management. In the event that they had been to take action, the highest candidate needs to be Justin “JT” Theodosiu of Ardour UA. The South African now has loads of expertise as a consequence of his years with Complexity, and though outcomes have typically been laborious to return by, given the firepower of the rosters he’s been introduced with, he has at all times managed to place collectively a powerful system that may punch above its weight.
There’s additionally a 3rd choice, one which includes benching each Brollan and Jimpphat. That third choice would enable for MOUZ to signal each JT and certainly one of PR or jL, addressing each the management and firepower points in a single swoop. They might achieve this and promote their CT caller Dorian “xertioN” Berman to IGL, then signal certainly one of PR or jL and a determine like Martin “stavn” Lund to kind a brand new aggressive pack with xertioN on the tip.
No matter they do, 2025 ought to have made it abundantly clear {that a} change is required. Nobody desires to be a perennial semi-finalist, however MOUZ merely wouldn’t have the capability to push on from that of their present kind. Whether or not it’s firepower, management, or each, addressing issues inside the crew can push them in direction of gold.
Function Stability is Falcons’ Kryptonite
Nobody may blame Falcons for bringing in Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin. The younger Russian was the second prodigious expertise to emerge from the Spirit Academy in as a few years, and with him taking part in comparable roles to Danil “donk” Kryshkovets, it was at all times seemingly that he would search to turn out to be a star elsewhere.
The signing has additionally been a powerful success. Because the aggressive star of the crew, kyousuke has 1.16 score prior to now six months, which is extremely excessive given it’s his rookie 12 months.
Nonetheless, signing kyousuke did create an issue within the crew. In Nikola “NiKo” Kovac and Rene “TeSeS” Madsen, Falcons already had two naturally aggressive gamers on the crew. While NiKo is a really versatile participant and has been in a position to adapt, TeSeS just isn’t, and his dismal 0.95 score prior to now three months is now a severe sticking level for them.
To place that into much more daming context: Falcons’ IGL, Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski has a 0.99 score prior to now six months.
The Saudi group are quick changing into proof you can have as many stars as you need, but when your function stability is poor and limiting these stars’ output, you continue to aren’t going to carry trophies constantly.
So how do they tackle the issue?
Sarcastically, given the primary part of this text, the apparent reply is Jimpphat. With how a lot Jimpphat struggled in 2025 in comparison with 2024, it’s laborious to think about the Finn is blissful on MOUZ. There’s additionally been loads of rumours about him becoming a member of Falcons ever because the org bought severe in CS, and reportedly, a transfer solely did not materialise prior to now as a result of Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov had not but joined the crew.
One other stable choice could be Valeriy “b1t” Vakhovskiy, though he is perhaps more durable to signal as a consequence of his standing as NAVI’s franchise participant. b1t is without doubt one of the greatest anchors on this planet, and in addition comfy as a extra passive factor on the T aspect than TeSeS is. A participant who completely matches Falcons’ switch coverage of signing the largest stars conceivable, the firepower improve he would convey makes it laborious to think about Falcons not changing into dominant with him on the crew.
Both manner, TeSeS has to go, and it’s truly fairly baffling that he isn’t gone already. He’s a participant now fully wasted inside the Falcons system, and it’s solely going to proceed to result in disappointment for so long as he stays on the crew. A real passive star is required, and b1t or Jimpphat are the proper options to that downside.
