NiKo wins the Major with Falcons! First roster rumors | HLTV Confirmed S7E70

The dominant storyline of the weekend was NiKo lifting his first Major trophy after roughly ten and a half years of competing, dating back to Cluj in 2015. The hosts stress he has been a top-20 player for a full decade, an almost incomparable run of longevity as a rifler, and that this Falcons lineup is arguably the best team he has had outside of the FaZe roster. The community largely rallied behind him, splitting hairs between the idea that Falcons couldn't win a Major but that NiKo deserved one.

The crew pushed back on the narrative that NiKo was a perennial grand-final choker, arguing that his struggles were specific to his Falcons period and new roles, not his whole career, where he was always a big-game player on FaZe and G2. What made this win sweeter is that he did it as a star player rather than fading into a background role, putting up key plays and standout maps throughout the run.

With a Cologne, a Major, a Katowice and countless other trophies, the only thing left on NiKo's individual checklist is a Grand Slam. The hosts frame this Major as the psychological unlock that could let him believe he can win anything, even with years left in his career.

The result piled up firsts: first Major for Monesy, NiKo (as an individual milestone), Kyxsan and tess, second for karrigan, sixth for coach zonic, and the first Major for Falcons as an organization. karrigan became the oldest Major winner at 36. Monesy took MVP despite a poor Inferno in the final, with the hosts noting his second map was rated around 2.2, making the decision easier than the recent run of close MVP calls between him, Kyxsan and NiKo.

Kyxsan, only a year into tier-one Counter-Strike, was the highest-rated player of the playoffs by a distance and was used by karrigan like a blunt object, smashing through positions with room to operate because Furia never nade-stacked or contested space properly. The hosts illustrated how Kyxsan's playoff consistency transformed the moment karrigan arrived, going from red maps every other game to only three red maps across three final runs.

tess emerged as the unsung hero, the anchor who makes big plays in crucial moments and effectively compensates for karrigan's low fragging output. The crew argued that in close games where karrigan lags statistically, it's tess dropping 30-bombs and turning up in overtime that keeps the team alive, which is exactly what lets karrigan get away with his numbers.

The hosts debated whether this was the hardest Major run ever, noting Falcons beat NaVi, Vitality, Spirit and Furia, essentially every top team, all in 2-1 series until the final. Their only loss was 0-2 to BetBoom. They couldn't recall another Major where a team beat all the other top-five teams en route to the title, though they admitted they hadn't verified it against all 24 Majors.

The grand final itself was Falcons' first easy series, though not a blowout. Furia were 138 across all three maps and constantly played from behind. The hosts argued Furia looked scared and out of their depth, singling out Chelo and yuurih as looking nervous while molodoy and YEKINDAR at least tried to make moves. Every time Furia had a chance to break Falcons' economy or tie a game, they fumbled it, dying with full nade belts without throwing anything.

A recurring point was that Falcons never got put under real pressure because their map starts were so convincing, which likely prevented the crumbling the community expected from past NiKo lineups. Key rounds, a triple USP kill from karrigan, a four-second plant on Anubis, all went Falcons' way.

For karrigan the win was about proving to himself he still had it after a miserable stretch on FaZe, where nothing worked and strategies fell flat. Winning a Major after only 60-plus days on Falcons validated the idea that changing environments can revive a player, much like Liquid alumni who thrived elsewhere. karrigan admitted in interviews he had understood fallen's retirement thoughts, saying that could have been him four months ago, and credited his wife with convincing him he just needed a new place to go. He becomes the 25th player with multiple Majors.

zonic, the head-and-shoulders leader in Major wins as a coach with six, posted a lengthy tweet clarifying he's tired like any coach or player after a long season but loves the life. He detailed that in the spring 2025 season he spent 126 of 161 days traveling with only around 24 days off, and that with two kids the balance is tough, something he'd need to discuss with family six to twelve months before negotiating a new contract, hinting his current deal runs roughly to the end of 2026.

The hosts marveled that zonic has now overtaken dupreeh as the person with the most Majors of anyone, across three different organizations, winning six out of the sixteen he coached, roughly a 30 percent hit rate. His HLTV prize money listing of just 7,000 dollars became a running joke.

The hosts split the bracket into two tournaments: the dead side, where Aurora beat BetBoom before mentally capitulating against Furia in a 2-0 collapse, and the electric side that produced the Friday and Saturday classics. The G2-Spirit decider, going to a fourth overtime, was the kind of brawly, clutch-heavy, force-buy Counter-Strike that creates new fans, comparable to two boxers standing in the middle of the ring trading blows.

The event became the first non-final to pass the 2 million viewer mark, a testament to the quality of play. The hosts described being unable to leave the arena, standing front row through overtimes alongside the most dedicated fans, and one host recounted how his gym coach's non-CS friends were losing their minds in front of the TV during the fourth overtime.

This fed into a broader defense of long overtimes: while logistically painful, the longer games run in playoffs the more invested audiences become, which is how viewership records are broken. The hosts argued Valve, as a numbers company, would never limit that, though one host wished the Majors used the 12.5k overtime economy that BLAST and ESL use rather than Valve's 10k rule.

A darker thread concerned multiple stage invasions, including one during the grand final that the broadcast hid from viewers and that the casters, NiKo aside, didn't even know about in real time because they keep their phones off the desk to avoid signal noise. The hosts were shocked at how brazen the incidents were, with one invader running the entire length of the catwalk while security barely reacted.

They contextualized the failures: ESL hires the venue, and the venue hires security staff who often aren't imposing figures and likely aren't well paid, making it unrealistic to expect them to tackle intruders. Despite an advance warning about masked individuals, and increased security plus two admins placed on stage as a last resort to protect players, it wasn't enough on the first incident, though the second invader was caught quickly.

The crew acknowledged the tension between tighter security and worse fan experience, noting a thunderstorm during Germany's heat wave also knocked down barricades, and that people with fake wristbands and imposters trying to access the press room were part of a broader problem. Their core message was that the community got lucky nothing serious happened, and people need to stop doing stupid things that ruin the experience for 15,000 attendees.

The hosts ran through a dense set of roster rumors. Crimz joining eyeballers was a feel-good move, letting him play with young Swedes and JW rather than ending his career on a bad team. JT was reported (with the hosts' own sources supporting it) as a candidate to in-game lead Liquid, which would retain their North American slot, though they argued Liquid needs a full ground-up reset rather than a single swap. Luminosity re-entering the scene targeting the Monte core drew attention, with the striking detail that they're reportedly building around three players rather than the standouts gizmy and rainwaker, largely because of expiring contracts. The hosts blasted Monte for letting a Major top-12 core walk for free.

On FaZe, a rumor about Martinez replacing an opener was discussed, with the hosts noting nothing is decided and it likely hinges on whether FaZe can find a genuine upgrade over broky, whose form has dipped. Martinez was framed as a solid, shrewd move rather than an exciting one given the Gentle Mates situation.

The biggest debate centered on Aurora, where Striker revealed he'd heard the org is willing to spend money on buyouts and had been aggressive for two players months earlier. The hosts agreed only MAJ3R is untouchable, with statistics earlier in the show showing zntr's arena-playoff rating collapses to around 0.96 while wicadia and woxic hold up better. Professor and Chad debated whether to keep the Turkish core with an international IGL like krimz or a fresh identity, but concluded that fan-base pressure makes kicking the legendary zntr unlikely despite him being the statistical bottleneck. For their What Are The Odds segment, they settled on five of the top ten teams making changes at 100 percent, given MOUZ, Aurora and Nissim's Falcons departure are already known.