The Falcons’ manager recently disclosed the reasons behind the team’s choice to forgo participation in the upcoming BLAST Bounty and Open tournaments.

Falcons

Reasons for Skipping:

In a recent statement, Xavier Roussac, the Counter-Strike operations manager for the Falcons, explained that potential visa issues for their player Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin were a primary factor in their decision. Since kyousuke, who is only 17 and has limited travel experience, might face challenges in obtaining a Schengen visa for the tournaments kicking off from August 5 until September 7. Roussac mentioned, “Kyousuke is 17 and hasn’t really traveled before, which makes getting a Schengen visa a bit harder. We’ll get them, but at first, it’ll only be for 30 days. That means he’ll need to reapply between events. With the processing time from application to approval, it takes quite a while, so we might not be able to play every Schengen event.”

Furthermore, he added that the tournaments in question would not significantly affect the Valve Regional Standings due to their majority being conducted online, making the team’s participation less compelling.

Instead, the Falcons are set to compete in FISSURE Playground 2, where they believe the benefits will be greater owing to its LAN format, larger prize pool of $1.25 million, and the lack of overlap with BLAST events.

The future of competitive play for the Falcons will hopefully be brighter as they focus their efforts on opportunities that bring larger stakes.