Falcons to Compete at BLAST Bounty Finals Without Coach zonic

Jan 20, 2026

Team Falcons will play the BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 Finals in Malta without coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen, while a separate visa issue also forces a late player change. Keep reading for the full timeline and the key numbers behind it.

What Falcons Announced and When the Absence Takes Effect

Falcons confirmed on January 19 that zonic will miss BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 Finals, the team’s first LAN appearance of 2026. The event runs January 22 to 25 in Malta, has eight teams, and offers a $772,500 prize pool. The format is single elimination: best-of-three all the way until the best-of-five grand final, so one bad day can end a run fast.

The announcement landed right after Falcons qualified through the online stage with two straight wins. First came a clean 2-0 over ECSTATIC: 13-2 on Inferno, then 13-10 on Mirage. René “TeSeS” Madsen led the series with 32-20 for a 1.60 K/D and a 1.65 rating, plus 94.6 ADR. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov finished 31-18, and Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin added 34 kills of his own in the sweep.

Falcons then locked their Malta spot by beating Monte 2-0, taking Nuke 13-10 and Mirage 13-7. m0NESY was the best performer, posting 42-25 for a 1.68 K/D, 102.5 ADR, and a 1.75 rating across the two maps. TeSeS again showed up as the second punch at 33-22 with a 1.41 rating.

A quick snapshot of the two qualifying series is below.

Series	Result	Best player	Best player K-D (K/D)	Rating
vs ECSTATIC	2-0 (13-2 Inferno, 13-10 Mirage)	TeSeS	32-20 (1.60)	1.65
vs Monte	2-0 (13-10 Nuke, 13-7 Mirage)	m0NESY	42-25 (1.68)	1.75

Those wins secured Falcons a seat at the Malta LAN, but the team will arrive missing two pieces.

The Reason: zonic Leaves the Team After a Family Bereavement

Coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen left Falcons right after their opener against ECSTATIC because of a family tragedy. The change is not about strategy or results; it is about him needing to be away from the team immediately.

He learned about the sudden passing of his brother after the ECSTATIC match and flew home right away to be with family.
On X (Twitter), he called it “tough times,” said he would try to return as soon as possible, and added that he was proud the team qualified for Malta.
Falcons will play the BLAST Bounty 2026 Season 1 Finals without him while he is away.

For CS2 players, this kind of absence hits the daily work more than the public sees. A coach helps set practice routines, prepares anti-strats, and keeps communication calm when rounds start slipping. Without that steady voice, the in-game leader and remaining staff usually take on extra prep, review more demos, and focus harder on staying organized under pressure, especially at a LAN where every mistake is punished fast.

Falcons’ Updated Lineup in Malta: kyousuke Out, Academy Stand-in Steps In

Falcons will also be without kyousuke in Malta due to “unresolved visa complications.” The organization will use Falcons Force academy player Matej “NucleonZ” Trajkoski as a stand-in.

Kyousuke’s absence is a real on-server loss based on the qualifiers alone. Across the ECSTATIC and Monte series, he totaled 66-48, including a 34-26 performance in the opener. In the same announcement context, kyousuke was listed at a 1.19 rating with 0.85 kills per round, while NucleonZ’s early sample showed a 1.01 rating with 0.81 kills per round. It is a tiny dataset for the academy player, but it underlines the jump in expectations when stepping into a top-tier event on short notice.

Falcons are expected to field the following five players at the BLAST Bounty Finals:

Nikola “NiKo” Kovač;
René “TeSeS” Madsen;
Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov;
Damjan “kyxsan” Stoilkovski;
Matej “NucleonZ” Trajkoski.

With zonic at home and kyousuke out, Falcons’ margin for error narrows, especially in a single-elimination bracket. The upside is clear from the qualifiers: if m0NESY stays in takeover mode and TeSeS keeps winning the rifle duels, Falcons can still make noise in Malta.