G2 Sends Team Falcons & NiKo Packing | IEM Katowice 2025

So far, IEM Katowice 2025 has been a wild ride for Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) esports fans as teams fight to advance to the iconic tournament's playoff stage at the Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland.

Everyone and their Inferno chicken knows that Team Falcons was at the heart of rostermania during the off-season and got in ex-G2 Esports star Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač, alongside the core trio from HEROIC, to create what some fans believe to be a superteam.

In Group A of IEM Katowice 2025, NiKo faced his ex-teammates in a thrilling clash. G2 Esports went up against Team Falcons in an elimination match after Team Falcons lost to Eternal Fire (2-0) again (read our BLAST Bounty report), and G2 lost to Virtus.pro (2-0). 

The G2 vs. Team Falcons match was the closest thus far at IEM Katowice 2025's main event. G2 Esports came out swinging on Team Falcons' map pick of Ancient, beating them 13-9. However, Team Falcons bounced back G2's map pick of Dust2 with a dominating first-half performance that G2 couldn't recover from, beating them 13-7 and forcing a third map.

On the deciding map, Mirage, Team Falcons took a strong early first-half lead of 8-4. However, G2 Esports bounced back on the T side for a 13-11 victory, with Team Falcons getting super close to forcing overtime. With the victory, G2 Esports moves on in Group A, while Team Falcons are eliminated from IEM Katowice 2025's main event in last place.

While the star rifler didn't top the scoreboard, NiKo did show moments of brilliance. Check out his Ace below.

Topping the scoreboard for the entire match is Team Falcons' Abdul "degster" Gasanov, while G2's new addition, 22-year-old Israeli player Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko, topped their side of the scoreboard.

Following the Group Stage, the remaining six teams will compete in a single-elimination bracket from 7 to 9 February 2025 to determine who will lift the iconic IEM Katowice trophy in front of a live, roaring crowd.

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