Falcons Stay Alive at IEM Kraków 2026 as kyxsan Admits Rough Preparation

Falcons avoided an early exit at IEM Kraków 2026 after eliminating NRG in a tense lower-bracket series, with in-game leader kyxsan openly acknowledging that the team is still far from peak form.

Despite entering the event as one of the top-ranked teams in the world, Falcons needed three maps to secure survival, winning the series 2–1 and keeping their playoff hopes alive.

Falcons vs NRG: Series Breakdown

Falcons dropped Inferno early before stabilizing on the remaining maps:

Inferno: NRG win

Ancient: Falcons win

Dust2: Falcons win

The victory keeps Falcons alive in the lower bracket but also highlighted lingering issues with preparation, map pool depth, and team coordination.

kyxsan: “We’re still alive — that’s the most important thing”

Speaking to HLTV after the match, kyxsan stressed that survival mattered more than style points, especially given the team’s disrupted schedule leading into the tournament.

“It hasn’t been the best start of this event for us, but we’re still alive, and that’s the most important thing.”

The Falcons captain revealed that practice time has been extremely limited following recent events.

“After BLAST, we had only two practices with kyousuke.”

Lack of Practice and Ancient Struggles

One of the clearest warning signs came on Ancient, a map Falcons admitted they were underprepared for.

“We had some problems on Ancient. It’s a map that we haven’t played a lot recently.”

Kyxsan added that Falcons were caught off guard by NRG’s approach due to the lack of recent officials and demo material.

“We were surprised with some things they did.”

The kyousuke Factor and BLAST Bounty Fallout

Falcons’ early-season instability can be traced back to kyousuke missing the BLAST Bounty Finals due to visa issues, forcing the team to compete with a stand-in.

During that event, Falcons still reached the grand final but struggled with cohesion and mid-round decision-making.

“When you don’t play for 10 days with him, you need more time to bring back the old teamplay we had.”

Kyxsan previously admitted that while the stand-in performed admirably, replacing a core player mid-event inevitably impacted structure.

Ranking Pressure and Expectations

Falcons arrived at IEM Kraków as the #3 team in the HLTV world ranking, while NRG sat outside the top 15 — making the close series a surprise on paper.

The result reinforces an ongoing theme around Falcons in 2026:

Star power is unquestioned

Expectations are championship-level

Execution and consistency remain works in progress

Management has already denied roster-change rumors, signaling confidence in the current lineup despite mixed results.

What’s Next for Falcons?

Falcons remain in the lower bracket at IEM Kraków 2026, where every match is now an elimination test. With limited margin for error, the focus shifts to:

Cleaning up Ancient and secondary maps

Rebuilding chemistry with kyousuke

Translating firepower into structured teamplay

As kyxsan summed it up bluntly, survival comes first — dominance can wait.