Rumours link rising FPL star nocries with Falcons after FACEIT clearance

Rumours link rising FPL star nocries with Falcons after FACEIT clearance

Maidar “nocries” Baldanov has become the latest name thrown into the Team Falcons rumour mill after a wave of community speculation suggested the 18-year-old could be a target for the Saudi-backed organisation.

The talk was kicked off by a piece on STG Play titled “Could Nocries Join Team Falcons?”, which pulled together social-media chatter following the player’s recent surge in popularity and suggested that Falcons are exactly the kind of team that could gamble on an unproven but already battle-tested prodigy. Posts on Reddit and Facebook groups have since amplified the idea, with fans imagining scenarios such as a future lineup built around NiKo “and his Russian children” or speculating about changes around the current core. 

At the time of writing, however, there is no public indication from Falcons or the player that talks have taken place, and no major outlet has reported concrete negotiations. The link remains in the realm of rumours and community theorycrafting rather than confirmed transfer news.

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From accused cheater to FACEIT-approved prodigy

The interest in nocries is not without foundation. Over the last few months he has gone from relative unknown to one of the most talked-about names in Counter-Strike 2.

Behind the nickname is Maidar Baldanov, a player of Mongolian origin who grew up in Russia’s Buryatia region before later moving to the United States to study. He started playing Counter-Strike 1.6 as a child and switched to CS:GO at 11, quickly reaching the highest levels of matchmaking and third-party platforms. 

His ascent on FACEIT’s North American ladder – culminating in a spell as the region’s No.1 rated player – brought both praise and suspicion. Clips of his aim and positioning circulated widely, with some viewers dubbing him “NA donk”, while others accused him of cheating and flooded FACEIT’s support channels with reports. 

The controversy led FACEIT to open a full integrity review. The platform invited nocries to its New York headquarters, where he played supervised matches on LAN while staff monitored his setup and performance. According to FACEIT and follow-up reports from outlets such as Esports Insider, his stats on site matched his online numbers and the investigation found no evidence of foul play. 

Following the review, FACEIT officially cleared nocries of any wrongdoing and introduced a new validation protocol for high-ranked players to prevent similar situations spiralling in the future. On the final day of his stay in New York, FACEIT also handed him an indefinite FPL invite, allowing him to compete regularly with professionals and tier-one prospects. 

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“Some teams that were at EPL reached out”

Once the integrity cloud lifted, interest in the youngster spiked. Speaking in a brief interview during ESL Pro League Season 22, nocries confirmed that he has already received approaches from organisations – including some fielding teams at the very tournament he was visiting. 

“Some teams that were at this tournament, they reached out,” he said, adding that his immediate priority is to keep practising and use FPL as a stage to prove he can maintain his level against top opposition. 

According to his public profile on ProSettings, nocries is currently listed as a free agent, meaning any team interested in signing him would not have to negotiate a buyout from another organisation. That contractual freedom, combined with his recent clearance and FPL exposure, explains why his name features heavily in roster discussions around ESL and Major-level squads.

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Why Falcons keep coming up

The specific Falcons angle stems largely from timing and profile rather than hard information. The organisation completed a blockbuster rebuild earlier this year, signing Nikola “NiKo” Kovač and bringing in stars such as m0NESY, kyxsan and TeSeS around long-standing piece Emil “Magisk” Reif. 

With such a star-studded core and significant financial backing, many in the community see Falcons as one of the few teams realistically capable of gambling on a high-upside rookie while still aiming for trophies. STG Play’s article framed nocries as a potential depth option or future project rather than an immediate replacement, noting that Falcons have already shown a willingness to spend big on both proven names and promising talent. 

So far, though, there have been no public roster moves from Falcons following their recent runner-up finish at BLAST Rivals and preparations for the StarLadder Budapest Major 2025, and the organisation has not commented on any interest in the FPL youngster. 

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Hype vs. reality

For now, the situation around nocries and Falcons looks like a textbook example of how quickly the CS2 rumour mill can spin up:

• a breakout FPL talent with proven mechanics;

• a cleared integrity case and fresh media attention;

• confirmation that several ESL-level teams have reached out;

• and a deep-pocketed organisation with an already headline-grabbing roster.

All of those ingredients make the move plausible in the eyes of fans, even in the absence of concrete reporting.

What is certain is that Maidar “nocries” Baldanov has moved from relative obscurity to one of the most closely watched free agents in the scene. Whether his next step is Falcons, another ESL Pro League organisation, or more time grinding FPL, his rapid rise – from allegations and a FACEIT review to LAN-proven prodigy – has already made him one of CS2’s most compelling stories of 2025.