donk on FalleN’s retirement: “You can understand him. His whole life has literally been about competitive gaming.”

The guys just don’t have enough experience. Playing in the final of a Tier 1 tournament against a team they’d never beaten before is, in principle, tough. It’s a best-of-five final. They just started to freeze up when the score was 11–10, and that was it. Experience really makes a huge difference on a psychological level in CS. The more often you’ve made mistakes under pressure, the less likely you are to repeat them in the same situation.

They’ve obviously become stronger and more experienced. If we’re talking about the Major—which, for them, was essentially their debut against the world’s top teams—in the third stage, they probably played against everyone there except Vitality. Now they’re already prepared for this level, and overall, after Thunderpick, I think they’re on a slight psychological upswing right now because they let the title slip through their fingers.

If he wanted to, he’d keep playing, because at times he’s literally the X-factor. In other words, he’s by no means falling behind the general level of IGLs right now, despite his age. Criticism of karrigan often centers on the fact that he’s playing at a 0.7 [rating], but you can’t really say that about FalleN, because he really does make a difference on the map at key moments. For example, in the final against BetBoom, he played exceptionally well—on Cache, he won a 1v3 clutch, if I recall correctly, and on Mirage, he pulled off a 4v2 and killed three players at 11:12. Those rounds really showcase his skill. He just doesn’t have the desire [to keep playing]; you can understand that. His whole life is literally all about competitive gaming. He’s played three different games—I think he even won something like a major in CrossFire. I think [after he retires] he’ll just take it easy.