Mauisnake on FalleN: “The upcoming Major in Singapore will provide a true assessment of his legacy.”

Granting S-tier status to online championships completely devalues the classification system itself. Originally, this category was conceived as the highest tier in Counter-Strike—analogous to the Grand Slam tournaments in tennis—so that casual viewers could immediately identify the most important events of the year. However, tournaments like the Thunderpick World Championship now receive S-tier status on Liquipedia solely because of their massive $1 million prize pool. At the same time, the competition in Malta was missing the world’s strongest teams, such as Team Vitality and Team Spirit, and the matches took place in a small studio in front of a couple hundred spectators. True top-tier events should be associated with the scale of Majors and packed stands on par with Spodek Arena or Lanxess Arena. The S-tier category must be made as strict as possible and awarded only to those tournaments where at least four teams from the top 5 of the world rankings compete.

The current tier classification system distorts the true history of the competitive scene. If, ten years from now, someone decides to look up how FalleN’s career ended and opens Liquipedia, they’ll see a gold medal at an S-tier tournament and assume that the Brazilian was still winning at the world’s biggest events even at the twilight of his professional career. But let’s face it: this championship has nothing to do with the actual Tier 1 level. To claim this trophy, the team didn’t even have to face a hypothetical Team Falcons—all they had to do was beat BetBoom Team and Aurora Gaming. Calling such victories a triumph at the highest level is an absurdity that misleads the audience.

Mauisnake: I disagree that FalleN and FURIA failed to integrate the rookie. The Kazakh sniper could very well have followed the path of many ultra-aggressive AWP players who make a splash at the start but then disappear without a trace—just as happened with ultimate, poizon, or torzsi early in their careers. Yes, the player has a growing list of poor performances under high pressure during the decisive stages of the event. However, in the lost Major Grand Final against Team Falcons, he was the only one on the team who consistently held his ground and made a difference while KSCERATO and the rest of his teammates were unable to withstand the opponent’s onslaught. Captain FalleN and coach sidde deserve credit for shielding this young talent from the typical mistakes of aggressive snipers, continuing to develop his game, and not limiting him to a single role.

Mauisnake: Granting the Thunderpick World Championship 2026 S-tier status is merely a tool for crafting compelling narratives, one that severely distorts the reality of the situation. For FalleN’s fans, this victory will be a reason to proclaim his greatness, but in a historical context, it won’t bring him any closer to the achievements of karrigan or pronax. The upcoming Major in Singapore will provide a true assessment of his legacy. If FalleN and his team win this tournament, having made it through the bracket against Team Spirit, Team Vitality, and Team Falcons, it will be impossible to deny his greatness. The current trophy, however, is more of an emotional victory for FURIA itself. The team’s season had been lackluster, and it seemed as though the roster was simply being held hostage until the captain’s career came to an end. The gold at Thunderpick will restore the players’ confidence, although in reality, on their way to the title, they only defeated Aurora Gaming and Legacy, both of which remain far from the top 5 in the world rankings.