Pimp: “zonic is a big part of why Team Falcons was ultimately able to win the Major.”
In the latest episode of the Counter-Points podcast, analyst Jakob “Pimp” Winneke assessed Danny “zonic” Sørensen’s performance with Team Falcons, calling him one of the key architects of the team’s victory at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 and criticizing claims that the Dane achieved success solely thanks to star players.
On zonic’s performance with the Falcons
For me, zonic is a big part of why Team Falcons was ultimately able to win the Major. But, of course, it must be said that karrigan was the very last missing piece that allowed the team to reach its full potential. What impresses me even more personally—and what my view of zonic is—is this: if you look at his career over the past three years, would that have been enough—winning one Major and not achieving more with the Falcons? I’d say no—that would have been only slightly better than mediocre. You see, winning a Major with this roster obviously boosts his rating significantly. But overall, I think it’s fair to say that he should have achieved more with the Falcons.
On the ability to adapt to different rosters
If you look at his entire career—six Major titles, three different organizations, three different teams, three different captains, and three different styles of Counter-Strike. It wasn’t just one and the same style that he simply carried over from team to team. It seems to me that if B1ad3 had achieved great success with Natus Vincere and then moved to another team, he would have brought the same style, the same approach, and so on with him. We’ve talked a lot about how zonic had to adapt. ...> So when you look at his career, at everything he had to overcome, and at the fact that, in the end, he achieved success in every project he was a part of—it’s just insane.
On the criticism directed at the coach
All this talk about him being a fraud, that he’s already washed up, that he was never a great coach to begin with and only won Majors thanks to gla1ve, or just because he had Astralis, or because he had ZywOo on Team Vitality. Damn it, to win a Major, you need good players; you need stars. But you can’t just give all the credit exclusively to the star players he was coaching at the time. That’s why I think this whole discussion is just ridiculous.
On zonic’s future with the Falcons
Given that he won a Major, he’ll almost certainly stay if he wants to. That’s exactly why I think we can’t make a final judgment just yet. But all this talk, these attempts to devalue his career, this search for flaws... People also say that things at Vitality only changed when apEX declared, “We’re abandoning the Danish style of Counter-Strike and will play my way.” And that’s exactly when Vitality won the Major in Paris. Yes, there may be some truth to that—he had to compromise. But that’s also part of a coach’s job: adapting to the players, adapting to apEX as captain. And for that matter, I’ve only heard apEX say good things about zonic.
Earlier on the Counter-Points podcast, analyst Duncan “Thorin” Shields commented on Team Falcons’ triumph at the IEM Cologne Major 2026, explained why he doubts the team’s ability to repeat that success, and shared his thoughts on their prospects after winning the championship title.
Photo by Adam Lakomy, ESL.
