Staff Falcons has known as up Matej ‘NucleonZ‘ Trajkoski from its academy roster to compete within the BLAST Bounty Season 1 playoffs.
The change to the Saudi-Arabian esports organisation’s Counter-Strike 2 roster comes on account of Maksim ‘kyousuke‘ Lukin encountering “unresolved visa problems.”
Replace 19/01/2026: This text has been up to date with additional data on Staff Falcons coach Danny ‘zonic Sørensen’s absence from the BLAST Bounty Season 1 playoffs.
Introduced on social media, NucleonZ makes his Tier 1 debut on the BLAST Bounty playoffs. The 18-year-old rifler joins as a stand-in, after Staff Falcons breezed via the closed qualifiers with 2-0 victories over ECSTATIC and Monte to safe certainly one of eight locations on the LAN finals in Malta.
NucleonZ has competed as a part of the Staff Falcons academy roster because it was unveiled in September 2025. In November 2025, the crew competed within the Crimson Bull Gibaway Journey event, scoring a top-20 end after ending its Group Stage marketing campaign with a 1-4 file.
“NucleonZ has demonstrated constant development and powerful performances inside our academy system, and this chance displays the belief we place in our academy program,” mentioned Staff Falcons following the announcement.
Falcons isn’t the one organisation competing at BLAST Bounty to come across visa points in latest weeks. On January thirteenth, HEROIC revealed Älımjan “Alkaren” Bıtımbai will miss the beginning of the season. Regardless of this, the Norwegian organisation has secured a spot within the BLAST Bounty playoffs.
Additional Absences
Along with kyousuke lacking out on the BLAST Bounty playoffs, Staff Falcons coach Danny ‘zonic‘ Sørensen can even miss the occasion.
Zonic has returned to his household following the passing of his brother. “Robust occasions, however I’ll attempt to be again as quickly as I can. Pleased with the boys for qualifying for Malta,” he wrote on social media.
The organisation hasn’t revealed whether or not assistant coach Aymein ‘Aymeinstein‘ Bencheick will step into Zonic’s function in his absence.
Staff Falcons in 2026
At the moment ranked third within the Valve Regional Standings (VRS), a powerful displaying on the BLAST Bounty playoffs cements Falcons as one of many world’s greatest Counter-Strike 2 groups within the early phases of 2026.
Having performed the closed qualifiers with kyousuke on the beginning lineup, will probably be fascinating to see how shortly the crew can gel with NucleonZ, who has no expertise competing in Tier 1 tournaments.
The BLAST Bounty Season 1 2026 playoffs happen from January twenty second to twenty fifth. With Staff Falcons having one of many highest seeds for the event, it will get the chance to pick its opponent for its quarter-final match.
