After a relatively long tenure with G2, will Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov make the move to warmer climbs and join up with Team Falcons?
Team Falcons is going through a major CS2 roster upheaval in 2024. It traded out the highly ranked Alvaro “SunPayus” Garcia for CS2 GOAT Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyljev back in September before benching nearly the entire team after failing to qualify for Perfect World Shanghai. With a minimal team, Falcons now has a chance to rebuild almost from the ground up. It now seemingly has its eye on G2 AWPer m0NESY to round out a new 2025 line-up.
However, fans aren’t sure whether or not m0NESY will actually make the leap from G2 to Falcons. With the transfer season drawing to a close, here’s what is known so far about the new Team Falcons line-up and where m0NESY may fit into it.
Reports from credible accounts seem to agree that m0NESY will not be joining Team Falcons in 2025.
For one, leading CS2 website HLTV claims that G2 did not and will not seriously consider trading m0NESY. CS2 reporter neL also confirmed this, adding that the player was originally interested but executives refused any offer. Back in October, CEO Alban Delchelotte said that m0NESY was “at the heart of the project” and implied that he could become the team’s star. Head coach Wiktor “TaZ” Wojtas added after Shangai that G2 would only be losing one player.
After months of rumors, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac is set to transfer to the Saudi Arabian team in January 2025 under a three year contract. In the same interview from above, Delchelotte stated that part of the decision behind allowing NiKo’s departure was that they had Mario “malbsMD” Samayoa to replace him. As of now, there is currently no player in the position to replace m0NESY should be end up with Falcons.
In the last year, G2 has won three different major titles and placed as second runner-up at Perfect World Shanghai. A part of the team since 2022, m0NESY has a 1.23 average rating and is up for Player of the Year alongside CS2 wunderkind Danil “donk” Kryshkovets.
With competitive CS2 restarting in the beginning of 2025, Team Falcons has several open spots to fill.
As of the time of writing, Team Falcons only consists of two actual members, not including NiKo. These are four-time major winner Emil “Magisk” Reif and coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen. Unfortunately for the line-up, m0NESY remaining with G2 may mess up the current roster strategy. Milan “Striker” Svejda stated in a Twitch stream that MOUZ rifler Jimi “Jimpphat” Salo was also set to transfer to the Saudi Arabian team only if m0NESY moved as well.
The rest of Team Falcons’s highly rewarded roster remains benched following the failure to qualify for Shanghai. If needed, any one of them could step back in and fill one of the many empty spots. Benched players include:
m0nesy’s contract with G2 expires at the end of 2025. If he’s still open to transferring, Team Falcons may have the chance to grab him and majorly reshuffle their roster yet again.
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