NiKo says: "Our plan didn't work" as Falcons stumble to a quarter-final exit against PARIVISION

NiKo admitted that Falcons' "plan didn't work, and [PARIVISION'S] plan worked perfectly" as the star-studded roster once more fell short of the moon they were aiming for.

NiKo had stoked the fires pre-game by suggesting PARIVISION weren't all that, but Falcons have historically had issues with Jame's team, as NiKo acknowledges speaking to Sebastian 'Horizzon' Lalic post-game.

"I'm not sure if we knew we wouldn't be struggling. I just think we didn't crack the code on how to play against them and what our approach should be. I think obviously this time around we started very slow on Mirage, especially me."

PARIVISION took nine clean on their CT side with everyone's favourite anti-hero Jame dying just twice, and NiKo failing to register a single kill - so starting slow was something of a euphemism, there.

"They definitely expected Mirage, and they definitely prepared for it. I'm not really sure, obviously it had an effect. They had almost a flawless half. So it was hard to play against, it felt like our plan didn't work, and their plan worked perfectly. So props to them for doing that."

Falcons came dangerously close to the comeback on Mirage, but fell just short - a story that repeated on Ancient.

PARIVISION hit 11 four rounds into the second half, as Falcons had just five, but five in a row for NiKo's men had them right back in it, until a clever smoke-blow and plant deny from Jame ruined the day and put PARIVISION on 12.

NiKo admitted that Jame is tough to play against, and that you're "kind of guessing where they're going".

"They go a lot in groups, a lot of heavy executes. Then from time to time they change it up, so you never know how to play against them. And then obviously all the saving and stacks, it's just a different kind of CS that they play. It's unusual.

"In the past, when I was in G2 and we played against VP for example, we didn't have struggles against them that much. Right now, he's really established the system well with the players that he has. He has full trust from everyone on the team and it's working really well for them right now."

Whatever Jame has going right now, it seems to be enough to consistently get the better of kyxsan, and m0NESY, simultaneously, and PARIVISION float on into the playoffs.

Aurora left with barely a scratch as they took down The MongolZ in two.

A flawless CT half on Inferno after an even first half was powered by a XANTARES-woxic duo, and woxic continued to find massive impact on Mirage in what was a relatively comfortable afternoon for the Turks - a much-needed relief after some of their shakier stage showings previously.

woxic told us what has made their CT sides so fearsome earlier today:

"It's just that we try to move around all the time, and take control.

"It's also that we decided not to always be under the shadow. Because sometimes, especially on Mirage, we were kind of feeling "did they boost in window?" "did they sneak out con?" those kind of things. When we just move around left and right, we have the idea of what they are doing. I think that has helped us to make the CT-side better."