Ilya "m0NESY" Osipov explained the reasons behind his decision to move to Falcons from G2. According to the AWPer, it wasn't planned right after the departure of Nikola "NiKo" Kovac, although it became a deciding factor, as he felt that they lost too much as a team. The AWPer shared this in the interview with Banks and Devilwalk on YouTube.
[My move to Falcons] wasn't set in stone. When HeavyGod joined the team… First of all, when NiKo left the team, it was hard for me to understand how we would play on the CT-side. Because he was doing a lot. He was kinda babysitting us, maybe [laughs]: where to rotate, what decisions to make, he had many responsibilities. And when we started playing practices, we had a lot of struggles. We tried to find our game, our identity on CT side, and we couldn't do it. We lost our big vocal voice. Everything was falling apart. We needed a lot of time. <...>
Check my career: Every year in G2, we were changing players. Every year. And in the end, we changed NiKo, and of course, it hit me pretty hard. I just started to play tilted sometimes.
M0NESY explained what role NiKo played in his career. According to him, the rifler made him rewatch demos and analyze his in-game decision more than before.
Reuniting with NiKo was very important. Because we understand each other very well in the game and everywhere else. We're very close in real life because of the amount of time we spend with each other. I'm not a guy who watches a lot of demos or rewatches games. I think for the last three years, I rewatched maybe two demos by myself. Usually, it was NiKo who was coming to me, saying, "Bro, you need to watch demos, stop playing FACEIT, you're just a nerd. Rewatch it, what did you do wrong here?" I was saying, "Yeah, yeah, I'll do it," and I didn't do it. He was doing it for me sometimes. He was saying, "Ilya, come to me. Why did you peek here? Why did you smoke? Why did you throw a flash without reason?" I started caring about utility more, about something in the game. I needed him more than ever, this guy. He was the biggest reason why I became better.
M0NESY left G2 after PGL Bucharest 2025. In the tournament's grand final, he lost to NiKo and his team, and it was a stomp. The next event for the duo will be IEM Melbourne, starting on April 21.
