Nikola “NiKo” Kovač went on a Chinese FPS stream hours after his seventh consecutive grand final loss and said the quiet part out loud. The Falcons star told streamer Xiao Meng Ge that the CAC 2026 defeat was eating at him, singling out a critical whiff on Ancient at 9-10 as the moment everything unraveled.

“It’s becoming harder and harder to let things go,” NiKo said. “Tough moment, very frustrating for myself because it’s happened before that I’ve missed like this in a final. It’s a battle in my head.”

The Numbers Tell a Brutal Story

NiKo carries a 1.10 rating across 87 maps in 2026. Put him on a grand final stage and that drops to 0.89 across ten grand final maps. Seven straight grand final series, seven straight losses, and a 0.92 average rating across those series. The best rifler of his generation turns into a different player when the trophy is on the line.

The CAC final against Legacy laid it bare, map by map. Falcons took Nuke 13-11 to open the series, with NiKo and kyousuke providing impact rounds. Then Legacy flipped the script. NiKo missed a key shot at 9-10 on Ancient, and HLTV’s live blog noted what everyone watching already felt: that whiff broke him. He posted a 0.93 on Ancient, then cratered to 0.54 on Mirage and 0.74 on Dust2. Legacy won Ancient 13-9, Mirage 13-6, and Dust2 13-6 to complete the reverse sweep.

Meanwhile, kyousuke posted a 1.41 rating in the same final. The 18-year-old Russian has been the one Falcon who elevates in grand finals: a 1.30 rating in seven final maps versus his 1.17 regular average. NiKo’s trajectory goes the opposite direction. m0NESY could not turn the tide either, continuing his own difficult run on grand final stages.

“Not Acceptable”

NiKo did not soften the self-assessment. He acknowledged exhaustion, admitted karrigan and the team needed more time together, but refused to use either as an excuse.

“We expected ourselves to win this event and overcome the difficulties we have had in finals,” he said. “We were tired, we were exhausted, our game was not as clean as in Astana, but it’s still not acceptable that we lost another final.”

That last word matters. Falcons lost the PGL Astana grand final 3-0 to Spirit just one week earlier. Two grand finals in two weeks with the karrigan-era roster. Two losses. The pattern from the pre-karrigan lineup carried over without interruption.

Can karrigan Fix This at Cologne?

Finn “karrigan” Andersen joined Falcons on April 20, replacing kyxsan as IGL. The results since have been paradoxical: the team reaches finals with mechanical consistency, but something collapses when the last series starts. karrigan ran deep with FaZe for years, won trophies, and built a reputation as the IGL who unlocks star players. He has five days to solve a problem that goes beyond tactics.

The IEM Cologne Major 2026 starts June 2 in Germany. Falcons enter Stage 3 among the top eight seeds by VRS ranking, placed in the strongest pool of the tournament. The firepower is there: NiKo, m0NESY, kyousuke, TeSeS, and karrigan calling. On paper, this is a Major contender. On grand final stages in 2026, this is a team that folds.

NiKo’s career is defined by individual brilliance and collective heartbreak at the finish line. Cologne might be the event that breaks the cycle. Or it might be grand final loss number eight.

The Bosnian told the Chinese stream he would try to find positives from the CAC result. Right now, the biggest positive is that the Major is only five days away and there is no time to dwell.