During the Esports World Cup 2025 in Riyadh, gridge spoke with Falcons player Maksim kyousuke Lukin about his current individual form, the unusual practice conditions, the difference between the tournament schedules of Falcons and Spirit Academy, and a potential meeting with donk.
What do you attribute the dip in your individual form to?
It was simply a dip in my individual form—that is all.
— kyousuke
It was difficult to practice here. There is no normal FACEIT setup: I tried to play, but I had around 90 ping.
I kept playing anyway.
In Spirit Academy, you had tournaments almost every day, whereas now there are long breaks between events. Does that make it harder for you to stay in form?
Normally, it does not affect me if the tournaments take place in America, China, or Europe, where there are dedicated servers and you can play properly.
— kyousuke
But being here was uncomfortable because I had high ping, and neither European nor Middle Eastern FACEIT worked properly for me.
I only played against bots and played FACEIT two or three times a day.
Usually, when I am in Europe or somewhere else with good conditions, I play five or six FACEIT matches per day.
Are you looking forward to playing against donk, and would that matchup mean something special to you?
It would be fun to play against donk.
— kyousuke
It would be a hype match.
