Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo at Dreamhack Malmö: Foto: Adela Sznajder, Dreamhack.

Roster changes in Astralis, Olofmeisters injury and Tempo Storm parting ways with their coach – there have been many changes in the CS:GO scene as of late.

We had a chat with Luminosity’s world famous leader, Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo, about the recent events and – probably his favorite happening – the international launch of Games Academy.

– I want Games Academy to become the best CS:GO club in the world, and the community will help us achieve it, FalleN says to Aftonbladet Esport.

In a little over a year, Luminosity Gaming have gone from being able to upset in best-of-one series to arguably being the best team in the world, after winning both the MLG major and the ESL Pro League finals. Behind it all lies hours upon hours of practice, and perhaps in particular one key player, Gabriel ”FalleN” Toledo.

Luminosity’s enormous success seem to shatter all excuses and explanations to ever cross the lips of a North American player. Most recently they won ESL Pro League in a nerve wracking best-of-five series against a surprisingly strong G2 Esports. Following the newly acquired title, Aftonbladet Esport had a chat with FalleN.

– G2 played super well that entire tournament, and as they showed after the event – beating Fnatic 2-0 online – they’re on the right way to reach the very top level of CS, the Brazilian star says and continues:

– I think they’re on the right path and with Adil ”ScreaM” Benrlitom and Richard ”shox” Papillon playing so well they are capable of beating any team in the world.

”I definitely think Astralis needed a change”

Right now, Luminosity are ranked as the world’s best team on Hltv.org, seemingly grabbing the spot from a crippled Fnatic who have been unable to fully recover after losing their injured superstar, Olof ”Olofmeister” Kajbjer. The goal now is to remain a dominant team. However, if history has thought us anything, it’s that reaching the top can sometimes be easier than staying there.

– Fnatic are definitely missing Olofmeisters game, he had so much impact for them. I think with time they’ll reorganize themselves. John ”wenton” Eriksson is a solid player, but they need to adapt to him. I think they’ll be strong again very soon, but I doubt they can reach the same level as they had some months ago, not without Olofmeister just because of how good they all were together.

Some have called you the best in-game leader in the world. It would be interesting to hear some of your thoughts on the roster changes in Dignitas and Astralis, seeing Markus ”Kjaerbye” Kjærbye and René ”CajunB” Borg swap teams.

– I definitely think Astralis needed a change, not sure if it was player wise or something else, but they decided to try a new talent. On the other hand, I think Cajunb will have even more hunger now to show that he wasn’t the problem and take Dignitas to the next level. I think it’s overall a good trade for both teams.

In other recent events, we saw Tempo Storm’s coach Luis ”peacemaker” Tadeu leave the Brazilian squad and take on a position in Team Liquid. According to FalleN, the decision to kick peacemaker came after a period with ”tense atmosphere” in the squad. However, it seems to mainly be the matter of roles in the team that sparked a roster change.

– Tempo Storm have been playing by their own standards for some time, even while peacemaker was still in the team. They felt his input wasn’t necessary any more and time will tell how important he was.

– On Sunday they lost 2-0 against OpTiC in a uncharacteristic game with very weak T-sides. It’s too early to say if peacemaker would’ve been able to help or not, but it’s a signal. His work with Team Liquid will show a lot as well. Time will tell.

Spreading knowledge

Other than leading the currently highest ranked team in the world, FalleN have also made a name for himself with the side project Games Academy. The project started out as a Brazilian organization dedicated to educate in esports – bringing the likes of today’s Tempo Storm to life. Soon it’s going to launch internationally.

– I want Games Academy to become the best CS:GO club in the world, FalleN says on the subject and continues:

– It’s already in Brazil and now I want to take all the knowledge to everyone willing to study and get better in this game anywhere on the planet. The community will help us achieving it, pro players are also willing to help, and others are willing to translate all the content to more than 15 languages. I’m so excited, It will be awesome!

How has the response been so far?

– Our community have always had our backs on every move we make, so they’re approving. We are a little concerned about losing some subscriptions from users that were there only for the classes, but I think with more exposure we’ll be able to achieve more. I hope foreign companies start looking into Games Academy to invest and keep helping us spread more CS into the world.

What’s your dreams for GA?

– My dream is to make it better and better, add more games, have a stable platform where we can change how people play the game for the better. Giving knowledge, tournaments to play and an atmosphere to find new players and create teams. Everything our ecosystem needs for a new player to have fun and get into competitive gaming.