The godfather of Brazilian Counter-Strike Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo is already making retirement plans and setting his next goals after he’s done playing CS:GO competitively.
The 31-year-old is currently playing alongside Fernando “fer” Alvarenga and Lincoln “fnx” Lau, two of the teammates that helped him achieve back-to-back CS:GO Major titles in 2016. The project housed by Imperial is called “Last Dance,” a reference to the Netflix documentary about Michael Jordan’s last season with the NBA Chicago Bulls, and it might indeed be FalleN’s last team as he plans to stop by the end of 2023.
“You cannot do the same thing your entire life, it’s impossible,” FalleN said on the Monkey Business Show podcast alongside OG founder Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein and CEO JMR Luna on July 26. “Maybe I’ve been thinking about that myself lately because I’m going to stop sometime soon, in the next year and a half, something like that.”
After setting his possible retirement date as a player, FalleN went on to explain how it’s a difficult decision to make because of how much of his life he’s dedicated to Counter-Strike. The Brazilian has spent the last 17 or 18 years of his life playing, and on top of that, he has also helped to develop Brazil’s CS:GO scene by giving classes, creating content on YouTube, and representing the region overseas.
Although FalleN is planning to hang up his mouse and keyboard, there’s a possibility he’ll remain in the competitive landscape as a coach, but that is complicated because he’d have to plan his life in the same way he does as a player. Content creation, on the other hand, seems a better fit, according to FalleN.
“Sometimes I feel the itch of going into coaching and helping other teams to succeed and get wins,” FalleN said. “But at the same time, it would be complicated because it’s kind of the same life that I live right now, where I don’t get to spend too much time at home.”
“I really like streaming, I really like creating content and being in touch with people. Streaming is pretty cool because I would be able to stay at home, and that’s something that I think about,” he added. “I really like the teaching part of the game, where I can develop new players. I’m really fascinated by it. I have a lot of knowledge that I really know how to pass on. I know things that can make people better. That’s what I did a long time ago, and maybe when I finish [my career] I can go back to it.”
FalleN’s next challenge as a player will be to help Imperial to qualify for IEM Rio Major, the first ever Valve-sponsored tournament held in Brazil, which will run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 13.
