Danny “zonic” Sørensen, the architect of the Astralis Counter-Strike dynasty and Major winner with Team Vitality, is heading to Saudi Arabia to sign with Falcons.
The five-time CS:GO Major winner confirmed today in an interview with Dexerto’s Luis Mira that he’s leaving Vitality alongside the team’s head of performance, Lars Robl, mere months after he brought the team a Major title on its home soil in Paris. Robl and zonic will start in their new roles for Falcons on Nov. 1.
Zonic is widely considered one of the greatest coaches of all time across esports. Under his guidance, the Astralis roster—a team that had previously always come close to a title but never achieved it—won four Major titles, three consecutively. In two short years, he won a fifth title with Vitality.
Rumors are already circulating about the potential makeup of Falcons’ CS2 roster. Several leakers are claiming that Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Emil “Magisk” Reif, two of zonic’s longtime players, could join the Saudi Arabia-based Falcons squad. According to the rumors, Falcons are essentially operating with a blank check, but Grant Rousseau, Falcons’ global director of esports, told Dexerto “they have come here because they believe in a long-term, sustainable project, one that is not about overspending or being stupid.”
Zonic will now take on a much taller task than the one he had when he stepped away from Astralis and went to Vitality. Vitality was already a strong squad at that time, boasting superstar Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut and veteran IGL Dan “apEX” Madesclaire—not to mention having partnered slots with BLAST and ESL. Falcons do not have partnered slots and are currently ranked 55th in HLTV’s world ranking.
The first Major in CS2 begins its qualification stages just two months after zonic will officially take the reins at Falcons—which might not be nearly enough time to whip up a serious contender. Many Counter-Strike fans will be curious to see whether the Falcons roster turns out to be a savvy management move or an expensive flop.
