In the latest episode of the Snake & Banter podcast, analyst Throin commented after Falcons were eliminated in the EWC semifinals, stating that "the Falcons are a team that defies judgment in terms of their strength."
Thorin：No one, including myself, can truly *figure out whether Falcons are actually strong or terrible. I don't even think they know themselves, bro. The moment karrigan enters the server, I bet he has no clue either: is he going to crush them on the ground, sweep them 2-0, let kyousuke farm a 1.9 rating, or will he charge in himself, get only two kills, and then lose the map 13-something. You know?
Before they won the Major, everyone said they couldn’t win a Major; once they actually did win one, everyone immediately changed their tune, claiming they were going to dominate an entire season and take every championship. And I think no one—not even they themselves—*knows how we should truly evaluate Falcons.
Thorin: Seriously, I do feel that—though, look, I don’t think they usually lose to some garbage team—I actually think this (their inconsistency) itself is a signal. But then again, for example, Legacy is actually pretty strong, so losing to them isn’t something I find all that shameful. But I do have this feeling: anyone who watches that Major and then immediately concludes that "Falcon will dominate every tournament from now on"—bro, that’s something I can’t really get behind.
I even went back to rewatch that Major, and the more I reviewed those matches, the more I realized: apart from the finals, almost every game was a near-upset. I think the only thing that fooled everyone into believing they had "dominated the entire tournament" was that finals match against Team Liquid. In reality, throughout the entire Major, they were barely scraping by with narrow wins, pulling out miracles from thin air to save the day, and relying on their superstar players to step up and carry them through life-or-death matches.
Thorin: So I have to say it myself: I have no fucking idea, bro. Part of me wants to act tough and drop a hard truth: karrigan has a scorching hot kyousuke and m0NESY. But if you noticed, I haven't really been confident enough to declare "Yeah, they’ll stomp Vitality into the ground" along the way. I’m scared, you know? So—let me just be straight: the real reason I’m backing Vitality is that it feels safe, right? Stable, comfortable. I know what kind of team they are, I know their players’ skill level, and all their roles are running smoothly. It just feels like the most worry-free option, so I’m going with it. I’ll just throw my money into a broad index fund—you know, I’m not gambling on some get-rich-quick single stock, I just—yeah, I just want those steady quarterly returns, and that’s enough.