A quick look at FalleN’s 20-year Counter-Strike career

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, one of the most beloved and most successful esports players in the history of Brazilian Counter-Strike, is nearing the end of his career.

In a recent tweet, he stated that he’s been playing the game for 20 years. That’s a very long time to dedicate to a single game and it’s comparable to the amount of time dedicated by the greatest athletes to their sport.

Career highlights

FalleN has won more than $1.14 million just from prize money alone. That clearly suggests that he’s been quite successful, despite the fact that his first 10 years and his final five were a bit of a mess. Counter-Strike is an esport in which it is extremely hard to stay at the top.

You can climb the ladder and reach the number one spot if you’re highly dedicated and exceptionally talented, but even the very best don’t stay there for long. We usually see players and teams being among the top three in the world for just a few seasons.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course, but not that many of them. Two players that come to mind are Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev and Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut. But even they have peaks and valleys.

In FalleN’s case, the peak was like Mount Everest, but it only lasted for several seasons, between 2016 and 2018.

In 2016, while he was playing for Luminosity Gaming, FalleN won one of the most prestigious tournaments in all of esports for that time: MLG Major Championship Columbus.

The whole event was spectacular and the Grand Final against Natus Vincere marked the beginning of an era for FalleN. Back then, s1mple hadn’t been signed yet by the Ukrainian organization. This would happen a bit later.

Immediately after this epic victory, Fallen went on to win two more important trophies. One at ESL Pro League Season 3 and another at ESL One Cologne 2016. After that came the highly successful 2017 season. That season, just like in 2016, Marcelo “coldzera” David won the best player in CS:GO award.

Thanks to his performance and FalleN’s leadership, SK Gaming, their team at the time, won six S-tier trophies. We rarely see such a level of dominance in this game and that is why FalleN became a very popular South American player. Years later, despite all the failures and disappointments, he is still highly respected in Brazil.

Header: ESL