Entering his 16th year in the pro Counter-Strike scene, Nikola “NiKo” Kovac has been one of the most prolific players that fans have seen over the years. He has established his dominance in the game and has been hailed as the legendary player that many fans have loved to watch dominate the game on the big stage.

At the age of 28, the Bosnian star has been one of the reputable players in the Counter-Strike franchise – being one of the few players who have gone through playing the first generation Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and now CS2. NiKo has shined bright in all three games, showing how great he has been over the decades.

But despite all of those great feats at an individual level, NiKo has been eluded from winning a single Major in the game – in all games. Sure, there’s a lot of great games played by the star, but that has all led to zero Major championships, and not being able to win a single massive tournament at the top of the Counter-Strike scene is not a good look at his legacy.

NiKo and the Chase for Majors

NiKo isn’t a winless star. He is known for being able to carry a lot of powerhouse teams to success – winning 13 S-Tier tournaments with the likes of G2 Esports and FaZe Clan. At this point, one can say that the Bosnian star is really a great player in his own right. But not being able to win the most prestigious of all tournaments in Counter-Strike is really a tough break – even for the so-called best rifler in the game.

After all these years, NiKo has not managed to get a single Major to himself, and now that he’s at the helm with Team Falcons, the star believes that he can still come up with a win and finally end that nightmarish drought that has haunted his legendary Counter-Strike career for years.

“I consider myself one of the best riflers in the game, but still there are some things that I need to achieve in order to consider myself even higher. So, yeah it's all about the work and the results eventually.” said NiKo about his chase for greatness in the game. “We obviously know that success is going to take time – it just requires time – but we have a clear goal and a clear plan. And obviously the better results and the sooner they come, the better it is; but our goal is to reach our full potential by the end of the season for the Austin Major that is happening in May.”

NiKo and the Falcons

Team Falcons, unfortunately, hasn’t enjoyed all the rainbows and sunshine to start 2025. For what it is worth, it has been a roller coaster one so far – but there’s at least potential in their chances of winning.

NiKo’s initial outing hasn’t been fun – losing out at the 9th-16th place in the BLAST Bounty Spring 2025. That’s not a good finish for a team that has the best rifler in CS history. They did improve in the later runs – finishing second in PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 after they finished in 13th-16th place in IEM Katowice 2025.

There are high expectations when you have the best player in the game, and this new project with the Falcons could well be the chance for NiKo to come up with a promising chance to win his first Major in a very long while.