Laurentiu “lauNX” Tarlea’s move should be being held in higher regard as a coup for Falcons, although sadly it has since become overshadowed by the pure insanity of rostermania in tier one.
A move that he describes as coming at the “right moment” BLIX sat down with lauNX to discuss the end of his time on Sprout, as well his excitement for joining up with his new teammates Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt and Alexandre “bodyy” Pianaro, teammates he says that playing with is something he was “dreaming of” when he was younger.
“When I found out that Falcons are interested in me I instantly knew this is the move I want to make, playing with players like NBK and bodyy is something I was dreaming of when I was younger, so for me to play with them right now is unbelievable.”
Describing his time with Sprout as a “really nice adventure”, it was with the German organization where he and new Astralis member Victor “Staehr” Staehr burst onto the tier one stage with their qualification for the Legends Stage at the IEM Rio Major. A roster that was brimming with potential, unfortunately, they couldn’t maintain their success as time went on.
“The team was in a slump and I was feeling completely burnt out and without motivation for a couple of months,” lauNX told BLIX, “from my point of view, we made some changes that ruined the team chemistry and because of that we started to lose a lot and no one wanted to play at one point. January to early May was a disaster for us.”
Now a member of Team Falcons, he describes the opportunity to be linking up with NBK- and bodyy as “unbelievable”, an opinion that, from our point of view, is incredibly believable considering his young age and the legendary French teams he would have grown up watching.
Just one of three new players joining Falcons, the other two being Milosz “mhL” Knasiak and Mohammad ‘BOROS” Malhas, the Romanian has high hopes for the level their combined firepower can reach with this new team.
“At this point, I think we can be a consistent top ten-fifteen contender if we all click together and we put in the work needed.”
Clearly inspired by his countrymen and new NAVI signing IVan “iM” Mihai, lauNX says he wants the team to be in the “Champions Stage at the first CS2 Major”, but besides that, he would also like to be “qualifying for most of the tournaments and maybe even win a few of them.” Certainly lofty ambitions.
By his own admittance, it’s a “hard task” but with a cheeky grin he furthers this by saying:
“It’s not impossible if we work hard enough for it, we have an insane amount of experience and firepower in this lineup so it will be just a matter of time and work until everything will work like a ‘smooth machine’.”
Aware of his own inexperience and the work he can put in while now being on the same team as players with plenty of experience winning the world’s biggest tournaments, he ends the interview by saying what he hopes to gain from both bodyy and NBK-.
“Playing with players like NBK and bodyy is something that will help me become more disciplined and better as an individual. The only thing I think I am missing right now as a player is discipline and I am trying my best and working my ass off for this at the moment because this chance can be my icebreaker.”
