YEKINDAR on a return to IGLing: "I've learned a lot, but maybe I'm not 100% ready"

Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore from Dust2.us met with FURIA's Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis at BLAST Rivals 2026 Season 1. The Latvian rifler spoke about FalleN's retirement, the Brazilian fanbase, and a potential return to in-game leading.

Find the video interview below with a full transcription underneath. All questions and answers have been slightly edited for length and clarity.

How is the team feeling about being unable to secure the third-place finish at FalleN's last event in Brazil?

Overall, we're not too sad about it. To some degree, of course we want to take a map or win a game or secure a title for FalleN, but at the same time, life is always like this. It's not necessarily always going to go the way you want it to go, but in my personal feeling, it was amazing to play in front of such a crowd and truly feel this energy and enthusiasm from the fans.

It was also a great opportunity to play against such strong teams as Falcons and Vitality. I believe everything was decided in the details. Coming off our start of the year, we are improving a lot, especially after not qualifying for Rotterdam Finals. We had some time to prepare the maps and to discuss some details, change up the system a little bit, and make it a little bit more comfortable. Rio was a great step forward. Even though we lost those two games, any of those maps were winnable. Maybe some other day we could have won those maps, but it is what it is.

What's that like to be embraced by the Brazilian fans?

It feels great, always in my heart and in my mind. I remember the times when during Liquid, it was very hard. Coming into Rio, this was something truly amazing. I was joking with the guys. They're like, "Oh, you've played in Brazil, but you never really felt how it is. It's going to be insane." And I was like, "How insane can it be?" It can be very insane. It was truly amazing, and I'm very thankful for each one of those fans that came in to support not only in the arena but also outside of the hotel or met us outside somewhere. This is truly something that I'm going to be keeping in my mind for the rest of my life.

FURIA brought you back to tier one after such a tough time on Liquid, and Fallen especially played a role in that. What are your feelings about all this?

Of course it's sad when such a legend is leaving competing, especially since in this last year, there's been a lot of connection built in between us and FalleN. Truly, I gave in a little bit to emotions as soon as FalleN started talking about family, started crying and everything. It was impossible to hold it in, but at the same time, I'm very happy for him, because he was thinking about this for a long time. Staying here and competing only just because you don't want to leave us behind is, in my opinion, the wrong position, and I'm truly happy for him to take the final step and announce his retirement. I'm sure he has changed the lives of many, and there's probably even more to come. He's truly an idol, a legend of the game.

At some point, I was thinking, should I write something? Should I post something or whatever? But then I thought, there's still six months. I'm going to enjoy the six months, and then I'm going to truly say goodbye.

Is there any expectation or a strong desire to get FalleN one more trophy before he retires?

Yeah, it would be great, but many times it's something out of our control in terms of the game being so competitive right now. You truly need to have an edge during the day, and it even starts with the sleep you had. All the little details matter against the strongest teams in the world. That's what we saw in Rio, and this is something we're going to focus on. I truly believe that hard work pays off. If fate is going to give us the opportunity to congratulate FalleN with another title, that would be amazing.

Knowing that you've beaten the juggernaut of Vitality, how are you feeling in this event if you do meet them in the playoffs or even a finals birth?

It's very hard to play against them. They're an amazing team. Their system is set up in a way where they're all comfortable, and it's the best possible system for that team. They have amazing individual players, closers, and openers. So, they're truly great all-rounder team, but Rio also showed us that we were very close to winning. Maybe we get one more round. Maybe their economy is going to be bad.

It's not a given that if it were a different day, we would win, but there was definitely a possibility. This is something that's keeping us going forward. You lose 13-6, and then you understand. It's, very hard and you don't know what to change, but here we knew exactly what to pinpoint and why we lost that game. The work never stops.

Is a return to IGL'ing something you want and think you can do?

It's something that I see maybe doing in the future of my career. If it happens to be now, then well, I'll take it. To some degree I've learned a lot, but maybe I'm not 100% ready to IGL. If that's something that my team is going to be needing, then yeah, but there are many different things that are going to be the deciding factor. It's which players are going to be available on the market, which roles are going to be tossed around the team. Maybe you can take somebody who can replace FalleN's roles and can also IGL. Maybe you take somebody who is replacing FalleN's roles, and then I have to IGL, or maybe KSCERATO goes anchor, and you find a rotator who's also an IGL.

There's many different things that you can change up, and everything's going to be dependent. There's definitely already some ideas and talks happening, but it's very hard to predict how the market is going to be during that time. At the end of the day, if the team think it's going to be best case for me to IGL, then I'll have to take it.

Does the team still speak Portuguese at all, and do you think that would have to change if you were to take over?

I personally do not mind people speaking their own language, especially in clutch situations. I truly advocate for people creating their own plan and playing the game themselves. In some hard situations where these communications are not happening, a secondary caller or an IGL or somebody who's a little bit more active vocally is trying to help and navigate the people. For example, me and Danil are speaking Russian when we're playing sides together or in clutches. It comes to a level of comfort. I truly believe that the highest level of comfort you can get is when you speak your native tongue, and if it's not bothering anybody, then there's no problem.

How is your Portuguese, as someone who speaks three or four languages?

I'm learning Portuguese, but I'm not studying it. I can use Duolingo; I used to have a 180 day, 170 day streak or whatever, but I'm not necessarily going to a teacher and trying to study it. Because I have so many Portuguese people around me and because I hear Portuguese every day, you pick up phrases, some words, and some slang. It's very cool. I truly enjoy learning anything new. It's not only languages or any different games or whatever. It would be nice, of course, to learn Portuguese. Maybe I'll learn Portuguese faster than yuurih will learn English, but I'm trolling a little bit.

How are you feeling about your showdown with GamerLegion?

There's been things in the media around GamerLegion, but honestly, right now we're very focused on ourselves and our own improvement. We don't really care that much who we play against. I truly believe that GamerLegion is a team that's able to beat top teams nowadays. Any tier two team can beat any tier one team if the tier one team is making mistakes. Who's going to have a better day? We're careful, but at the same time, we're not scared. We're ready to play, and we're ready to improve and try to be the best version of ourselves.