Heroic: "We're no longer satisfied with being a top-ten team, we're aiming at the title every time"

The Danish powerhouse discussed community pressure, the return to LAN, and Nicolai "⁠HUNDEN⁠" Petersen's sudden withdrawal ahead of IEM Cologne.

HEROIC are about to enter the opening round of IEM Cologne, which will see the Danish side attempt to prove doubters wrong after a vocal part of the community has been questioning the Danish team's improved results over the past year since the competition moved online. Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller & co. are set on a collision course with Spirit in a match scheduled for Friday at 13:30 in the opening round of Group B, which also features Natus Vincere, Renegades, FURIA, Vitality, Astralis, and FaZe.

The entire lineup, including their mental and performance coach Troels "⁠robl⁠" Robl as well as physical coach Kasper Straube, took part in a press conference ahead of the kick-off of IEM Cologne, answering various questions surrounding the pressure factors of returning to LAN.

HUNDEN was an important point of discussion as well, after HEROIC announced, amid reports of Astralis' interest in the 30-year-old veteran, that their coach would not be traveling with the team to Cologne. The delicate topic was mostly swept under the rug by the players and support staff, however, and we didn't learn much about the abrupt move.

Note: The press conference took place before it was announced that one of HEROIC's players tested positive for COVID and that the team would be playing the tournament quarantined from their hotel rooms.

Taras Bortnik, GameInside.ua: You guys gained great success and established yourselves as a tier-one team and one of the top five teams in the world in the online era. Do you see this LAN as the challenge you needed to establish yourself as not only the "onliners" but in general as a top team?

cadiaN: I believe that the online era has been good to us. We have been showing a lot of good results and we definitely established ourselves as a different team than prior to the pandemic. People look at us in a different way now and we're happy that our hard work has paid off. If you look at the lineup piece by piece, actually everyone has won international titles. You can discuss the competition at some of them, but I don't think we're the team that has the most to prove at this tournament. However, we are of course eager to try and reclaim the trophy of ESL One Cologne, which is one of the most prestigious ones. We're ready to be here, not only to learn game by game but to make sure that we can hit the level that people have seen throughout the last one and a half years.

Taras Bortnik, GameInside.ua: Do you feel extra pressure, extra responsibility for defending the title?

cadiaN: Maybe there's a little bit of extra pressure, wanting to defend the title, but then again I think one of the key things about being a Heroic player these days is that, at every tournament you play, there will be pressure because the goal is always to win. We're no longer satisfied with being a top-15 or top-10 team, we're aiming at the title every time, so pressure is mounting and we're fine with that.

Milan Švejda, HLTV.org: How do you view the community targetting you and Gambit in particular as the two teams whose results they question the most? Do you think that is warranted?

Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund: I can understand the community and the way they see us and Gambit. It's not like Heroic won ESL Pro League or Cologne on LAN, so I understand it, but as Casper also said, we have all on different teams won some LANs internationally, so I don't think we are as inexperienced as the community say we are. I believe we can do it on LAN as well and I hope we can show it here in Cologne.

Anders Frost, Pley.gg: Sometimes people talk about a honeymoon period when a new team gathers. You guys won the ESL Pro League and did very well. Do you think this honeymoon period is over?

Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck: Of course we had a honeymoon period in the beginning, but I still think we have the high level of CS because we keep working hard every single day and every single practice. The structure we keep working on and the small principles, we're just getting a hang of it 100%, and I think we're close to it every single day, playing perfect CS.

cadiaN: I think also one of the key elements about a honeymoon period is the feeling of being a new, fresh team, you might feel like the previous issues that occurred with previous members is no longer there and you get a fresh start. I can only say that this group of players, with the people traveling here as well, has a very strong connection, and the team spirit and the atmosphere have never been better than they are right now. So in terms of honeymoon, in terms emotions and so on, I think we're still riding on a high and that's it. Some of the results have not been as good as the Pro League win, but we've also been hit by COVID during DreamHack Masters and we still managed to get a top four. This is also our first test at LAN and this is also where chemistry will show, so we hope to do well.

Anders Frost, Pley.gg: Were there any specific things after IEM Summer that you thought you need to improve on?

cadiaN: I think there were plenty of things to improve on from IEM Summer. Obviously, having a group stage exit is not something we're aiming at and it surprised us. However, I believe that it's part of the journey as well that you will have some bumps on the road. This was a natural one for us, and I'd rather have that kind of a wake-up call at that moment than having it at Cologne. There are a lot of things we can improve on, but if you had asked me after Pro League I would have said yes as well. I think there are daily things that we can do better, and we'll make sure to try to search for for that greatness.

Milan Švejda, HLTV.org: It has just been announced that you won't have HUNDEN with you at the tournament, and robl is going to step in. Can you comment on why he's not there and how that is going to affect the team?

robl: Obviously, I'm stepping in and I have less experience than HUNDEN, but that being said, this is the team here that won ESL Pro League, the same guys who are in the room. We feel confident that we can definitely do this, and this team, even being a young team, has a lot of experience. Everybody on this team can shine and I think we've proven that before and can prove again.

Milan Švejda, HLTV.org: How do the rest of the players feel about HUNDEN being out for the tournament?

cadiaN: We're mainly focused on what we're bringing to this tournament. If you look at what other teams have brought, the majority has brought a coach and a team manager, or a SoMe manager. If you look at what we have brought to this tournament, we have brought Troels [robl], who is our mental and performance coach, we have brought Kasper Straube, who is our physiotherapist and who is doing a lot of treatment on the players. Obviously not as much in these 72 hours of quarantine, but we brought yoga mats and other tools to stay active, to make sure that we get the blood flowing.

I think that's also a difference compared to the other teams, we have valued that it is important that we have Kasper here as well, to make sure that players will have the treatment and the necessary options of being fit both mentally and physically. And that's been the priority for us, to make sure we can perform as well as possible. That's where our main focus is at, it's at who we brought to this tournament.

Roman Petukhov, escore news Russia: Heroic's last match was about a month ago. Is that a problem for you to start such an important tournament without official practice?

René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen: I don't really think so because in the last months we have practiced a lot and added a lot of new stuff, tactics, and we have looked at why we didn't perform as we wanted at IEM Summer and fixed those mistakes. We have perfected our game much more than we had at IEM Summer, so I think we have something that the other teams can't prepare for, and right now we have a lot of stuff to look at, for example Gambit has played the CIS RMR, where we have a lot of footage of them. So maybe it's an advantage, but maybe you could also argue that we haven't played an official in a long time. I don't think it matters that much.

Matt Porter, Dexerto: cadiaN, with Gambit likely to be your main rivals once again, how hard is it to continually come up with strats and antistrats for such a dominant team?

cadiaN: I think it's difficult for sure, but I'm also very much looking forward to playing Gambit again because the series that we have had against each other has been highly entertaining, I'm assuming not only to play but also to watch. It's difficult to come up with new things when you meet each other a lot, but it's also been a theme on Twitter lately that maybe the oversaturation, people have focused too much on it. Which teams have actually played each other a lot other than NAVI and Gambit? I'm hungry to play Gambit again, I'm not like 'oh, damn, we have to play them again, that's the third time, that's annoying.' That's how it is for any team we are facing currently. I don't think we played against any team that much that it should be a problem for us. Like TeSeS said, we've come up with new things during the last month. Maybe this is just a strategic way of saying things, maybe we didn't add anything and we're just sticking to our old tactics. You'll have to find out.

Milan Švejda, HLTV.org: There are certain protocols and precautions that are being taken at the first LAN back. Can you tell me about how that affects the mood going into the tournament?

Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali: Of course it's not the same playing on LAN as it was two years ago, but I think taking things into consideration, I think it's a great product ESL is giving, we're given good circumstances. It almost feels the same - the missing part of course is the crowd, so pressure-wise it's not as high because we know there won't be ten thousand people screaming or lights in your eyes. We are going to treat it pretty well, I don't think there are going to be any issues, we just need to get used to it, new environment and so on. We look forward to it.

cadiaN: One of the key things that are important to remember about the situation is that we as a team have been very vocal to each other about returning to LAN. What kind of feelings do you have, is there any tension, are you feeling nervous, are you excited, what is the feeling? When you put those words out into the room and you do that in a safe environment where everyone can trust each other, you allow yourself to start the process of thinking, you'll already prepare mentally for how you'll act in the situation when tension or pressure rises. Of course, you can't 100% prepare for that, just like a penalty kick in soccer, but I believe you can have principles and you can have things that you'll lean on when the pressure is mounting.

The second part is also that an undervalued thing probably is that the Counter-Strike scene is completely different than it was two years ago. If you told me two years ago that at this point two years later I will have beaten Astralis three times in a row, I would have told you that you were joking, and I wouldn't have trusted you anyhow. But that is the scenario right now, the scene has changed, players who were inexperienced and young have won big trophies and played all the big tournaments for two years, and the biggest part of that is probably confidence. When you went to a LAN, a lot of these teams you believed would be very hard or close to impossible to beat, but now it's been more like that we eat them for lunch! We know that we can beat these teams, we've done it for one and a half or two years now, so the feeling of knowing that you're able to do it is going to give us a big chance of doing well here.

Harvey Rodgers, ScrivCasts: How are you guys feeling about NAVI at the moment? They just managed to take down Gambit yesterday, what are your opinions on that team?

cadiaN: I'll direct this question to sjuush. I'll just let you know in advance that he's usually not that impressed by anyone, so if you don't get the answer you're looking for then we can ask another one after.

sjuush: Yeah, they're definitely looking strong, but I don't think it's a team we can't beat. I don't look at them as an unbeatable team, but they're definitely looking strong at the moment. If we play like we should, then it shouldn't be a problem for us.

stavn: I think we have had some problems against NAVI online, but me personally, and I also think Casper as well, we have some good records against NAVI on LAN, actually, in my previous team as well. So I'm looking forward to play them on LAN.

cadiaN: Agree, agree! I mean the level that s1mple showed in that third map against Spirit [Editor's note: referencing Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev's 42-14 performance on the deciding map], there's no way he's going to produce that on LAN, right? His online performances in the last one and a half years, I don't know what this kid is up to, but I want to see it on LAN.