Pinnacle Cup Championship is Heroic's event to lose

The pressure will be on the Danes to win a LAN event where they're the favorites, especially in the shadow of the other team that came of age during the online era, Cloud9, lifting the trophy at IEM Dallas.

Despite not having any LAN trophies together to back them up, the current HEROIC lineup is going into Pinnacle Cup Championship as the tournament’s overwhelming favorites, being the only top 10 team in the field despite trending downwards since the end of May. Having gone down from fourth to ninth place in the rankings since then, the Danes will be aspiring to win hardware against a field of teams all going through uncertainties of their own.

Going back to when the coronavirus restrictions around the world started to ease and international LAN play returned in 2021, HEROIC were one of the two teams that had made a big splash during the online era alongside the Russian squad now in Cloud9 (previously Gambit), even reaching the top spot in the ranking. They have since shown glimpses of that potential, but have been unable to hit the same highs on LAN. At IEM Cologne 2021, the event that got top-tier CS back on site, in-game leader and star AWPer Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller went out to say that he and his teammates were no longer happy with being a top 10 team and were aiming at taking the title every time. So far, such a title has remained elusive.

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HEROIC can look at Cloud9, who have just recently lifted the IEM Dallas trophy leaving behind teams like FaZe, BIG and ENCE, for inspiration, as they won their first LAN together in a similar situation as HEROIC are in now, when they took the grand prize at V4 Future Sports Festival 2021 over their Entropiq countrymen. For HEROIC, this Pinnacle Cup Championship could be a watershed moment after months of struggles to find their online form on LAN as a quick comparison between the two shows big online victories at IEM Cologne 2020 and ESL Pro League Season 13, which can be compared to a 7-8th place at IEM Cologne 2021 and a 9-12th place at ESL Pro League Season 15 on LAN.

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Not all of HEROIC’s performances have been underwhelming, however, as the Danes showed glimpses of their best selves at events of stature, including PGL Major Stockholm, where they were knocked out in a close three map semi-final series against a G2 fueled by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač playing at his best level. HEROIC also resurfaced after a slow end to 2021 at the turn of the year, going straight to the semi-finals of IEM Katowice before bowing out to the eventual champions and team of the moment, FaZe.

Another glimpse of potential was seen at the last Major, in Antwerp, where HEROIC reached the playoffs. On that occasion, cadiaN came out to say that the onus to win was on their rivals — a play to relieve pressure from his teammates —, but ultimately to no avail as Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and company took the series in three maps on their way to a grand final appearance.

Heroic have a clear opportunity to break the barrier and win a LAN in Lund

Now going into Pinnacle Cup Championship HEROIC have a golden chance to prove that they’re capable of bringing home a trophy on LAN, even if it’s not at one of the biggest events in the tour. This time there will be no shenanigans, however, as the responsibility to win as the tournament’s favorites will be squarely on HEROIC’s shoulders. Even the timing favors Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström and his men, who have been able to rest and work on their game since the Major ended. In Sweden they will be surrounded by a group of contenders consisting of three top 15 teams in BIG, Astralis and Imperial, that all traveled to the event in Lund shortly after their appearances at IEM Dallas without time to rest and reset.

HEROIC are expected in the playoffs no matter what as there are two spots up for grabs in the group which they share with BIG, one of the other teams with their eyes on the prize, especially after they just finished in 3rd-4th place at IEM Dallas. Playing spoiler in the group will be MIBR, coming in with Breno "⁠brnz4n⁠" Poletto for the first time on LAN as a full-fledged player of the team, and fnatic, who will play with a new lineup featuring Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen and Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi as well as a stand-in in Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg. An established and consistent lineup like HEROIC not making it out of the group would be cataclysmic for the team.

The juiciest moment HEROIC could have at the event in Lund would be playing Astralis, who are in Group B and could only meet their Danish countrymen in the playoffs. The bout would also come at a heated time between cadiaN and Astralis as the AWPer-IGL said in May during the HLTV Confirmed live show in Antwerp that "for me, it's an ongoing thing with Astralis and the organization. I dislike a lot of the things they stand for, so I have a beef with them not just specifically gla1ve."

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In that same interview, cadiaN also stated that his team still had some issues to polish to reach peak performance. "Decision making for sure, and communication," he said. "When the pressure got to us before sometimes, people would communicate less or not make plans, and now I have been saying 'let's rather make a shit plan and follow it, then we can learn from it, than not making a plan.' I can't make every plan."

In the end, though, at an event where HEROIC are the team to beat, there’s one surefire way that they make it to the top and break the seal of lifting a trophy on LAN together, which is with all of the players performing at their best. Only Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund matches his online and LAN rating in 2022, with 1.22 ratings in each, while the rest of the team dips in the more numerous and intensive offline matches against top opposition, from 1.10+ in 14 online matches to 1.05 or less in the 39 on LAN.