IEM Rio Major profile: Heroic

The Danish team will travel to Rio eager to prove that they can be world-beaters with Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard.

HEROIC are the sole all-Danish team in attendance at the IEM Rio Major, taking up the torch that was borne by the ever-consistent Astralis who will miss their first Major since forming in 2016. For Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's troops, the event in Brazil presents the chance to make a third consecutive playoff run at a Major and perhaps do one better following the addition of jabbi, who was brought on to be the difference they need to become a title contender on LAN.

Two Majors, two playoff appearances

If you only started following CS:GO during HEROIC's rise in the 2020-2021 online era, it may come as a surprise that the organization and core of the roster had never attended a Major together until PGL Major Stockholm in 2021. Even cadiaN, by far the team's most experienced member at 27 years old, has taken part in just six Majors in total, attending the inaugural DreamHack Winter 2013 Major, two more the following year, and an additional one with Rogue in 2018.

HEROIC missing out on Majors isn't through lack of trying either — the organization faltered in all of its prior attempts, making it to the Europe Minor on just one occasion just months after it was first founded in 2016 and otherwise failing to qualify in every subsequent effort. The current team has showcased much stronger form than their lineups of old, powering up during the online era as they garnered a handful of titles and made consistently deep runs in tournaments. The additions of Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali and Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck at the start of 2021 also paid off, elevating HEROIC into being a consistent top five team, and they proved able to remain in that bracket for a number of months upon the return to LAN.

The Danes traveled to LAN in order to shed doubts of their ability to convert their online form into consistent offline placements, and they seemed to achieve that goal when they made up for an initially shaky return to LAN at IEM Cologne with a 3-4th place finish at PGL Major Stockholm. They beat Virtus.pro on stage in the playoffs before narrowly suffering a defeat to G2 in a closely-contested 2-1 series.

A drop in form toward the end of the year brought back old questions about the team's consistency in the late stages of offline tournaments, particularly in regards to refrezh. The 24-year-old struggled at PGL Major Antwerp, and although HEROIC still managed a 5-8th finish in Belgium, the writing was on the wall. They made their first roster change in over a year and a half, breaking one of the longest-standing lineups in hopes of becoming a title contender on LAN.

jabbi-dabba-doo

HEROIC won the Pinnacle Cup Championship over domestic rivals Astralis after PGL Antwerp, a parting gift to refrezh as he was replaced immediately afterward by former Copenhagen Flames rifler jabbi ahead of IEM Cologne. The explosive impact of the 19-year-old was felt in practice by HEROIC, but not in their first officials, according to Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström.

HEROIC's form began to climb since that initial hiccup, a strong showing in the group stage of ESL Pro League and narrow loss to Natus Vincere in the playoffs showed that the new roster had what it takes to return to their prior level, and perhaps surpass it. Further credence to that prospect was offered at the IEM Road to Rio Europe RMR, where HEROIC made it through to the Legends Stage of the Major following victories over SAW, Sangal, BIG, Vitality, and OG, and the team added another win by qualifying for the BLAST Premier Fall Final through the Showdown upon returning home.

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Xizt: "I'm expecting a lot from jabbi, he's a huge talent"

The best team in Denmark, sans bragging rights for years

Part of HEROIC's consistency lies in the leadership of cadiaN, who continues to be the driving squad on the server both as their caller and as their emotional captain, often yelling and hyping up the team during matches. He is never shy to speak up in interviews and talk up narratives for the camera ahead of a match, sometimes resulting in added pressure upon his own team but also adding interest to games by way of speaking his mind.

As a unit, HEROIC has excelled at making the team better than the sum of its parts, combining team play and tactical re-aggression into a fluid system. Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund was previously the team's stand-out star and the one the team could rely on to bring them wins when their system was not clicking, but recent role changes and the onboarding of jabbi have allowed the team to more consistently come together to find wins.

Repeat offenders or dark horses?

As HEROIC turn their attention to Rio, their focus will be on maintaining the momentum of their recent results, something which may be made harder after a prolonged wait for the beginning of the Legends Stage on November 5. That same wait hasn't prevented them from advancing in their previous two Major attempts, though, and shouldn't do so this time around either, with the Danes heading into the top sixteen stage as one of the teams that should slot into a playoff spot.

What they can do from that point forward is where the interest lies. With so many strong competitors in contention for the Major title this time around, cadiaN's side are in with a fighting chance as a dark horse to make a heroic run to the title. More realistically, they will be simply looking to repeat their best result at a Major with a semi-final finish, or do one better with a grand final appearance. Any result of that caliber would offer the team relatively early proof that their roster change was the right move and that it is paying off in spades already.

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FaZe - To be released on October 30

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