Heroic beat FURIA on home turf to make IEM Rio Major grand final

The Danish team advance to their first-ever Major final after overcoming the hometown favorites.

HEROIC are through to the grand final of the IEM Rio Major after defeating FURIA in the semi-final, overcoming the Brazilian team 2-1 (6-16 Inferno, 19-17 Ancient, 16-5 Nuke) to earn themselves a spot in the title-deciding match versus Outsiders.

The team overcame a home crowd that was roaring their support for FURIA, recovering from a blowout on their own map pick to close out the series. It is a momentous occasion for Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller in particular, who attended the first-ever CS:GO Major and has now captained a young Danish team to a grand final in his seventh Major appearance, and also further validates HEROIC's roster move during the off-season when they added Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard to replace Ismail "⁠refrezh⁠" Ali in hopes of breaking their title duck.

FURIA will likely head home head in hands after suffering defeat just shy of making the grand final in front of a Brazilian crowd at a Major, especially after already overcoming Natus Vincere in the quarter-finals. The team can still be proud of achieving their deepest Major placement to date, but will likely look back on the loss with much regret as they watch the final day of the Major unfold, as well as in the coming weeks.

HEROIC began their efforts to silence the home crowd in good form on their pick of Inferno, securing a pistol round victory and converting against FURIA's ensuing force-buy and eco to go up 3-0. A triple kill from Kaike "⁠KSCERATO⁠" Cerato denied the Danish team the chance to continue their streak once both sides had guns in hand, and from there the double AWPs of Andrei "⁠arT⁠" Piovezan and Rafael "⁠saffee⁠" Costa helped FURIA establish a foothold on the defense, further multi-kills from the pair punishing poor trading from HEROIC and enabling a seven-round spree for the Brazilian team to take the lead. cadiaN sniped down three to finally put a halt to FURIA's streak, and his team managed to add two more rounds to their tally in the half to give themselves a fighting chance, 6-9, heading into the side swap.

HEROIC's defensive efforts ended up leaving much to be desired in the second half ⁠— lack of initiative on their part and relentless aggression from arT gave cadiaN's men almost no room to maneuver, and FURIA quickly closed the distance toward the end of the map. Up against match point, HEROIC finally looked set to get their first CT round on the board as they went up 5vs3, but even that round failed to go their way as KSCERATO stepped up with a triple kill to allow FURIA to close out the map, 16-6.

Ancient began in similar fashion with HEROIC converting a pistol round win and anti-eco for a 2-0 start, only for FURIA to once again find the winning formula and secure five of the next six rounds to take the lead. The Brazilian team's lead didn't last this time, however, and HEROIC seized control of the map thanks in part to stellar impact from Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck, who stepped up with information plays and late-round multi-kills to help his team pull ahead 10-5 at the break.

HEROIC didn't let their foot off the gas when they began their own attacking effort, further impact from sjuush and an anti-eco ace from Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund helping the Danes cruise to a dominant 15-5 lead. FURIA refused to roll over and concede the map though, and despite having their backs up against the wall, slowly began to chip away the deficit. A key component in that effort was KSCERATO, whose defense of the A bombsite absolutely crushed HEROIC's T-side, with the 23-year-old Brazilian rifler mustering an 18-1 K-D and six multi-kill rounds to power a ten-round spree for his team to fight all the way to overtime. The immense comeback effort was all for naught in the end however, and HEROIC managed to post one T side round before pulling off a flawless CT side to finally close out their opponent's map pick, 19-17.

KSCERATO's individual heroics continued on Nuke, but it was nowhere near enough to keep FURIA in the map. arT's drastic fall off between the first map and the latter two was palpable and distinctly visible on the server as the Brazilian team continued to struggle, opening duels not going their way time and time again as HEROIC put on a masterclass on the T side. Excellent utility usage, trading, and playmaking was the catalyst in a dominant half for the Danes, with FURIA only just managing to claw back some rounds at the end of the half to keep themselves in the running, 4-11.

The second half began with similar shades to that of Ancient, HEROIC continuing their dominance at the onset to swiftly move up to match point, a 1vs4 clutch and ace from stavn helping on the way to the scoreline. Another slip up from cadiaN's men wasn't to be this time though, and they wasted little time in sealing the map away, 16-5, to book their spot in the grand final send FURIA packing from the tournament.