Bubzkji on Heroic drama: "No one kicks people based on two persons' opinion"

The HLTV Confirmed crew went in-depth on HEROIC's dramatic benching of jabbi and stavn.

A plethora of the big transfer stories, both confirmed and rumored, were tackled in-depth on HLTV Confirmed’s most recent episode. One saga that was discussed in particular detail was the current dilemma in HEROIC.

Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller was recently moved to the bench by the Danish organization, only for Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund to follow him after it was revealed they were planning a move to regional rivals Astralis.

The kicker? HEROIC claim the whole situation arose because jabbi and stavn gave the organization an ultimatum, it was either them, or cadiaN. The duo then reneged on a promise to renew their contract, instead planning a future with Astralis.

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Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen kicked off the discussion by expressing his doubts regarding HEROIC’s version of events, suggesting the team would never kick cadiaN based on the will of two players.

"I don’t think those two were the main reason cadiaN was out. In this world, no one kicks people based on two persons' opinion. This has obviously been a team agreement, TeSeS and sjuush have 100% been on board, as well."

The Dane went on to give his thoughts as to why the players might have turned on cadiaN, identifying a key moment that seriously hurt morale within the HEROIC camp.

"I think they realized, probably, that they couldn't win the big titles," Bubzkji said. "In the middle of this year, at Cologne, when they lost to Astralis, was a crucial point for them really, they had to win and they lost and after that, the confidence has just been zero. I think it caused a lot of issues internally and, from what they said, it kinda made them remove cadiaN."

Zvonimir "⁠Professeur⁠" Burazin spoke of an interesting theory that has been making the rounds, one that Richard Lewis communicated on his stream. The suggestion is that stavn and jabbi gave their alleged ultimatum in the expectation it would be rejected and that they would be moved to HEROIC’s bench, paving the way for an easier eventual transfer to Astralis. It is, however, just a rumor.

The discussion eventually turned to the manner in which Astralis have impacted this saga, specifically focusing on their transfer strategy, which is speaking to or unsettling players in advance in order to get a more favorable transfer agreement before going through their organization. Milan "⁠Striker⁠" Švejda pointed out HEROIC’s inferred displeasure at the approach, referencing the statement they released with the news of jabbi and stavn’s benching.

"It's obvious what it is directed at, it's both aggressive and passive-aggressive towards Astralis," Striker commented. "The last line… 'that have a professional approach,' obviously the insinuation there is that Astralis didn't do it by the book."

Bubzkji suggested this type of approach is fairly standard in esports, and he referenced his own experience of transferring to Astralis to provide some context.

"There was a guy called Kasper… he would call you at five in the morning, asking 'hey, do you have a lawyer, do you do this?' They would always try to find loopholes, but every team does this. No one is interested in paying $200,000 for a player if they can get them for a lawyer fee or $500.

"I remember North tripled the amount of salary and the money they offered to MAD Lions, but I didn’t want to talk to those guys, so I said to MAD Lions, 'Hey guys, you can speak with whoever, but I'm not joining any team except Astralis.' I didn’t hear anything for six days, then they said they had found a solution and I got transferred to Astralis. There’s a lot of psychology in this, and I think Heroic and Astralis will play out the same way."

The Confirmed crew also briefly touched on the potential replacements HEROIC might have had planned for cadiaN, and Bubzkji gave a couple of options.

"It depends on how much money Heroic is willing to splash. There are a lot of IGLs out there," he said. "Magisk can be an IGL if they were willing to spend the bank on him, or they could probably get Snappi from ENCE, he would probably like to return to a Danish team at some point."