kyxsan on joining Heroic: "I felt like an opportunity like this comes just once"

The Macedonian IGL continued his rapid rise by joining Heroic in December.

Just over a year ago, Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski was far from a tier-one player. He was turning out for Macedonian roster BLUEJAYS in several online competitions before Apeks came calling at the end of 2022. He would go on to break out under the Norwegian organization at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, where he and his team reached the semi-final.

His stock rose enough for him to now become the leader of the new HEROIC project, as the organization needed to rebuild after losing three members, including long-time captain Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller.

Ahead of his LAN debut with HEROIC, kyxsan sat down with HLTV to discuss his last year in the professional scene, HEROIC's expectations, and their RMR qualification.

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You sit here about to play your first LAN tournament as a Heroic player. How does that feel for you?

It feels good. I'm excited to play for this team and with these kinds of players. It's something I didn't expect a few months ago, but now I'm here and excited to start.

This isn't your first tournament because you needed to go through the open and closed RMR qualifiers. How much pressure did you feel going into that Major qualifying process?

There was a bit of pressure because, at the end of the day, it's the Major qualifier, and everyone wants to play the Major. So we felt a little bit of pressure, but I think it was nice that we played these qualifiers to have the first officials together and get ready for BLAST and some bigger tournaments in the future.

Were you worried about not making it through, especially because it's online and MR12?

It was rough with all the games, hard opponents, best-of-ones, MR12. There are many things that can go wrong, but I feel like everyone on the team felt confident, and we knew that we would make it at some point.

How much of a relief was it to finally progress through all of the stages and make the RMR?

It was a big relief because as I already said, the Major is one of the most important things for us and for every team. So it felt nice to reach the RMR at least, we will see how we will do there.

Do you think your experience of leading teams through open qualifiers during your BLUEJAYS days helped you in some way to prepare for this?

I would say yes because I've played so many open qualifiers, and I know how hard it is. Some of the bigger teams or names maybe haven't played a lot, so maybe it was harder for them. But I'm used to playing this kind of qualifier, so I think it helped me.

You were announced as the final player on the roster, but did you have any input into who the team signed?

Yes. I got approached by Heroic a while before it was announced. So when I got approached, the roster was not finalized yet. I was asked about my opinion about who should become a new player or new member of the team. So yeah, I was asked about who should play in the team.

Alongside you as the new IGL, sAw came in as the new coach. Did you build the team together, you would say?

I would say so, the first meeting I had was with sAw. Even in the first meeting, we already talked about who we want to bring, what if something goes wrong, and who is the backup option. But in the end, we ended up with this roster, and I'm happy with it.

Was it a tough decision to leave Apeks for a completely new team?

It was a hard decision because I really enjoyed my time in Apeks, even though it was not that long, only one year, I think we had good moments, and it was nice to play for that team. I felt like an opportunity like this comes just once. So I had to accept this offer.

Do you think the reputation of the organization and the chance to work with someone who developed a system with Snappi on ENCE influenced your decision?

Yes, sAw was one of the reasons why I chose to join this team. Because even in the past, I heard many great things about him. When I heard that he will be the new coach of Heroic, and they're interested in me, I was happy to hear that. I'm excited to continue working with him.

Moving on to Spring groups. You have quite a tough group, with VP, C9, and BIG. Do you feel you can get through to the Spring final?

It's hard to say because we are still a new team, and the only thing we played so far was an open qualifier against a few lower-tier teams. So it's hard to say how we will perform against the tier-one teams, but judging by the practice and the games we've played so far, I think we can beat anyone.

And more on a general note, what would you be satisfied with Heroic achieving from now until the player break?

We want to become a consistent top 10 team, attend all the big events, and hopefully win at least one big event.

Twelve months ago you were much lower down on the food chain. Then the Paris Major came, and now you're in Heroic. How do you feel about your last year as a professional player?

It feels unbelievable. A little bit more than one year ago, I was a BLUEJAYS player. We were like top 30 or top 40 in the world, and if someone told me that in one year I would be in Heroic, I wouldn't believe it. I feel like everything happened so fast, and I'm grateful I had a chance to play for Apeks. It was a big step for me, and the Paris Major was a highlight, I feel like that helped a lot with my transfer to Heroic. I'm really happy to be here, and I certainly didn't expect this one year ago.