Cloud9 rout Heroic in BLAST Spring Groups

The international team had a rough LAN debut against the in-form Russians.

Cloud9 are through to Group D’s upper bracket final at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups following a 2-0 thrashing of HEROIC. It was a rough showing from Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski’s troops, who were outplayed in every facet of the game in this one-sided series.

After a 3-0 run through the RMR closed qualifiers, Cloud9 have yet to lose a match or even drop a map this year. The hard work seems to be paying off for the Russian team as the first Big Event of 2024, IEM Katowice, looms large on the horizon.

“We are practicing a lot,” Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov said after the match. “It’s a good start. “We need to stay focused and keep improving. When the roster was created, we were thinking, ‘Oh my God, so much firepower!’ But it doesn’t work like this. Everyone needs to improve. We need to create chemistry between the players.”

Next up for Cloud9 will be Virtus.pro, a completely different beast. Asked about the upcoming derby, HObbit said: “It’s always hard to play against Virtus.pro. Jame’s style is special, but it’s working. It’s always interesting to play against them. Of course, it will be a special match. We will see."

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024
25/01/2024	Virtus.pro 16:30 Cloud9	Match

HEROIC got off to a bright start on their map pick of Mirage, romping to a 4-1 lead off the back of a trio of frags from René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen in the pistol round. But they quickly ran out of steam: the rest of the half was all about Cloud9’s near-impenetrable defense, as the Russian side went on a dominant 7-0 run, with Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov looking like his old self as he posted 13 frags and a 1.49 rating.

More misery was to come for the international team as Cloud9 added to their lead with an A execute in the pistol round. As the Russians moved closer to victory on the map, the game turned into a highlight fest. First, it was Ilya "⁠Perfecto⁠" Zalutskiy doind the honors, putting Cloud9 on map point with four kills in a 2v4 situation. Then, TeSeS rescued HEROIC with a 1v2 clutch.

The Dane’s clutch merely delayed the inevitable, though, as Kirill "⁠Boombl4⁠" Mikhailov put the game to bed in a 1v3 situation to deny Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi the ace.

Cloud9’s domination continued on Anubis, where they looked like the better team from the get-go. Every retake, every clutch went their way as HEROIC couldn’t get anything going on the offense and found themselves on the receiving end of some stunning shots, including a double no-scope AWP shot from Boombl4.

Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov had no intention to take pity on HEROIC and pulled off an ace in the pistol round to put his team on match point. HEROIC still made the following round competitive with a Scout and a couple of Desert Eagles, but there was no stopping the Cloud9 train.