TeSeS: "We've lost two finals in Rio, if it happens a third time I will never come again"

TeSeS and HEROIC will play in an arena for the first time since May after defeating bitter rivals Astralis.

HEROIC are into IEM Rio's playoffs, to mark what is already their best result since IEM Dallas in May.

Rio has been a solid hunting ground for the organization, whose Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller-led Danish iteration made the grand final in both 2022 and 2023 before ultimately falling short.

2024 sees the international HEROIC hope to right those wrongs, and it was fitting that their advancement match came against cadiaN, Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund, and Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard's Astralis.

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HEROIC lock up Rio playoff spot over Astralis

"I think it's pretty obvious, from the outside also, that the match means a little more than the usual ones," René "⁠TeSeS⁠" Madsen told HLTV after the Astralis game.

HEROIC will now face Vitality in a seeding match for semi-finals, the opponent who denied TeSeS the trophy in 2023, as they try to prove the corner they have turned in practice can be enacted in server, too.

Date	Matches
IEM Rio 2024
09/10/2024	Vitality 18:40 HEROIC	Match
07/10/2024	G2 Finished 10:13 HEROIC	Match
08/10/2024	HEROIC Finished 2:0 Astralis	Match

If you cannot see the SoundCloud embed above, you can listen to the interview here.

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Congrats, through to the playoffs. First of all tell me how that feels, just on its own?

It feels really amazing. Great win, and of course fun to play against Astralis and former teammates, but the thing that matters the absolute most to me is that we actually make it to playoffs and we do it convincingly. It's a very good confidence booster for the team. We're playing Vitality tomorrow and that will be a good test for us in a best-of-three, and we beat G2 in a best-of-one so beating Vitality tomorrow would be even better.

Let's talk about this match quickly, as you said playing against former teammates. Was it a bit of a grudge match for you, or what was the feeling like going into it?

I wouldn't say there are any grudges like that. I think it's pretty obvious, from the outside also, that the match means a little more than the usual ones, and it's just fun to play those. It's just about enjoying it.

There was a lot of yelling going back and forth throughout the match, what was the experience like in terms of that? I know cadiaN obviously gets loud, and it seemed like you guys were giving it back a bit too.

Yeah, I think it was mostly not me and sjuush doing the screaming. I think NertZ and kyxsan started doing it a bit more towards the end, but also in the first map. They're yelling for us (laughs).

I was talking to kyxsan yesterday and he said you've come close to playoffs so many times but always just fall short in the last match before you make it. Getting through now and HEROIC starting to show this upturn in results and progress, can you tell me about that personally since you, in the Danish lineup, were so close to top-one for so long and now it's been a really rough climb back.

Yeah, no doubt about it, no one on the team has been close to satisfied with what we have achieved yet, but we know that everyone is feeling that we have made some progress during the last month. All of this is a feeling that we have inside the team, but getting this external result in the bag, getting to playoffs here very convincingly, is a little booster for the team and actually seeing that what we are feeling is true. It's a great feeling and now we just need to go from here and make it even better.

What has it been like working with sAw for you, since that has been quite a change for this roster too compared to the old HEROIC lineup?

He has a lot of impact on how we play and how tactical things are. He's very analytical about things, and the thing that impresses me the most about him is that he always has an eye for what's most important for the team right now, what is the solution, where we need to move as a team. He's very aware of that, he's not wasting time on some silly stuff that might not even do anything or stuff like this. He's a really amazing coach and he's one of the reasons why everyone can see a path to where we want to be.

Lastly, I want to take you back two years, playing in Rio. There was obviously a bit of a heartbreaking situation for you (TeSeS smiles ruefully), obviously you made it to the final but heartbreak in the end. You're back in the arena now, don't know where you're going to start quite yet, but just tell me about coming back into this after that?

We've lost two finals here in Rio, if it's going to happen a third time I will never come to Rio again I think (laughs). It's tough, but it's so fun to be here in Brazil and to play in front of the crowd again. I'm so happy about it and so excited. They are an amazing crowd and I can't wait to play in front of them.

And playing tomorrow for a chance to make it to the semis, how do you feel about that?

I think it's going to be very fun. They have a very good team and they are playing very well, but I also believe they could have better results than they have. But let's see tomorrow, we're just going to bring our best game.