HEROIC secure playoffs at Elisa Masters

ENCE were playing catch-up all series long as HEROIC claimed their spot in the Espoo arena.

HEROIC have joined The MongolZ as top seeds in the Elisa Masters Espoo semi-finals after claiming wins over Rebels and ENCE in the group stage.

Dominant starts on all three maps earned the European squad a flawless record in Espoo, but the playoffs spot didn't come without some struggles in closing out big leads for HEROIC.

In their best-of-one opener against Rebels, HEROIC relied on the Poles' headless rush in round 19 and a perfect kyxsan lineup in round 23 to overturn a bad start on the CT side of Anubis.

They then nearly let a 12-4 lead slip on Vertigo against ENCE, only to close it out after six unsuccessful attempts with a halfbuy rush through a smoke on Ramp. Nuke was a similar story, with a Damjan "⁠kyxsan⁠" Stoilkovski play in a 3v5 on the lower bombsite effectively preventing the team from letting the game go to overtime from an 11-3 advantage.

Unable to make the landing stick in the end, ENCE fall to the decider match in Group B to play against the winner of Rebels vs. 9z.

Meanwhile, HEROIC await the result of Friday's match between JANO and B8 to find their Saturday's semi-final opponent.