HEROIC go two for two against Liquid

The new-look HEROIC have returned to winning ways with their full roster.

HEROIC have defeated Liquid in the opening round of the IEM Katowice Play-In with a 2-1 scoreline (9-13 Anubis, 13-11 Nuke, 13-8 Dust2). The result marks HEROIC's second straight victory against Liquid after they defeated them in the BLAST Bounty online stage.

The match started on HEROIC's pick of Anubis, where Liquid took the series lead after a map filled with tech issues and emotions boiling over on the HEROIC side.

Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha's troops fought back with aplomb, however, and edged out a close Nuke map before putting together a dominant CT side on Dust2 to stay in the upper bracket, where they will face off against Eternal Fire, while Liquid will meet Complexity in the lower bracket.

Date	Matches
IEM Katowice 2025 Play-in
30/01/2025	Eternal Fire 19:10 HEROIC	Match
31/01/2025	Complexity 13:30 Liquid	Match

Liquid under further VRS pressure

One of the biggest talking points around Liquid coming into the game was their curious decision to skip PGL Cluj-Napoca and the impact that could have on their VRS ranking. After their loss today, Russel "⁠Twistzz⁠" Van Dulken's men lost 24 points and fell below FURIA in the Americas ranking.

During an earlier desk segment, both Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović and Eefje "⁠sjokz⁠" Depoortere confirmed that the decision, which could prove to be very costly come the next batch of tournament invites, came from the org and not the players.

Read more

Strike #1: Liquid's Cluj mistake

NertZ denied his revenge

Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz left HEROIC to search for pastures new during the winter break and was full of fighting talk ahead of today's game.

"The game being online was a big factor," the Israeli rifler said about their previous loss. "They are good players, but I will say [they're] online gods, let's see if they will do the same on LAN."

HEROIC's performance did more than enough to answer the critics, though, while NertZ couldn't build on his impressive 1.79-rated offensive side on Anubis and finished the match with a middle-of-the-board 1.03 rating.

tN1R keeping up Bounty form

Andrey "⁠tN1R⁠" Tatarinovich became an unexpected signing for HEROIC during the winter, but he hasn't looked out of place against higher-ranked opposition.

The Belarusian rifler had some standout moments in the online portion of BLAST Bounty before he missed out on a Finals appearance due to visa issues, but his IEM Katowice opener proved he can do it on LAN, too.

He topped the board on Anubis (1.23) and Dust2 (1.42) and was a disruptive force throughout the match, winning 10 of his 12 opening duels.

While HEROIC's biggest name, Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García, was unable to activate on the first two maps, he joined the Belarusian on Dust2 to get the team over the line.

"I didn't pop off at all, but my teammates played so well on LAN," the Spaniard said with a proud smile before admitting he is enjoying his new environment. "I really wanted to come to this team because I needed a refresh, I needed new players around me."