sAw on leaving HEROIC: "The positive is that I feel the team has been left in a good place"

The Finnish coach is happy with the rebuild he and his team have done in 2025.

HEROIC lost another core to Falcons at the start of 2025, which meant Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha was tasked with taking charge of the rebuild around the ex-Sangal core.

The team had a solid if unspectacular year, during which they won an international LAN in MESA Nomadic Masters Spring, and they continued to exhibit solid form by qualifying for the Austin Major.

In the States, they progressed through Stage 1 before being eliminated by Nemiga with a 2-3 record, but coach sAw said he is still satisfied with HEROIC's season in a post-match comment with HLTV.

"I think we still didn't show the peak HEROIC, but we were able to grow during the season, and that's the most important thing," he said after his last appearance in a HEROIC jersey ahead of his G2 move.

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Commiserations on the loss, a tough result today. How do you feel after getting eliminated?

It feels pretty sad, of course. Especially since the first stage was a bit better than the second one, and it doesn't exactly feel like we played better teams in a way. I think it was more about us, how we were able to play, and what we were able to show.

I think we weren't able to show the best version of HEROIC. It's a bit hard to be consistent like all the time, but we just lost too many crucial rounds, made too many crucial mistakes, and that ended up costing us the slot to the next stage. It sucks, of course.

You said you lost some crucial rounds. Was that maybe down to the players feeling a bit more pressure in this stage?

It's possible there's more pressure on this stage, but I feel like it's quite the same overall. I think it comes down to consistency in the end, like I said. When this [stage] doesn't go as smooth, that can add up to the pressure when your back's up against the wall and playing a 1-2 match, then a 2-2 match.

You know that either you go home tomorrow, or you are gonna stay in the tournament, and that adds up. But I felt overall, the mental and [our ability] of staying in the game was pretty good. Just some nerves, some crucial rounds, which you saw many of them on Mirage. So many force buys going back and forth. On the CT side, we couldn't get anything going on until late in the half, so it's like small situations, small things that usually can work for you or against you in CS.

Looking back on this season with HEROIC. You won a LAN in Mongolian, now you made the Major, but you exit in Stage 2. How happy are you with what the team achieved across these few months?

I'm quite happy in a way, because from the start of the season until this point, it was a rebuild. Getting the Sangal core, then adding two players to that and figuring out how everything works… In these kinds of situations, I usually consider the first season to be a season to stabilize things, make things more consistent, and have fundamentals like that.

We were able to reach that, we were able to do that with a good rise, and I think right now the team is getting to a point where there's more stability, routine, and there's everything put into place. I think we still didn't show the peak HEROIC, but we were able to grow during the season and that's the most important thing. Also in terms of the rankings, I think the team is in a good place for the next season.

You're leaving HEROIC after this. Does it feel good to leave the team in a good state, as you said?

You can say it's both-sided, I guess, there are positives and negatives. The positive being that I feel like the team has been left in a good place, but then maybe the negative side, at least from my personal point of view, is that maybe it could also be nice to continue and see how far we can go with this lineup because I think we can go further.

Right now, it's a lot about getting experience from these tournaments, and then I think you can show what you learn [from that] in the next season, so in that way, it's a shame. But on the other hand, it's a new opportunity in G2, and it was the decision I made. I'm happy with both, and I think it's a happy breakup.

You talked about when you came to HEROIC, it was a rebuild. I guess something similar is going to happen in G2, maybe on a smaller scale, with you and SunPayus coming over. Are you excited for your new chapter, and do you think that the new G2 team has more potential than HEROIC? Was that maybe a reason why you chose to move?

I think there is a lot of potential in G2, and there are gonna be similar things [there.] I think this season for G2 has been really shaky in terms of what's happened with the roster, results, and everything. In the next season, with us going there, it's a similar thing where we need to find stability and consistency.

Of course, the goals are gonna be high, but I think we got what it takes. It's just gonna be about working hard, putting in the hours, and with time, I think we will reach those goals. The potential is there for sure, I'm excited to go and start the work.