HEROIC bench xfl0ud

The Norwegian organization is now down to three players on the active roster.

HEROIC have announced that Yasin "⁠xfl0ud⁠" Koç is being moved to the bench, bringing to an end the Turk's six-month stint on the start roster.

The news comes not long after the conclusion of HEROIC's BLAST.tv Austin Major campaign, where the team came agonizingly close to a Stage 3 berth, only to exit Stage 2 at the hands of underdogs Nemiga.

xfl0ud's benching marks the beginning of a significant period of change for HEROIC, who are set to say goodbye to Eetu "⁠sAw⁠" Saha and Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García in the off-season as the duo depart for G2.

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SunPayus and sAw to join G2 after Austin Major

HEROIC have not announced a replacement for xfl0ud, but they have a replacement ready to go on their bench in the form of Linus "⁠nilo⁠" Bergman, who has been linked with a return to the active roster by a recent report by SheepEsports.

The highly-rated young Swede joined HEROIC at the start of the year but went straight to the bench due to "personal circumstances that made the significant leap to tier-one Counter-Strike particularly challenging at this time."

SheepEsports also reported that the organization is set to sign Gleb "⁠gr1ks⁠" Gazin and Tobias "⁠TOBIZ⁠" Theo.

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HEROIC issue update on nilo as Maden steps in for Bounty Finals

The announcement of xfl0ud's benching comes as something of a surprise as HEROIC enjoyed a positive first half of the year, with xfl0ud being one of the team's best performers statistically despite often being the tip of their spear.

Thus far in 2025 HEROIC have won CCT Global Finals and MESA Nomadic Masters Spring, and made it to Stage 2 of BLAST.tv Austin Major, all with xfl0ud sitting second for rating amongst the team (1.12) and taking the majority of their opening attempts (29.8% across both T and CT side).

"I think I played an important role in our success this season. I don't think I had a bad season, in fact I often thought I reached my own prime performances individually," the Turkish rifler said in an X statement.

"I don't know what awaits me in the new season, but rest assured that I will return stronger at the first opportunity thanks to the motivation my progress this season has given me."

HEROIC have, however, struggled to translate their success in lower-tier competition to the biggest events, failing to make the playoffs of IEM Dallas or ESL Pro League, exiting IEM Katowice in the play-in, and failing to make Stage 3 of the Major in Austin despite being favored to do so.

Considering the announced changes, HEROIC are left with:

Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng
Simon "⁠yxngstxr⁠" Boije
Andrey "⁠tN1R⁠" Tatarinovich

Yasin "⁠xfl0ud⁠" Koç (benched)
Linus "⁠nilo⁠" Bergman (benched)