Taking up the mantle left by the ever-reliable Astralis, who will miss their first Major since joining in 2016, Heroic is the only all-Danish team present at the IEM Rio Major. With the addition of jabbi, who was brought in to provide the difference they need to become title contenders on LAN, Casper “cadiaN” Mller’s team has the opportunity to make a third consecutive playoff run at a Major at the event in Brazil.
The Heroic’s Road So Far
If you just became interested in CS:GO during Heroic’s ascent in the period of 2020–2021, you might be surprised to learn that the team’s management and core players had never visited a Major before PGL Major Stockholm in 2021. Even cadiaN, the team’s 27-year-old veteran, has only competed in six Majors overall, including the first DreamHack Winter 2013 Major, two more the following year, and one more with Rogue in 2018.
Heroic failed in all of its earlier tries, making it to the Europe Minor just once shortly after its founding in 2016 and otherwise failing to qualify in every subsequent attempt. This means that Heroic’s failure to qualify for Majors wasn’t for lack of trying. The current squad has shown significantly better form than previous iterations, growing over the internet era as they won a number of titles and consistently advanced far in tournaments.
Ismail #refrezh Ali and Rasmus #sjuush Beck’s acquisitions at the beginning of 2021 also paid off, transforming Heroic into a reliable top-five team. They were able to hold onto that position for a couple of months after returning to LAN.
The Goals For IEM Rio Major
Heroic will be concentrating on preserving their recent success as they switch their attention to Rio, which may be more difficult after a lengthy wait for the start of the Legends Stage on November 5. However, that similar delay hasn’t stopped them from moving on in their previous two Major tries, and it shouldn’t do so this time either, as the Danes are one of the teams who should slot into a playoff berth going into the top sixteen round.
Where the interest resides is in what they can do after that. Since there are so many talented players vying for the Major championship this time, cadiaN’s side has a chance to emerge as the underdog and triumph. More realistically, they’ll just be trying to match or top their best Major performance with a semi-final or grand final appearance. Any outcome of that stature would provide the team with reasonably early evidence that their roster adjustment was the right one and that it is already paying off handsomely.
