IEM Cologne 2022 saw Heroic advance to the group stages, but they were soon demoted to lower brackets.
This wasn’t the kind of outcome a pro CS:GO squad hoping to dominate the scene would have anticipated.
Although they always had fierce team members, their inability to finalize the “last step” has resulted in a number of modifications.
This summer, they are hoping to set things straight. As the team realizes the competition is relentless, they are putting together a group of equally unforgettable pros.
Here’s what we mean by that.
A New Hero
Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard’, the newest addition to the Heroic roster, is one of the recent significant changes the team has made.
The 18-year-old built a name for himself as a rifler with Copenhagen Flames and took refrezh’s spot.
The main problem with refrezh was that the team failed to secure a significant victory since LAN tournaments came back last year. Although he is currently under contract, he will look for opportunities elsewhere.
In addition to betting on a young player, Heroic said it was willing to risk even the good stuff for the chance to become the very best, which makes a choice to sign jabbi a big deal.
This transfer panned out the way it did thanks to the fact that Flames was looking for ways to sell their roster owing to a lack of resources.
You have nothing to lose when you’re a shining star of a struggling squad that wants to change teams for the better.
Jabbi has been essential to some important results for the group recently, ever since Flames made their breakthrough at IEM Fall last year, despite all financial turbulence.
On the other hand, the Heroic team has recorded victories and top finishes at tier 2 competitions like Malta Vibes and Pinnacle Series.
Recently, they haven’t been able to match the heights they achieved while winning the ESL Pro League Season 13 in the online era, but they did make an impressive run to the top eight at PGL Major Antwerp and IEM Katowice with that confidence.
What works, though, is that Jabbi has the necessary experience and is a teenager who is accustomed to fighting.
He simply needs to figure out how to adjust to Heroic’s ultra-aggressive play style and things will seem to be good.
Heroic’s (re)Fresh Start
When refrezh put PGL Major Antwerp in a downward spiral, things didn’t look good for Heroic.
As soon as LAN tournaments were back, he had the lowest player rating (0.96) in the group. He scored 0.82 in Antwerp. That’s why he eventually paid the price for a string of lackluster performances.
Today, Heroic has a chance to start again with the new signing and develop fresh tactics that can catch their opponents off guard.
Or, if nothing else, bringing in a young player without any baggage will offer them a new outlook and give their opponents something to debate.
One of jabbi’s greatest assets is that, at his best, he can be unpredictable. His greatest strength is his versatility.
When you combine jabbi’s hunger for frags with all these positive traits, there is probably a lot of room for improvement for the Heroic team.
Jumping around eSports teams might mean two things: either you’ve been so good that teams are queuing up to sign you, or you haven’t yet lived up to full potential and are looking for the right team. The ladder fits jabbi’s profile perfectly.
Throughout his career, jabbi had only 34 maps under his belt when he first joined Singularity two years ago.
His exposure to high-level competition was limited, but when he was with the squad, they won two straight ESEA MDL championships and peaked at No. 67 in the HLTV rankings.
Jabbi didn’t particularly stand out. In fact, he had an average grade of 0.93. However, everyone saw various qualities in him, including attitude and work ethic, which served him well.
These are qualities that will probably endure no matter where he plays. At Heroic, he has the chance to truly find his specialty and use his early experience to make a lasting impression while the team develops its two-year plan.
What’s Next for Heroic?
Heroic’s participation in the BLAST Fall Groups is assured going forward, even though they didn’t manage to qualify for the ESL Pro League S16.
They will very certainly have enough games against elite-level opponents come September.
The team still has a long way to go before its chemistry is fully restored. They were utterly unimpressive at IEM Cologne and were unable to compete with MOUZ or NiP in a straight-up series.
With Heroic being the kind of team it is designed to be, the team still has a lot of maturing to do.
They can match FaZe Clan’s squad potential and S1mple/electronic’s carry potential in CadiaN and stavn.
On paper, Heroic has a tremendous lineup, but they still have a lot of work to do to maximize its potential.
Finally, you need heroes to cooperate if they are to do heroic deeds.
