HEROIC wins BLAST Spring Final in Washington!

published 21 June 2023

"It's just amazing," said Oliver Valsgaard, director of esports at Heroic after the team secured victory in the BLAST Premier Spring Final. "In 2023 we've been in two grand finals and two semi-finals, so to be able to lift the trophy this time is just amazing."It's no surprise that Heroic is on cloud nine right now. After all, they're going into a well-earned break with fresh silverware in their trophy cabinet. The pathway to the grand final of the last-ever Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major tournament was not without challenge, but you wouldn't know it by watching the Danish squad. They cut through their opponents like butter every step of the way."The project has been ongoing for two years now and we feel that we've always had a team that could win trophies," continued Valsgaard, "In 2023 we've really established ourselves as one of the most consistent teams, but our ambitions have always been to win more tournaments."

The next stage in this project began with a dominant run from the Danes from the very start of the BLAST Premier tournament, as Heroic swept Complexity off their feet with a 2-0 victory. Despite a nervous overtime battle on Nuke, which narrowly swung in Heroic's favour, they comfortably defeated FaZe Clan on the same map, securing them a place in the semi-finals with a clean sheet.

"FaZe is a great team with amazing players and we always have some banger matches against them so we're pleased to have beaten them the last three or four times we’ve played them," said Kasper Straube Hansen, Heroic's head of performance.After overcoming such titans of the esport in the opening rounds, it was a refreshing change of pace to see Heroic face an underdog in the semis. Their opponents this time were Brazilian bruisers Imperial Esports, a squad that despite only being ranked 33rd in the world, had already managed to kick Team Vitality to the curb in a shocking upset.

"A highlight that is definitely worth mentioning is our win versus Imperial – especially the decider on Nuke," says Straube Hansen. "In recent tournaments, we have had losses versus underdog teams, which has put us in an extremely difficult situation mentally."Despite their relatively low rank, Imperial were no pushovers. Heroic took the first-series win with only a three-point margin before a 17-17 result in the second series forced a final battle on Nuke. It was here that team captain Casper 'cadiaN' Møller stepped up to put Heroic ahead with a 1v2 clutch round-winner. With their place in the grand final sealed, our heroes were staring down one final clash with rivals Team Vitality."On Nuke we had a huge lead, and Imperial managed to get it into overtime, where they even led with two rounds," Straube Hansen adds. "Being able to close that game was extremely important for us and says a lot about the quality and mental strength of the team."After being denied the IEM Rio trophy by Vitality just over a month earlier, Heroic entered the grand finals with a score to settle. Vitality's comfort map, Vertigo, was to be the setting of the opening series, but Heroic weren't discouraged. Jakob 'Jabbi' Nygaard showed his quality with a stunning 4K. Two strong pistol rounds helped Heroic secure a 16-9 lead, comfortably winning the first series.

Written by Jack Ridsdale at Red Bull