It was a long time in the wilderness for the Heroic captain who got the better of his Danish counterpart in a memorable grand final in Copenhagen’s Royal Arena. Though FaZe Clan were worthy opponents, they fell just short in a close-fought three-map affair.
With this result, Heroic went one better than they did in Rio, though FaZe fans also had reasons to celebrate as their team performed much stronger than they did at the Major, and at some points were reminiscent of their dominant period early in the year.
The first map was Overpass, Heroic’s pick of the series, and the clash between their strong T sides and FaZe’s pristine defense led to an 8-7 half time score for cadiaN’s men. It proved to be more than enough, as FaZe were unable to put up a strong attack on their own offensive side, and the map ended with a 16-11 scoreline.
Next up was Inferno, and the teams remained neck and neck, with another 8-7 halftime scoreline setting up an explosive continuation, again in the favor of Heroic, albeit this time on the CT side of things. It took a lot of eco round heroics, but FaZe managed to string together a strong enough defense to take the series to a third map, winning nine CT-side rounds to Heroic’s four, ending Inferno 16-12.
Mirage, once again, was a story of two strong defenses. Heroic started on the CT side and completely wiped the floor with FaZe early on, racing to a 9-2 lead and closing out the first half in similarly strong fashion, an 11-4 lead that was as good as it got for either side so far in the match.
However, karrigan and co. engineered a successful comeback and seemed favored to win at 14-14 with an economic advantage, if not for an appropriately-heroic force buy play from Heroic.
FaZe battled back to set up overtime, but couldn’t maintain their pace. It was a one-sided affair in OT as FaZe lost two rounds on the defense and failed to convert either of their two chances on the T side, as Heroic recorded a memorable and well-deserved victory.
After a string of strong online results and a close run in Rio, this marked a huge step forward for cadiaN and company, and for the in-game leader himself personally. Present at the first three CS:GO Majors, cadiaN spent many years in the wilderness before fighting back to the top, now commanding a squad that’s reliably churning out title challenges on LAN against the best teams of the world—supported by a proud mother all along the way.
A clearly emotional cadiaN embraced his mother during his post-victory interview, and also spoke about how his close relationship with his Heroic teammates was uncommon in any sports, and helped contribute to their win over FaZe.
Though Heroic would have qualified for the World Finals in December even with a defeat courtesy of their leaderboard points, this result will no doubt make the preparation all the sweeter for the year’s last elite-level CS:GO event.
