Prior to Heroic’s opening match, in-game leader cadiaN delivered a pre-game speech that will surely enter CS:GO‘s history books. He didn’t hold back his tears before facing FaZe Clan on May 13 at the BLAST Paris Major Legends Stage opener, and fired up his teammates as a true captain does.
CadiaN played at the first CS:GO Major in 2013 at DreamHack Winter, and after a rollercoaster of a career that involved moving to North America in 2016 and getting away from the tier-one circuit, he’s now leading one of the best teams in the world at the final CS:GO Major. In the speech, he recalled playing at DreamHack Winter and thanked every one of his teammates for being with him at BLAST Paris.
“Boys the story starts in 2013, a young boy is traveling with the train [and his] mother was worried that he was going to LAN up in Sweden, Jönköping,” cadiaN said. “It was my first Major, it’s a long time ago now, 10 years, [and] it has taken me 10 years to find a team that’s as good as you. [A team] where you can trust everyone, where everyone has the level to make a difference in game, [and] everyone can say what they feel without being judged. That’s what this team is about, it has taken me 10 years, [and] I think it’s fucking nice to finish this Major with you.”
This kind of speech could only be elaborated by as passionate player as cadiaN. He lives and breathes CS:GO as only a few do and that energy is what made him claw his way back to tier-one CS:GO under the Heroic banner. Although he only guided them to win one CS:GO trophy on LAN—BLAST Premier Fall Final in November 2022—Heroic have been incredibly consistent since 2020.
We can’t know if Heroic will finish their CS:GO history with the BLAST Paris Major title, but we all know cadiaN deserves it.
