The majority-North American squad lacked experience in the hardest moments of the match to compete with the Danes for victory.

HEROIC came into IEM Katowice after losses to Evil Geniuses and Vitality in the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, where they did not look their best at the warm-up event of the year although they did enough to qualify for the Spring Final, and have now kicked off their run in Poland with a win.

The 2-1 showing was not the cleanest for the favorites, whose captain and hype man Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller played while under the weather, as they gave up their Vertigo pick after stealing Inferno from Tiaan "⁠T.c⁠" Coertzen’s men, but in the end they found the resolve to seal the deal on Overpass.

Heroic had a show of force on Overpass after a slow start in the first maps

The series started on the underdogs’ pick of Inferno and Complexity got off to a 3-0 start before HEROIC brought it to a tie with proper buys. The North Americans didn’t fold under the early pressure and kept a three round lead at the half with a stellar Ricky "⁠floppy⁠" Kemery tallying 22 kills before the switch.

As things evened out in the second half floppy won a 1vs2 clutch retake with a last-second defuse to get on 27 kills and keep his team ahead with an 11-10 lead. HEROIC didn’t relent on the attack despite the setback, though, and cadiaN won a back-breaking 1vs3 clutch after the Danes crawled their way from a 3vs5 in the round to hit match point, 15-11, which they followed up to steal the map and lead the series.

Complexity went into Vertigo, HEROIC’s pick, after a close loss on Inferno, but their spirits were not broken and they bounced right back. An opening pistol round defense was followed three times before HEROIC countered with a treble of successful attacks, but that would be it for the Danes who were looking more like the team that struggled at the BLAST Spring Groups than the champions of last year’s BLAST Fall Finals and only mustered a fourth round right before switching sides.

Broadcast analyst Aleksandar "⁠kassad⁠" Trifunović, who had HEROIC going on to win 2-0 after Complexity dropped the ball on Inferno, was proven wrong by the scrappy North Americans as they hit back in the forcebuy after losing their T-side pistol round to further their road to 16 rounds. It was not without a comeback attempt by the Danes, who put 13 rounds to their name, but in the end faltered at the last hurdle.

The Vertigo heroics in the end didn’t prove to be enough for Complexity as they wavered on the attack in the opening half of the Overpass decider. Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck, with 22 kills and 134 ADR, as well as cadiaN with 17 kills and 104 ADR, were the North American team’s butchers.

Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince and Håkon "⁠hallzerk⁠" Fjærli got a full house on a half-buy when down 6-13 to stave off the 14th for HEROIC, but then Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund and Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard did the same thing with MAC-10s just two rounds later to halt any thoughts of a comeback and secure the map, 16-8, and series.

Now with a win under their belt, HEROIC will face OG in the Group B upper bracket semi-finals, while Complexity will duke it out against MOUZ for the right to continue playing in the tournament's lower bracket.

IEM Katowice 2023Best of 3 HEROICMatchpage 2 1 5th February 2023 Complexity 16Inferno 11 13Vertigo 16 16Overpass 8

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaardjabbi	70 - 52	+18	87.9	1.35
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	66 - 55	+11	93.0	1.26
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	58 - 54	+4	76.7	1.10
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	52 - 49	+3	73.7	1.09
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	41 - 59	-18	61.6	0.90

Complexity	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærlihallzerk	54 - 49	+5	75.8	1.15
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	61 - 59	+2	79.5	1.15
Ricky 'floppy' Kemeryfloppy	58 - 54	+4	83.5	1.10
Justin 'FaNg' CoakleyFaNg	58 - 62	-4	75.9	1.01
Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouJT	37 - 65	-28	55.5	0.71

MOUZ #8 Christopher 'dexter' NongDavid 'frozen' ČerňanskýJon 'JDC' de CastroÁdám 'torzsi' TorzsásDorian 'xertioN' Berman Dennis 'sycrone' Nielsen Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Age: 19 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 868 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.66 Rasmus 'sjuush' Beck Age: 24 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 916 KPR: 0.68 DPR: 0.64 Håkon 'hallzerk' Fjærli Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 829 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 OG #11 Nemanja 'nexa' IsakovićAdam 'NEOFRAG' ZouharShahar 'flameZ' ShushanAbdul 'degster' GasanovMaciej 'F1KU' Miklas Casper 'ruggah' Due Ricky 'floppy' Kemery Age: 23 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 896 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66 Michael 'Grim' Wince Age: 22 Team: Complexity Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 978 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.69 Evil Geniuses #21 Timothy 'autimatic' TaVincent 'Brehze' CayonteSanzhar 'neaLaN' IskhakovJerric 'wiz' JiangJadan 'HexT' Postma Daniel 'Vorborg' Vorborg HEROIC #1 Casper 'cadiaN' MøllerMartin 'stavn' LundRené 'TeSeS' MadsenRasmus 'sjuush' BeckJakob 'jabbi' Nygaard Richard 'Xizt' Landström Vitality #7 Dan 'apEX' MadesclairePeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenEmil 'Magisk' ReifMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautLotan 'Spinx' Giladi Danny 'zonic' Sørensen Martin 'stavn' Lund Age: 20 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 1205 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.68 Complexity #19 Johnny 'JT' TheodosiouRicky 'floppy' KemeryHåkon 'hallzerk' FjærliMichael 'Grim' WinceJustin 'FaNg' Coakley Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Aleksandar 'kassad' Trifunović Age: 36 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.75 Maps played: 99 KPR: 0.52 DPR: 0.73 Casper 'cadiaN' Møller Age: 27 Team: HEROIC Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 1566 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.63 Tiaan 'T.c' Coertzen Age: 30 Team: ComplexityC