Back on LAN!

Heroic are the reigning champions as we will be back on LAN for the first time in 500 days. Our athletes have already left for LAN at IEM Cologne, which is known as one of the biggest and most prestigious tournaments in CS:GO.

This year IEM Cologne will consist of the 24 best teams from every part of the World, locked in a Hotel and only travelling to a nearby TV studio to play the matches - until one lifts the trophy. We checked in with our team as they arrived in the esport capital of Germany to prepare for their 9th of July debut.

– It's easier to focus now, when we have a physical presence in Cologne to play IEM Cologne, instead of being at home and playing tournament after tournament from the same location. There won’t be any internet or pc disadvantages, some guys struggled during the online period due to high ping which is really sad in my opinion, says Heroic lurker and star player Ismail “Refrezh” Ali.

Teams spend 6 months qualifying, before they assemble in the Esport Capital of Europe to fight for a trophy only lifted by the all time greats in the game. Young gun René "TeSeS" Madsen is bubbling with excitement about being back on LAN at IEM Cologne.

– I am so excited to finally take the next step in my career, to prove to myself that I can perform in big offline tournaments. I have never played in front of a really big crowd and I have no idea how I will react when I hopefully some day will experience it. To win cologne back to back would be so insane. This is the last tournament before the playerbreak, so I expect every team will give it their all, also because it’s the first offline event for a long time. We’ve had a lot of practice time before going into this tournament and I can say with 100% confidence that we have done everything we can to perform our best, says René.

Heroic was written into the history books of esport when we won the last installment of the tournament and we will be the team to beat at this year's 1 million dollar brawl. Casper “Cadian” Møller shares his thoughts about defending the amazing results the team has shown earlier, in the online tournaments.

– I hope we can defend our trophy from last year, and I really want to give our two new players the same feeling that we had last time. Also, lifting the trophy on LAN, and making sure that all the questions asked towards our online level, which has impressed everyone, will be answered with showing a similar or even greater level on LAN.