The morning of the playoffs at IEM Cologne 2023 has dawned and Heroic are going to be preparing for their quarterfinals game. They’re on something of a meteoric rise right now and are in with a good chance to take the tournament overall. First, however, they still have some mountains to climb. We got to speak with Sjuush from Heroic about all things Cologne, CS2 and whether they will take home the trophy.
Source: PGL
How are you finding Cologne so far?
I think it’s 50/50, like with the weather, it’s been good and bad. We got a really good start at the tournament, winning the first two matches. The last 2 times we’ve been here, we haven’t made it to the playoffs. It’s been a curse for us but this time, it’s been a lot better. We’ve broken the curse. But then we lost the match to go to the semifinals, which I think we should have won but we threw some situations where we were 4v2 or 3v2.
What does it mean as a player to be at this stage of the tournament with Heroic?
IEM Cologne is one of the biggest tournaments and we’ve never been in the arena. We’ve really wanted to for the last few years so I think everyone is really happy and excited to get this opportunity to play in the playoffs.
We were all pretty sad about losing the match last night, we hate losing and disappointing people. We’re very competitive but in general, we’re happy. Quarterfinals isn’t bad but it’s an advantage to get in the semi finals. We’ll get at least 1 match in the arena.
We’ve seen some amazing clutches from cadiaN in particular this tournament, how does that affect the team’s morale for the rest of the game?
It definitely gives us energy. In some of the situations, we have no money and he just has a pistol or an AWP but he wins those rounds and just changes the whole game. It’s a good energy boost and when it’s looking rough, we can still win those rounds.
Are there any teams that you’d hope to avoid playing at this late stage of the tournament?
I don’t know if there’s anyone I’d want to avoid. I don’t feel like there’s a number 1 team. I feel like if we do everything we can like we practice then there shouldn’t be any trouble. I’m taking it one match at a time. You can still lose if you don’t do things like how you practice. You just have to do everything right.
How is the preparation with Heroic before each game in this late stage of the tournament going?
Our preparation is different depending on how long we have until the game. Mostly, it’s just preparation against the teams and focusing on our stuff as well as individual practice. You need to get some good food too to get some good energy.
We have this tradition where we order some spaghetti bolognese before some match days. It’s like a gut feeling, if we need the bolognese to get through, we’ll order it.
Do you feel like the results from IEM Rio and Katowice after affecting you going into the playoffs at Cologne?
Yes and no, really. I feel like the result is not that important. It’s more like our consistency, where we’ve been in almost every single semi finals or finals days. That kind of energy shows that we can be consistent and if we trust the process, everything works. Obviously, it hurts that we can’t win those finals when we get there but we believe it will come.
Have you had a chance to try out Counter-strike 2 yet? How do you think that will impact your play?
No, we’ve been so focused on CS:GO because I don’t think it matters too much, practicing or playing too much CS2 when we don’t know when it’s going to come out. Also, we really want to do good in CS:GO, having a good enough game and season as well. I think when CS2 comes out, we’ll definitely grind. They’re going to change a lot of stuff. I mean, we are really good at being creative so I think it’ll come easily to us when it comes out.
I think it’s going to change the game. I don’t exactly know how right now but I definitely think there are going to be some interesting tactics and ways to abuse it somehow. I’m excited, I usually like being creative like if I can find some exciting smoke lineups or execute in a way that everything just makes sense. I’m excited to just walk around and have that creativity with some smokes and nades, just play around with it.
I feel like new things are fun. It’s been the same for so long.
Now that you’ve taken down some massive opponents like Navi and Team Vitality, do you feel like this is the year Heroic are going to win Cologne and maybe even Worlds?
I mean I think we’re definitely in a good position to do well in pretty much every single tournament. I feel like we have a good calmness around the team. We have everything set like how it should be so there isn’t really anything outside of the game that we have to worry about. I think we’re going to do well. It’s hard to say that we are going to take the trophy because if we don’t do what we’ve been practicing, and that can happen, then we might not but we have a good chance at least.
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