When Heroic picked up the Sangal trio of xfl0ud, LNZ, and yxngstxr to complement tN1R and SunPayus, it was seen as a shrewd move to retain tournament invites for the first portion of the season. The team performed admirably in BLAST Bounty, the first tournament of the year, their run only ending due to an unfortunate visa/stand-in situation on LAN.
It was a positive start for the team. Not a honeymoon period of dizzying heights, but one that showed positive signs that their roster gamble was going to pay off. Now, after crashing out in the first Swiss group stage of ESL Pro League Season 21, it’s fair to say that Heroic’s honeymoon is truly over. What has gone wrong with the team? That’s what I’m here to find out.
xfl0ud and yxngstxr are struggling for impact
Credit: Helena Kristiansson | ESL
The big problem for Heroic right now is pretty simple. Both xfl0ud and yxngstxr are struggling massively to have any impact on games. They’re capable of popping off at random, but it never seems to be when the team needs them to help see out a series win. It’s this level of inconsistency that has seen Heroic condemned to a couple of early exits in a row now. They’re not exactly losing to great teams, either – at ESL Pro League, they lost to a new SAW lineup, 3DMAX, and Nemiga.
This is the major worry for me. If they lose against a team like Eternal Fire, it’s easy to write it off as a bad day at the office. But the teams above? Yeah, Heroic should be beating them. If they can’t start finding some impact from xfl0ud and yxngstxr, they’re just going to keep losing. It’s very early to talk about changes, but if Heroic was thinking about it, it’s fairly obvious to see where the organization would look.
tN1R is an unexpected star
Heroic’s star at the moment is undoubtedly tN1R. The rifler wasn’t even supposed to be on this lineup, but has looked electric pretty much every time he’s on the server. Even during Heroic’s ESL Pro League lows, he’s been the shining light, delivering big numbers and keeping them in matches.
tN1R is a player Heroic need to hold onto tight. It seems they’ve stumbled onto a real gem, and even as their honeymoon period fizzles out, he can help keep them relevant in Tier 1. I’ll be honest – I hadn’t hear of tN1R before he signed for Heroic, but I’m excited to see what he can do in a lineup with a little more firepower around him than this.
nilo is still waiting in the wings
Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | BLAST
When Heroic signed this lineup, they initially picked up Metizport’s nilo as a star in place of tN1R. Given tN1R’s form, he’s more than earned his place on this lineup, even if changes are made. That puts Heroic in a very strong position. While nilo is dealing with some personal issues, he will eventually be good to go again.
If things don’t improve for Heroic, they have a top talent ready to plug and play into the lineup, even if it results in a team of five they didn’t initially plan for. Again, I’m not saying it should happen any time soon, but Heroic will be happy in the knowledge the potential solutions to their problems may already be in their ranks when needed.