HEROIC Are Out Of ESL Pro League S19

HEROIC started ESL Pro League S19 with high ambitions. They wanted to finish in the top eight at the very least, but ended up being eliminated in the group stage. Based on their starting match and their previous results at S-tier tournaments, this was completely unexpected.

HEROIC finished in the top eight at IEM Katowice and IEM Chengdu. At the Copenhagen Major, they failed to qualify for the playoffs and finished 12^th – 14^th. However, when EPL S19 started, their group didn’t seem to have a lot of top teams, which is why everyone expected HEROIC to qualify for the playoffs either by winning it or by finishing 2^nd.

HEROIC’s Results

what just happened pic.twitter.com/LltBKBh0fA

— HEROIC (@heroicgg) May 4, 2024

HEROIC started with a 2 – 0 victory against Ninjas in Pyjamas. However, it wasn’t a clean win. On Vertigo, the score was 19 – 16 while on Nuke, it was 13 – 8. Some fans immediately knew that TeSeS and his crew might struggle against the likes of Na’Vi and Complexity, and they were right.

In their next match, HEROIC faced Complexity and lost 2 – 1 despite winning the first map. EliGE and hallzerk played incredibly well for Complexity, finishing the match with 20 kills more than their teammates. HEROIC’s three best players had between 42 and 46 kills but also numerous deaths.

After dropping to the mid bracket, HEROIC won a match against FlyQuest and once again, they struggled: 13 – 8 on Ancient and 16 – 12 on Nuke. Despite the victory, this was another bad sign.

Against BIG, Heroic won on Nuke but lost on Vertigo and Ancient. This defeat led to a rematch against NiP. But this time, the situation was very different because NiP had adapted well. The scores were 13 – 8 on Vertigo, 10 – 13 on Nuke, and 10 – 13 on Anubis. This defeat eliminated HEROIC.

TeSeS finished the match with 58 kills and was the best player on the server. His ADR was above 100. His teammates didn’t do so well. They didn’t play poorly, but they didn’t excel either.

With a bit more training, HEROIC might come back much stronger. We’ll have to see what they can do in ten days, at BetBoom Dacha Belgrade. There, they will face four amazing teams but also underdogs. A good result would be great for morale, especially after a failure like the one they suffered at ESL Pro League S19.

Header: ESL