Interview With HEROIC’s TeSeS, Ahead of ESL Pro League S19

Ahead of ESL Pro League S19, I had the pleasure of interviewing Rene “TeSeS” Madsen from HEROIC. Here’s what we talked about.

1. Despite not finishing in the top eight at the Major or in the top six at IEM Chengdu, your team’s results were still decent all things considered. How did HEROIC get good so quickly after having to rebuild the roster?

Personally, I expect even more from our team. I’m not satisfied with our results yet. We’ve been praised for being decent, which I think it’s true. All the games we’ve been playing were close and we had a good chance of winning them. But I think we have some really good players and we also try to learn from our experience.

Because of this, we are improving quickly and all of us are confident that we can achieve more.

2. You’ve been playing for HEROIC for four years. Did you consider taking the IGL role after the departure of cadiaN?

I wasn’t thinking about it but when we no longer had a full roster, I did have it in mind. At BLAST Premier: World Final I had the chance to try it out but it wasn’t something I wanted to do on a permanent basis. I was just trying to learn something from it and become more accustomed to taking initiative. But now I just want to be a player and focus on my individual game.

3. Is it difficult or stressful to be the IGL?

To be honest, I felt quite comfortable in this role and didn’t have any problems. I just tried to build something on the foundation of one week of practice. It was a bit tough on my energy levels because I was doing it 24/7.

4. What are your expectations at this event? Can HEROIC finish in the top eight?

I think so. We can start to expect more from ourselves and strive to get the results that we really want. I also think that once we obtain one success, we will build on top of it throughout the year because it will help us believe in ourselves even more.

the 180 🤫 @TesesCS pic.twitter.com/yYEuFkmOcs

— HEROIC (@heroicgg) April 30, 2024

5. What do you think about the triple-elimination format?

I’m not sure about it. For me, it’s kind of whatever. I liked the format used at IEM Chengdu and at other tournaments, which were shorter. But if they want to do a longer tournament, like this one, I don’t mind.

6. Do you think it’s less stressful when you have two safety nets instead of one, as well as best-of-three matches? Other players have told me that they hate best-of-ones.

For sure, best-of-ones are stressful. This format allows us to learn more as a team.

7. Are you happy with the MR12 format and with the game’s current economy? From the outside, it feels like the winner of the pistol round gets a huge advantage. Do you think that’s balanced or would you make any adjustments?

I like the MR12 format. Back when it was MR15, we would have really long and exhausting games. Since the introduction of the new format, I have not had the same experience. That’s a positive aspect for me.

Other than that, I agree that the economy and the key rounds are much more important. Breaking your opponent’s economy during the game is vital to winning. I think that the economy should be changed a bit. But I don’t know how I would do it. Probably in a way that makes the game more forgiving with the losing side of key rounds.

7. Who do you think will be the toughest team to beat in your group?

I’m not sure. We only need to win two matches to qualify for the playoffs and we’ll face NiP and Complexity most likely. They’re decent teams but I think we can win the first two matches. If we don’t, then we’ll see what happens.

smoke criminal pic.twitter.com/PhsOTHxlWF

— HEROIC (@heroicgg) April 30, 2024

8. How many weeks of training did you have as a team before this tournament?

We had around ten days.

9. Do you do boot camps or do you play individually from separate locations?

It would be hard for us to do boot camps because of our travel schedule, which is very busy. Since the start of the new season, we’ve been home for around one month in total. So when we do get the opportunity to go home, we take it. I think it’s important if we want to have enough energy for all the tournaments and not burn out.

10. How is CS2 evolving? Do you think it has improved a lot since its release? Are you satisfied with its current state or is it still full of bugs?

There are definitely still lots of bugs in it but with each update, Valve is gradually improving it. There are many things to improve but I’m satisfied with the fact that they are trying to make it as good as possible.

Alright. Thank you for the interview, and good luck at the tournament!

Header: PGL