A new era: Heroic begin life without cadiaN at BLAST Premier World Final

cadiaN has been the face of Heroic for years, but as they prepare to play BLAST Premier World Final, they are also preparing their first event without their now-former talismanic leader.

With three stand-ins on hand to help them see out the event in Abu Dhabi and close out their year, let's take a look at the lineup Heroic will field and what you can expect from the team.

A new leader

As Heroic announced their squad for World Final, the biggest change to note is that TeSeS will be operating as the in-game leader for World Final.

Typically the main aggressor of the team on the T side, he is already in the positions most other IGLs place themselves in - but does he have the personality to lead a squad?

Well, you only have to look at the end of cadiaN's last Heroic huddle to see that there are no worries there.

The calming figure

The only other player remaining from the previous Heroic lineup is sjuush.

One of the best anchors in the world, there would have been plenty of people expecting sjuush to take up the mantle of in-game leader in the absence of cadiaN, but he'll be left to focus on his own game.

Ultimately, we think this is a good thing. Hailed as the most supportive element of Heroic under cadiaN, he may now be required to take on more of a starring role after the departures of jabbi and stavn, and he won't be able to do so with the burden of IGLing.

sjuush has already shown he is capable of doing so too. Despite being eliminated in 5th-6th place at Fall Final, he put up an impressive 1.10 HLTV rating and was by far the highest rated player on the team.

The stand-ins

Just as they were at BLAST Premier Fall Final in Copenhagen last month, Heroic will be joined at World Final by dupreeh and Zyphon.

A perfect storm of experience and youthful hunger, the duo are more than enough to ensure that Heroic shouldn't be written off at the event.

Although they may have both had struggles at Fall Final, that was with very limited practice and now they've had more time with sjuush and TeSeS, they'll be certain to show more of their true levels in Abu Dhabi.

dupreeh is a five-time Major winner and Zyphon defied the odds to make the Major playoffs in his second Major at PGL Antwerp. They know how to succeed, so how much will rest upon the performances of their fifth player at the event?

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

The unknown quantity

Unless you're familiar with the second tier of Danish Counter-Strike you may never have heard of the player completing Heroic's lineup.

salazar, who currently plays for ECSTATIC, is a 19-year-old AWPer who will be keen to make his mark on the tier one scene at Abu Dhabi.

His LAN experience is limited, but from what little there is, there have been promising signs. He already has a top four under his belt this year from ESL Challenger Melbourne, and at ESL Challenger Katowice he recorded a respectable 1.07 HLTV rating across the six maps he played.

AWPing at tier one level is hard, but like Zyphon, salazar will be keen to prove himself. He could just prove to be Heroic's X factor at World Final.