Heroic took down Vitality 3-2 in the grand final of DreamHack Open Fall, winning 2500 Regional Major Ranking (RMR) points and assuring themselves of a spot at the IEM Global Challenge in Cologne, scheduled for December 15-20 in Cologne.
The Danish team showed incredible resilience and intensity in this slugfest that lasted over six hours. They came back from a map down and closed out the series in style with a blowout of a Mirage game, where Casper “cadiaN” Møller produced one of the best performances of his career with a 2.08 rating. It was a fitting end to a remarkable lower bracket run that saw Heroic survive five elimination matches before repeating the ESL One Cologne final victory against the Frenchmen.
“The tournament started pretty rough for us, I think it was one of the most insane comebacks in a tournament that I have at least witnessed in my fairly long career,” cadiaN said after the match. “We started in the lower bracket and we made it all the way to the top. I’m so proud of the boys. Who would have thought that we could make this achievement? When we won Cologne, everyone was like, ‘there is no way they are going to win another trophy’, and here we are. We did it again. I’m so happy.”
Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut opened up the action on Overpass with a trio of kills to help kick Vitality into the lead on their map choice. Heroic responded after buying up as they put together five rounds, with their streak then coming to an end as Kévin “misutaaa” Rabier added four kills to his name. The rest of the half was controlled by the French side, who went into the break with a three-round cushion following a beautiful 1v2 clutch by Dan “apEX” Madesclaire in the final round with a well-placed Molotov.
cadiaN ended the series in style with a 30-bomb
Vitality looked intent on locking down the map after switching to the CT side as they held the Danes back during the early stages of the half, bringing the scoreline to a 14-7 advantage. The game appeared out of reach for Heroic, but then the Danes upped the pace and gradually took the upper hand. Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen kept his team in the game with a jaw-dropping 1v4 clutch in the 24th round to inflict a damaging blow on the Frenchmen, who were unable to prevent the game from going to overtime. Despite the setback, Vitality remained calm and collected, picking up two rounds in both halves to secure the map, with Richard “shox” Papillon being the hero with two key plays.
Nuke began with aces from René “TeSeS” Madsen and cadiaN as Heroic took an early lead on the offensive side of the map. The landscape of the game changed dramatically once Vitality had money in the bank, however, as the French side were in control for the remainder of the half — apart from a brief period in which the Danes strung three rounds together.
Heroic hit back after switching sides, restoring parity at 9-9, but then Vitality chained four rounds together to build a solid lead and amp up the pressure on their opponents. With very little room for error, the Danes tightened up and reached map point at 15-14 before their opponents responded for another overtime. The first set of extra rounds could not determine a winner, but then Heroic pulled through thanks to a 2v5 by Martin “stavn” Lund and TeSeS in the final round to equalise the series.
ZywOo came to life in the first half of Inferno, racking up 17 kills as Vitality secured a 9-6 lead after a solid first half in which they were always one step ahead and kept Heroic from stringing rounds together. The No.1 player of 2019 further added to his tally with a trio of kills in the following pistol to put Vitality on double-digits, but then things fell apart for the French team. Heroic took the game by the throat and did not let go, locking down the map in convincing fashion after going on an impressive 10-1 run.
Things looked dire for Vitality as they went into Vertigo, one of their least-played maps in the past three months — just five times, the last three of which had ended in defeats. The French team had a slow start as Heroic took the game to them with some impressive multi-kills by stavn, but they improved as the half wore on and managed to bring the deficit to a single round before the break.
Now playing on the CT side, Heroic further added to their lead with a clean pistol round, but their defense was heavily exposed once Vitality had money to work with. The Danes were outclassed and out-fought for the rest of the half as apEX‘s charges ran riot during this one-sided half, winning nine rounds without response to take the series to an all-deciding fifth map.
Vitality came out the brighter of the two sides on Mirage, but their flame was extinguished once the game hit the gun rounds. Heroic put their fearsome double AWP setup to use and kept the French players at bay to grab a commanding 10-5 lead, with cadiaN ending the half with an 18-3 score. The Danish in-game leader continued his brilliant form in the second half with 13 more frags to his name as Heroic continuously cut through the French defence with ease.
DreamHack Open Fall standings:
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4.NiP – $10,000 + 2031 RMR Points
5.BIG – $7,500 + 1875 RMR Points
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7.OG – $6,000 + 1563 RMR Points
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13-16.sAw – $500 + 390.75 RMR Points
13-16.ENCE – $500 + 390.75 RMR Points
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European RMR standings:
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19.FATE – 312.15 points
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