Heroic vs Spirit: Heroic fight off Spirited challenge; will face their toughest opponent next

As the IEM Rio Major heads into its final few matches, teams are battling it out for survival. After Day 1 of the IEM Rio Major quarterfinals saw MOUZ and Outsiders win their respective matches, the Heroic vs Spirit matchup was the first match of Day 2 at the Jeunesse Arena. 

Team Spirit won the pistol round and the anti-eco, but once Heroic had some decent weapons, it was tough going for the CIS team. On Vertigo, which can go heavily in favor of one side, Heroic were simply the better team today. With constant aggression and calculated positioning they would often get excellent information on the opponent’s whereabouts.

Despite winning the first two rounds, Team Spirit only managed five in the first half on their T-side. TeSeS and stavn were crucial to Heroic’s success, often getting multi-kills while facing an entire enemy lineup. Their multi-kills would often slow the Team Spirit pace and allow further Danish players to rotate quicker to defend the bombsite. 

The start of the second half looked eerily similar to the first half. Team Spirit won the first two rounds and then came a streak of Heroic round wins. For Heroic, closing Vertigo was a matter of when and not if, as they won the skyscraper map with a 16-8 score.

The second map in the series was Overpass, a relatively CT-sided map in CS: GO. Team Spirit won yet another pistol round and followed it up with two more round victories, but at the cost of sounding like a broken machine, the same story repeated itself in the second map as well.

The score at the end of the first half was again 10-5, again in favor of Heroic. There was simply a mismatch of skill between the two teams. The Heroic players clearly had better synergy and even on Overpass, they looked extremely comfortable. 

But unlike Vertigo, Team Spirit did have a comeback of sorts on their T side. Their read of the Herioc defense on the B bombsite allowed them to create their strategy around the A long and A short area. They would constantly force defense off the B bombsite, which made their eventual hits on the site much easier. Ultimately, however, it came down to a race to the finish and Herioc emerged as the victors today. Heroic won Overpass 16-14 and with it, the series.

Heroic will now face the winner of FURIA and NAVI. Either opponent is going to be a tough one for the Danes, but they have to overcome these tough opponents if they are to make it to the Grand Finals of the final CS: GO Major of 2022. 

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