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The professional Counter-Strike 2 season is gaining momentum. One of the longest tournaments, ESL Pro League Season 21, is about to begin.
In Season 21, the ESL Pro League is changing its format: instead of classic group stage matches, it is divided into two stages with a Swiss system in each of them. The first stage will feature many exciting fights, and the central match in the first round will probably be between Heroic and sAw.
We will figure out which of the sAw - Heroic pair will be stronger and take the first victory on the long road to reaching the next stage.
Let's go.
Heroic Form
We open the analysis of the match Heroic - sAw with an analysis of the game form of Heroic. In this match they play as favorites with a coefficient of victory in the region of 1.2.
Heroic looked pretty good in the 2023 season. They were a regular in TIR-S tournaments and were a significant force.
Heroic had a streak of great tournaments. They were TOP-2 at IEM Rio 2023, TOP-4 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023. Heroic then won BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 and also made it into the top three at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023
- Heroic lineup: SunPayus, LNZ, yxngstxr, xfl0ud, tN1R.
Before their performance at Gamers8, Heroic attended another prestigious tournament – IEM Cologne. Being one of the main contenders for victory at the German tournament, the Danes reached the playoffs of the competition, but were unable to advance beyond the first round. Heroic lost to Astralis in the first round of the IEM Cologne playoffs with a score of 0-2.
Gamers8 debuted with a match against Falcons. Overall, the game ended predictably, but the French put up a fight, especially on the first map (Mirage 22-18 in favor of Heroic). The second one went to Heroic with a score of 16-10.
In the previous match, Heroic met GamerLegion. Despite GL's seemingly hopeless position in that match, they were able to fray the Danes' nerves and take the map, but ultimately lost.
Heroic ended Gamers8 with a match against ENCE. The Danish club failed to beat the Finns again and left the major championship at the TOP-4 stage.
In the first match of ESL Pro League Season 18, the team played against Rooster. The Australians did not put up any resistance and took 6 rounds over two maps.
Next up was BIG, another easy opponent for Heroic, but it wasn't to be. The Danes lost 0-2, losing on Ancient 23-25 and on Inferno 13-16.
Heroic got into the last chance bracket after losing to MOUZ with a score of 0-2. So, from “achievements” so far – a victory over the raw Roosters and that’s it. It looks very sad. And it didn’t end any better: Heroic lost to Monte and crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 18.
Next came Roobet Cup 2023, where Heroic finished in the TOP-12. After a poor performance at EPL and Roobet Cup, Heroic did not play their best at Thunderpick World Championship 2023 and BLAST Premier: Fall Final 2023. They finished in the TOP-8 and TOP-6 respectively.
Heroic faces many challenges in the 2024 season. They still attend top tournaments, but their results are much worse: TOP-16 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, TOP-8 at IEM Chengdu 2024, TOP-28 at ESL Pro League Season 9, TOP-6 at IEM Dallas 2024, and TOP-8 at YaLLa Compass 2024.
Later, the series of performances at various championships continued, with Heroic playing at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 (TOP-12), IEM Cologne 2024 (TOP-20), and BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 (TOP-16). In October 2024, Heroic were close to finally taking the championship title, reaching the final of Elisa Masters Espoo 2024, but lost to ENCE in the grand final.
Before performing at European RMR B, Heroic played at Thunderpick World Championship 2024, where they finished in the top 2, losing to MongolZ in the grand final.
At European RMR B, Heroic started with a win against PARIVISION. Then there was a loss to BIG, and then a win against NiP. At PW Shanghai Major 2024, they advanced thanks to a win against Passion UA.
Entering the Elimination Stage straight away, Heroic beat BIG and FaZe on their way to the basket 2-0. In the playoff match, Heroic lost to MongolZ. In the playoff match, they lost to Spirit. However, they managed to advance to the main stage after beating the reigning world champions, NaVi. However, in the first playoff match, G2 stood in Heroic's way, knocking Heroic out of the championship race.
In the 2025 season, Heroic attended BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, where they finished in the TOP-8. After that, they performed at IEM Katowice 2025 with an even more dismal result, or more specifically, in the TOP-20.
Heroic Mappool
The best Heroic map is Nuke. The Danes have 5 wins and 0 losses there.
They like to play Overpass, where they have only lost once. In three months on Overpass – 5-1.
One of the most frequently played and successful maps is Inferno. Here Heroic has a 9-3 statistic. It also goes well on Ancient, where Heroic has a 3-1 statistic in matches.
Form sAw
We continue our analysis of the sAw – Heroic match with an analysis of sAw’s game form. In this match, the Portuguese club plays second with a win coefficient of around 4.4.
We started the year with the qualifiers for ESL Pro League Season 17: European Conference. There we split the TOP-1. Then there were two TOP-4s at CCT South Europe Series #2 and OMEN WGR Challenge 2023.
There were also performances at major championships, such as ESL Pro League Season 17. However, it was not possible to achieve a high result, only TOP-28, but there was experience in the game.
Later, sAw took TOP-8 at CCT North Europe Series #4, TOP-4 at ESL Challenger League Season 44: Europe. In April 2023, sAw played at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023: European RMR A, but failed to rise above TOP-16. But they did it later, at local tournaments.
This was the case at Masters League Portugal Season 11: Online, where sAw won the trophy by beating For the Win in the final. This was the case at ESL Masters Espana Season 13: Online Stage, ESL Masters Espana Season 13, CCT West Europe #4.
- Composition sAw: MUTiRiS, rmn, ewjerkz, story, arrozdoce.
Before participating in CCT Online Finals #5, sAw played a lot of championships and, to be fair, were good almost everywhere. They took TOP-2 at Thunderpick World Championship 2023: European Series #2, CCT North Europe Series #6, Aveiro Techdays Cup 2023, Master League Portugal Season 12: Online Stage.
They also played in big tournaments, such as Thunderpick World Championship 2023, where, unfortunately for themselves, they were unable to rise above the TOP-12. At the end of November, they won Master League Portugal Season 12 and XL Games Clash 2023.
CCT Online Finals #5 sAw started off strong. They easily took down Team Space in the first round of the upper bracket, winning 2-0. Things got tougher from there.
In the second round of CCT Online Finals #5, sAw met Aurora, who turned out to be stronger than the Portuguese. The match lasted 3 maps and sAw even won the first one, but it didn’t go any further and as a result, Aurora reached the semifinals, winning their series with a score of 1-2.
In the match for the third round of the CCT Online #5 playoffs, sAw met Zero Tenacity. The Portuguese easily beat their opponents, closing the series with a score of 2-0. However, they failed to defeat Fnatic and sAw ended up in the TOP-4.
Next came the TOP-4 at ESL Challenger at DreamHack Atlanta 2024 and a similar place at ESL Challenger League Season 48: Europe. Before playing at Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, sAw won ESL Challenger Katowice 2024.
PW Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR A, sAw started with a loss to SINNERS, but then won against Dynamo Eclot and Falcons. But they failed to beat NaVi in the match for a slot in the major and, as a result, 2-2. However, they failed to advance to the main tournament: in the match for the exit, they lost to BB with a score of 0-2.
The 2025 season started with a performance at BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, where they took TOP-32. Then, not the best game at IEM Katowice 2025 with a final TOP-24.
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 was one of the best tournaments of the season. sAw managed to get to the playoffs by going the longest way: in the group stage, after a 0-2 score due to a loss to FaZe and MOUZ, the Portuguese club won against FlyQuest, Complexity and 3DMax. But for the playoffs, apparently, there was not enough strength: 0-2 against FaZe and TOP-6 in the end.
Mappool sAw
The most successful map for sAw is Nuke, where the Spaniards have 3 wins and 1 loss. Next comes Vertigo with a score of 2-1 and Ancient with a score of 3-2.
Neutral picks are Inferno and Anubis. Both maps have been played 4 times and both maps are 2-2.
The worst situation is on Overpass, where sAw won 2 out of 6 matches.
Mirage doesn't play.
History of personal encounters Heroic – sAw
This will be the teams' first official meeting since 2022.
Predicted result of the match Heroic vs sAw at ESL One Pro League Season 21
I expect a beautiful Counter-Strike 2 in this match. After sAw's performance at PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025 and Heroic's performance at IEM Katowice 2025, I wouldn't rush to single out Heroic as such a clear favorite, as the bookmakers did in this match. I believe that sAw will take the map, or even the series altogether.
Result: handicap +1.5 on sAw.
