Stake Ranked Episode 3 Belongs to HEROIC

Some stories played out just the way they’ve been written. Even before Stake Ranked Episode 3 kicked off, all eyes were set on HEROIC.

After all, this competition was the first opportunity for the team to show their new faces, and give the debut to Brollan and MartinezSa. The Spanish event was an ideal chance for the new face of HEROIC to come forth and they did so in fashion. 

Stake Ranked Episode 3 was held in Barcelona from July 15th to July 18th at Barcelona. It was a double elimination best of three tourney played for the prize of $100,000. Only the Grand Final was a best of five bout, which was a culmination of a three day of battles of some of the best CS2 teams in the world.

The tournament was home to eight teams with most attention belonging to HEROIC due to the changes to their roster. Antonio “⁠MartinezSa⁠” Martinez and Ludvig “⁠Brollan⁠” Brolin, made their debuts in the opening round against 3DMAX. The rest of participants were paiN, Gentle Mates, Wildcard, Ninja in pyjamas as reigning champs, K27, and Phantom. 

The pressure got to the former champions, Ninjas in Pyjamas, as after a debacle at the XSE Pro League Guangzhou, once again failed to play up to their standards, and not even their academy member Roman “⁠n0te⁠” Hamze couldn’t help the now failing franchise.

In addition to HEROIC who were now boasting their ranks with the likes of MartinezSa, some of the views were on gentle mates who replaced him with Joey “⁠CRUC1AL⁠” Steusel.

These are testing times for the French team as they’re looking to exit Counter-Strike domain, and were looking for a good result in Barcelona in order to increase the team’s value before the imminent sale.

Losing one of their best players didn’t do anything to aid their renown. It did wonders for the HEROIC, though, as they took home the Stake Ranked tourney in dominant fashion. 

The first bouts were held on 15th of July, and the opening night saw Ninjas in Pyjamas face K27, 3DMAX vs. HEROIC, Wildcard vs. Gentle Mates, and paiN vs. Phantom. 

Day 1 Matchups

HEROIC showed everyone from the get go that they are aiming for the top, and that no one is to stand in their way. The new additions to their roster were ideal reinforcements, and it showed on the field. 3DMAX stood no chance, but that was a well known outcome even before the tourney started.

What came as a far bigger surprise in the first round was the Phantom side that pulled out a massive win against paiN. Nico “⁠nicoodoz⁠” Tamjidi and Jan “⁠cej0t⁠” Dyl were great additions to Phantom, and they worked well against early Stake Ranked betting markets and odds given on their win. 

The 2:1 win was a hard fought one, and it came down to the skill of the Danish AWPer, who stopped at 14 kills, and had a +8.23% Round Swing. The final score was Terrorist win in a favourable 10:2 fashion during the fights on Nuke.

While Phantom was celebrating the unlikely win, for paiN it was a second big disappointment in a matter of days, as the Brazilian team came to Barcelona as the best ranked team out of all 8 participants. This was little to no consolation as they also missed out on BLAST Open Porto qualification after losing to Sharks in the South American qualifier.

This was not a good summer for paiN so far. This loss had them fall to the lower end of the bracket in Barcelona, where they had a chance of redemption against 3DMAX. 

3DMAX fought well against HEROIC but their win on Cache was not enough to make it past the new look HEROIC. Antonio “⁠MartinezSa⁠” Martinez and Ludvig “⁠Brollan⁠” Brolin came through when called upon, and their performances during battles on Inferno and Nuke were what they were brought in for in the first place. In other matchups, Ninjas in Pyjamas kicked off well against K27 as it only took them two maps to end an affair.

The tempo of the fights was set by Roman “⁠n0te⁠” Hamze, and K27 had no response for his performance in the early rounds of the Stake sponsored event. Gentle Mates did well too, even with the late addition of Joey “⁠CRUC1AL⁠” Steusel, and Wildcard was taken down with ease.

Stake Ranked Episode 3 had some unexpected matchups on July 16th, as K27 was pitted against Wildcard, 3DMAX vs. paiN, Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. Gentle Mates, and HEROIC vs. Phantom. 

Day 2 of Stake Ranked Ep.3 & paiN Elimination

With the way HEROICs roster is built right now, they could pose some serious threat to all future adversaries. Ancient and Dust2 were their playgrounds during the Day 2 of Stake Ranked tourney, and while their win was a narrow 13:11 affair, they still managed to make it through and remain in the upper side of the bracket.

Phantom was more than a fair opponent, and it all came down to the last few shots. With a win on Day 2, HEROIC got a chance to go against their rivals, Ninjas in Pyjamas in the upper bracket. Ninjas in Pyjamas were excellent against Gentle Mates, and at times it would appear that they were back on track after a couple of early season disappointments.

Yet, the new look HEROIC, while at the edge of their seats, were still able to take home the win when it mattered the most. So, on Day 2, HEROIC nearly won 2:1, against Phantom, while Ninjas in Pyjamas had it way easier against Gentle Mates and took home a 2:0 win. 

paiN put their fans through a lot of fans in Barcelona during the Stake Ranked Episode 3, as they were the highest ranked team entering the tournament, and were one of the favourites to win it too. While their loss to Phantom in the opening round was quite a big surprise, what happened against 3DMAX was a true shocker.

Even at the lower bracket they were not able to put up a fight against one of the worst teams to appear in Barcelona. The worst part is that they were sent packing with a 2:0 win, truly showing that the team is not mentally in the right place at the moment.

After suffering defeat to Sharks in the South American qualifier for the BLAST Open Porto, they were simply not the same team. 

3DMAX, a French outlet that wasn’t setting world ablaze, put the transmission into a higher gear, and on the back of magical performance by Jeremy “⁠Kursy⁠” Gast, who with 1.94 rating had one of the best performances in the tournament against paiN.

Unlike 3DMAX, Wildcard entered the tourney with high aspirations, as they were the BC Game Masters Championship Season 2 reigning champs, but were also sent home after two days in Barcelona after losing to K27 on Day 2 and Gentle Mates in the opening round. 

After two days, when it was all said and done, the remaining matches left to be played on day 3 were 3DMAX vs. Gentle Mates, K27 vs. Phantom, Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. HEROIC, and 3DMAX vs. K27. 

Day 3 & Road to Grand Final

After three days of major fights at the Stake Ranked Episode 3 tournament, only the best of the best remained. In what was more than an even event, K27 managed to take the better out of 3DMAX, eliminating the French side from the competition.

3DMAX was a tough nut to crack, as they have shown against Gentle Mates, earlier in the day, when on the back of Bryan ”Maka” Canda they won a duel that gave them a shot at the GF. Yet, the same way K27 took out Phantom, they used the same recipe on 3DMAX and secured their place in the Grand Final.

3DMAX had no answer for Aleksey “⁠xeedo⁠” Mikulich who posted a 2.00 rating during the lower bracket final. The lower bracket had more confusion as usual, than the upper one, but it was all said and done in no time.

3DMAX sent home Gentle Mates with a 2:0 score, and K27 did the same to Phantom with identical score. In the last duel of the lower bracket K27 was the better team on the day, and with a 2:0 win secured their spot in the Grand Final. 

The upper bracket was more of the same from HEROIC who came to conquer and they dully delivered. Ninjas in Pyjamas were no match for HEROIC who had their eyes set on the GF from the moment they made their roster changes in the lead up to the tourney.

Christoffer “⁠Chr1zN⁠” Storgaard was the key cog in their win against NIP which was a close 13:11 affair. Roman “⁠n0te⁠” Hamze was once again extraordinary, but not good enough to lead his team to win despite the best effort and support from Martin “⁠stavn⁠” Lund who was also quite good in their attempt to reach the Grand Final.

After two matches, HEROIC was better on Inferno, while Ninjas in Pyjamas won on Nuke. The bout was settled on Mirage, where there was no stopping to HEROIC. 

The Unbeaten Champions

HEROIC was the best team at the Stake Ranked Episode 3 tournament. They have shown their quality from day one, and delivered the win to their fans on the last day of the tournament. When it was all said and done on Saturday, July 18th, HEROIC were standing victorious after a 3:0 win against K27.

During the offseason they have changed their coach, and have added two new members to the rosters. Today, after Stake Ranked Ep.3 we can say that their moves already paid off. 

Their offseason started with a win after they managed to land Ludvig “⁠Brollan⁠” Brolin and Antonio “⁠MartinezSa⁠” Martinez. They were brought in to replace Yasin “⁠xfl0ud⁠” Koç and Simon “⁠yxngstxr⁠” Boije. Their new coach is none other than Joonas “⁠doto⁠” Forss.

While new additions made an immediate impact, it was one of the old guards that led the charge in Barcelona. HEROICs own Linus “⁠nilo⁠” Bergman scored an 1.19 rating on the tourney, and led his team to an undefeated championship.

When asked about the new look HEROIC, their IGL Christoffer “⁠Chr1zN⁠” Storgaard said the following after the team’s win against K27: ” This is a more fitted team, so to speak.

The roles fit, and that is going to do a lot. Everyone has been putting in an enormous amount of work with the short time we’ve had. Throughout this event, the mindset has been fantastic from everyone.”

While all eyes were on the winner, and rightfully so, we need to heap some praise on the K27 team too. They were right in the mix to win it all and had their eyes on the $100,000 prize pool too. Before facing HEROIC, K27 once again took out Ninjas in Pyjamas, the same team that had sent them to the lower brackets not so long ago.

To reach the final, K27 survived four consecutive elimination matches. Considering this was their only second international LAN ever, and that they were a young team, playing without their best player in Timur “⁠clax⁠” Sabirov, K27 did astoundingly well. 

While their loss in the final was a clear 3:0 affair, they were more competitive than the final scoreline shows. After being 10:2 down on Mirage, they almost came back and took the map to overtime, while the 11:7 lead slipped through their hands on Dust2.

For HEROIC this is an amazing start to the season, on which they will be looking to build on. At the moment they have jumped ten places up on the global VRS and are now the 27th ranked team, which is a massive boost to their aspirations.

With upcoming qualifiers for StarSeries Fall and BLAST Bounty they will be looking to continue to play by the standards set in Barcelona during the Stake Ranked Episode 3.