- Heroic had to substitute jabbi with coach Xizt on the second map
- This almost cost them the match as TheMongolz turned the tides of battle
- The Danes, however, regained the initiative on the final map of Mirage
Despite having to substitute a player and fumbling a map, Heroic managed to dominate TheMongolz on two others to win the match 2-1 and eliminate their opponents from the tournament.
Heroic Eliminate TheMongolz
TheMongolz have been eliminated from IEM Rio by Heroic in a grueling match that stretched to the full three maps. The odds were already stacked against the Mongolian team as they had to go up against the No. 3 ranked team in the world.
But when Heroic had to substitute Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard with coach Richard “Xizt” Landström on the second map, for a brief time it looked like TheMongolz might turn the tide of battle. However, this did not happen as Heroic regained the initiative on the third map and ousted the Mongolian team from the IEM Rio.
The reason why Heroic had to substitute jabbi with coach Xizt was because the former chose to step out of the server due to feeling unwell. The situation was not at all a surprise for the Danish team, as the 19-year-old rifler had already complained of feeling unwell in the first couple of days of the tournament.
Knowing this might happen, heroic had prepared for the situation. “We tried one practice with Xizt while we were here because jabbi was feeling sick just in case,” Rasmus “sjuush” Beck explained after the match was over. “We did try it and it was on Overpass, and we did well in the practice but we lost the official.”
Sjuush explained that he and the other team members expected jabbi might have to temporarily leave the active lineup, as he did not look well. “His skin was a little bit pale, and his knuckles [fist bumps] were not that strong,” the player explained. “But I think it's strong of him to say no in the middle of a match because you can feel the pressure to keep on playing and just feel bad.”
How Did the Match go?
Despite not having participated in an official match in two and a half years, Xizt performed rather well in the match. He even scored a few crucial multi-kills on Overpass, the map that almost spelled doom for Heroic as the team almost lost it and had to go to the third map against TheMongolz.
Speaking about maps – Heroic dominated their opponents on the first one, Inferno, winning a landslide victory by ending it with a 16-4 score. But as Overpass rolled on, Heroic had to make the change between jabbi and coach Xizt. This had an immediate effect as TheMongolz were suddenly on par with their Danish opponents. A missed timing from Xizt in the late stages of the map allowed Sodbayar “Techno” Munkhbold to convert a lurk into a win for TheMongolz, who took the map 16-13.
But it seems Overpass was just a warmup for Heroic, as after the teams entered the third map, Mirage, they dominated their Mongolian opponents in much the same way as in the first map, winning 16 rounds to TheMongolz’ six.Because IEM Rio marked the start of the next IEM Grand Slam season, TheMongolz will have more difficulties obtaining a piece of the $1 million prize money.
