Why is HEROIC the strongest underdog of the new CS season?

After a relatively quiet summer transfer window, HEROIC made a surprise move just before it closed—the team signed Ludwig “Brollan” Brolin, Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez, and coach Joonas “doto” Forss. The roster shake-up looks intriguing and very promising—here’s how HEROIC solved all its problems with just two transfers.

The first thing HEROIC needed to consider was ensuring the roster was adequately balanced across roles, so they wouldn’t have to rely on stand-ins for the entire season. During his year with the Norwegian organization, Alimzhan “Alkarenn” Bitimbay played in only five LAN tournaments, all of them in 2025. After that, visa issues arose, putting HEROIC in an awkward position. Only now can it be called a full-fledged team for the long haul, one that can rely on its starting lineup.

Moreover, HEROIC has assembled its roster in such a way that there are no major concerns regarding role distribution, and the lineup looks well-balanced at first glance.

At MOUZ, Brollan was constrained by the team’s structure and dynamics while serving as the in-game leader. That wasn’t quite his role, and Ludwig wasn’t able to fully realize his potential as a player, but his time at MOUZ gave him the necessary foundation.

At HEROIC, Brollan will serve as the second voice, supporting and assisting Christopher “Chr1zN” Storgård. This is an extremely important factor, as the Dane is still a young and inexperienced in-game leader, albeit a promising one. With ten years of gaming experience and a background at teams like MOUZ, fnatic, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, Brollan looks like the perfect piece of the puzzle for HEROIC.

If he’s active in voice chat, his main strengths will be opening rounds on defense and providing support during the mid-round on offense. At the same time, Brollan is only twenty-four years old, and despite his modest rating of 0.99 over the past three months, his individual stats could “bounce back.” And he doesn’t even need to hit 1.1. With HEROIC’s current roster, a rating around 1 will be enough for the team to perform successfully. Importantly, Ludwig has historically performed at roughly the same level on both sides. The widest discrepancy in his Tier 1 career came in 2024—back then, Brollan’s rating was 1.14 on offense and 1.04 on defense.

During the final months of last season, HEROIC effectively played without a dedicated sniper—Simon “yxngstxr” Bolier filled that role. This inevitably affects the team’s performance, especially at the Tier 1 level, in matches against elite teams.

MartinezSa’s arrival adds consistent firepower, mid-round aggression, and excitement. In such a “calm” Scandinavian lineup, the temperamental and vibrant Spaniard will be able to positively influence the atmosphere if he keeps his cool. The only caveat is that Antonio has never played for an international team, but so far, no issues have arisen. Interestingly, MartinezSa plays more passively at the start of the round than he’s used to with Gentle Mates—42 points in the opening stage with HEROIC compared to 75 in 2026.

Chr1zN came up through the MOUZ academy, so he has a solid foundation, and on top of that, he’s already gained experience. Brollan is the glue of the team; he’ll shape the team’s overall gameplay. The task for MartinezSa, Linus “nilo” Bergman, and Tim “susp” Angström is to rack up frags. At the same time, the Spanish sniper will also lead the team during the mid-round defense, while Chr1zN himself will support the team with grenades.

And it’s hard to say that there’s a weak link in the team on an individual level—the average age of the roster is 22.5 years, and the oldest player is MartinezSa, who is 25.

That’s a tough question. doto led the HEROIC academy, and their gameplay was built around default setups and a great deal of freedom and initiative—exactly what the new main roster needs. Only time will tell how well the Finn can resolve conflicts and steer the team in the right direction, but at first glance, doto seems like a good fit for HEROIC’s philosophy.

HEROIC has already won Stake Ranked Episode 3—an excellent start to the season. And to be honest, I don’t see this roster finishing any lower than the top 10 by the end of 2026. If everything goes according to plan, HEROIC will already be fighting for a spot in the playoffs at the BLAST Singapore Major and taking down top teams.