cadiaN talks CS future post-Heroic: \u201cI still have a lot to achieve\u201d Michal Konkol\/BLASTCasper \u2018cadiaN\u2019 M\u00f8ller spoke with Dexerto about his benching by Heroic and mapped out his future plans, even opening the door to a role change in Counter-Strike 2. \u201cWho knows what the future entails for this roster?\u201d caster Adam \u2018Dinko\u2019 Hawthorne said as Heroic crashed out of ESL Pro League Season 18 in the group stage, calling it \u201ca new low\u201d for the team. With the benefit of hindsight, cadiaN believes that losing to the eventual champions, MOUZ, and to a semi-finalist, Monte, was not as bad as it initially looked, though it still stings him. But the signs that the team was vulnerable had been there for a while. In the lead-up to the event in Malta, cadiaN had even spoken about the struggles that plagued the squad, expressing his concern that the team was not \u201cplaying to our philosophies and principles.\u201d Somehow, somewhere, Heroic had lost their verve and become a static rendition of themselves, abandoning the fundamentals that had made them one of the best and most unique teams in the game despite lacking the star power of some of their rivals. cadiaN understood that a change was necessary. But in the end, his vision for the future of the team was met with resistance. \u201cWe had talks on how to move forward and progress,\u201d cadiaN explained to Dexerto. \u201cAnd I think, ultimately, we had different visions on how we would achieve our goals. \u201cI wanted some changes and some people wanted a different way.\u201d cadiaN doesn\u2019t want to go into detail about what type of changes he wanted to make, but he is adamant in his belief that they would have taken Heroic to the next level, pointing to a four-year record of roster swaps that were received with skepticism but constantly took the team up the ladder. \u201cI think they would have made us more competitive in the big tournaments and the big stages and they saw it done in a different way,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would not have created the right fundamentals for the future if we met somewhere in the middle.\u201d cadiaN steps down from Heroic\u2019s roster four years after joining the organization \u2014 one of the longest active stints in the CS:GO scene. He led the team as it went from being a middle-of-the-pack side to a regular presence in the top 10 and, eventually, a title contender and Major finalist. But he was much more than just the in-game leader. He was the most vocal player on the team and, at times, a father figure to his younger teammates. Even during the team\u2019s darkest periods, like in the HUNDEN scandal, and in the toughest losses, he always knew how to draw attention to himself as a way to shield the other players, who aren\u2019t so adept at handling the spotlight. Perhaps nowhere is that better illustrated than in \u2018Game and Glory\u2019, the Counter-Strike documentary by ESL and BBC Studios about the IEM Rio Major. cadiaN is the lead figure in the 48-minute-long video and the only Heroic member who is interviewed, apart from Kasper Straube, then the organization\u2019s Head of Performance. \u201cI feel a lot of pride,\u201d he said. \u201cMany people see me as the face of not just the CS team of Heroic but more or less the organization, you know? I have been able to build a team and a brand more or less from nothing. We didn\u2019t have the funds or the same opportunities as the other teams at the beginning, and we fought our way up, becoming better and better with each and every small change, and the theory-crafting of how to play CS. \u201cWe were ahead of the curve in terms of scouting the right talent and making roster moves at the right time, and that brought us to a position where Heroic was a big enough name to get a spot in both BLAST and ESL, to reach No.1 in the world rankings and to win big trophies. \u201cThe main thing that fills my heart is pride, and I\u2019m happy that I have spent so much of my career with such great players and amazing friends. There\u2019s no grudge, we separate as friends. We have been working super hard and pouring in sweat, blood and tears to make it work. It has been an incredible journey that a lot of people can look back on and think, \u2018Okay, if they could do it, so can I.\u2019\u201d cadiaN\u2019s future in Counter-Strike 2 cadiaN isn\u2019t willing to dwell too long, however, on things that he can\u2019t control and is instead focusing on the next chapter of his career. \u201cI\u2019m super motivated,\u201d he said, adding that he is \u201calready grinding\u201d Counter-Strike 2. He has spent the last five years playing for Danish teams, but with Astralis and Heroic being the only top teams in his country at the moment, he is looking abroad for playing opportunities. \u201cI believe that a lot of the things we have done correctly in Heroic I can transfer to the next place I\u2019m going to,\u201d cadiaN said. \u201cI know I can bring the five percent that other teams need to win. \u201cI have my ideas of which teams I could instantly make better and which teams could, or should, potentially consider involving me. But at the end of the day, it\u2019s not up to me to decide which teams are interested in me.\u201d The Counter-Strike scene is currently in a state of flux as tournament organizers across the globe transition to CS2 for the final leg of the season. With so many question marks around what the rest of the year will look like, cadiaN is willing to take his time to find the next destination. \u201cI\u2019m not going to make a move just to make a move,\u201d he said, before noting: \u201cI\u2019m confident that there will be a lot of teams reaching out to me.\u201d He added, \u201cI\u2019m only considering joining a team that I can win with.\u201d cadiaN believes that he has proven himself \u201cas a great leader and a great fragger with the AWP\u201d. His demeanor is merely confidence in his abilities, not cockiness, and is part of the reason he is such a polarizing figure in the Counter-Strike scene. Despite that, he is willing to relinquish some of his duties and reinvent himself again if necessary. \u201cI have found a rhythm for making both of those roles work together,\u201d he said, \u201cbut for the perfect fit, I would be willing to separate [from] the roles.\u201d And not be the AWPer? \u201cOr not be the IGL.\u201d Though he has not set a timetable for his return, cadiaN clearly has one tournament in mind: the PGL CS2 Major in Copenhagen. The event will take place at the Royal Arena, the same venue where he lifted the BLAST Premier Fall Final trophy in 2022, which he described as \u201cone of the best moments of my career.\u201d \u201cGetting back to Royal Arena and greeting the Danish fans is definitely a big motivation for me,\u201d he said. Only a few Counter-Strike players can boast that their journey to the big leagues was a straight line, but cadiaN\u2019s voyage took more unexpected turns than most. There were times when his career looked like it was going nowhere, but he persevered and reached the very top at the age of 26, by which point most players are already past their primes. For someone that many never expected to get to this stage, being removed from a team isn\u2019t more than just a speedbump. Like he noted in \u2018Game and Glory\u2019, he is the type of person who \u201calways gets back up.\u201d \u201cThat is exactly what is going to happen,\u201d he said nonchalantly. \u201cI\u2019m not even close to giving up. I still have a lot to achieve in my career. I would call it a winner\u2019s mindset. \u201cI want to win the big trophies. I went to the final and the semi-finals of the last two Majors. I want to win a Major. I want to win Katowice and Cologne. Even though I\u2019m proud of what I\u2019ve achieved, I\u2019m far from satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
cadiaN talks CS future post-Heroic: \u201cI still have a lot to achieve\u201d Michal Konkol\/BLASTCasper \u2018cadiaN\u2019 M\u00f8ller spoke with Dexerto about his benching by Heroic and mapped out his future plans, even opening the door to a role change in Counter-Strike 2. \u201cWho knows what the future entails for this roster?\u201d caster Adam \u2018Dinko\u2019 Hawthorne said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}