cadiaN: "[NAVI] have given me a lot of nights where I definitely could have slept way better"

Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller led his team to a fantastic 3-0 finish at PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR A, beating Natus Vincere for the first time since 2018.

Heroic cruised through the first day of the European Regional Major Ranking event, going 2-0 after comfortable wins over forZe and fnatic. A tough draw for the third round of the Swiss stage saw them paired against the second-best team in the world, Natus Vincere. The decider match saw the Danes finally overcome their unbeaten nemesis, going all the way to the decider on Nuke to take a much deserved 2-1 victory and a spot in the Legends stage.

Heroic's veteran in-game leader followed his post-victory celebrations with a quick chat with us to talk about Heroic's recent form and their improvements since ESL Pro League.

Congrats on your win cadiaN, you are 3-0 now and you are going to the Legends stage of the Major. Did you expect this was going to be the outcome?

We expected to make the Legends stage whether it was a direct qualification through this process, or from the Challenger stage at the actual event, were not too sure about it. We definitely did not expect to beat NAVI, I am not an expert at the Buchholz system but when the original #1 and #2 seeds meet each other in the 2-0 game, when both teams have done what they should, I think it's a little bit interesting. I guess it's because I don't know too much about the system yet.

It was a very tough draw, we knew when we saw it yesterday, but to finally get a victory against them it felt good because they have given me a lot of nights where I definitely could have slept way better.

This is the first time you have beaten NAVI in a while, over a year even, how does it feel to finally get over that "bump" and finally defeat them?

It feels amazing. The last time me and stavn beat them, like the others I don't think they have ever beaten NAVI, but the last time stavn and I did was at a StarSeries in Turkey, in like 2018 or 2019. So yeah, it felt great. Like I said in the interview on stream, I think they are under some very difficult circumstances to perform and I've been there with my team, with outgoing things taking focus away and stuff like this.

I just want to say that I admire that they can still stay as a group and keep this level of competition, playing as well as they are able to. All five of them have earned my respect multiple times in the past, but this is giving even more respect from my side.

Going into the game, you picked Inferno which is not something you usually do - was that intentional given NAVI's recent record on the map?

Yeah, their current record is not as good and some of the other maps that we usually like to pick like Overpass, Nuke, Mirage, etc. are all maps that they are really good on as well. We kind of share map pool as we are super good on Vertigo and they permaban that, while they are super good on Dust2 and we permaban that. The remaining four maps we are really good on and then they are really good on Ancient where we probably need some work, but on the other maps, we are probably more equal. It's always a matchup where both teams play the maps they are comfortable on.

Going back to Pro League, it was not your best end of the event for you guys. You went through the group stages only losing to NAVI before going to the playoffs and losing to Liquid. After an event like that, how do you tell everyone "okay, we can come back from this?"

I mean, losing against Liquid was definitely unacceptable. It's not something we wanted, and I tried my best to say: "people think we have an easy bracket, but the toughest game is the one you have right ahead of you. You can't look into who we could beat in the quarter-finals, who can we beat in the semi-finals." Liquid had a good day and we have reviewed the game, we definitely had communications issues and other things that we need to do better.

I told them also about this saying in Denmark which is like: "there is nothing that is so bad, that is not good for something." And what was it good for? We had some extra rest and some extra practice for this tournament which was for sure more important, qualifying for the Major is way more important.

How did Xizt help in this process? He has recently renewed his contract and is staying as a coach, how has he been helping you in this post-Pro League process?

He's good at setting the mindset fo the squad, and he has played in many tournaments and many finals. He talks about the hurdles that, maybe not so much he and his teams, but the teams he played against had because they have been winning so much. He has a lot of experience in that regard and it helps us. We are very happy to have him on board, I think the fact that he has been given a contract and has come to terms with Heroic is a sign that the players are happy to have him.

Read more

Heroic extend Xizt's contract, add haste as analyst

Lastly, stavn has been on fire recently. How does that help you as an in-game leader? Does it make your life easier and how proud does it make you?

I am insanely proud of Martin, he has done so well for a long time now in terms of decision-making, kills, and the way he talks during rounds — he's just performing really nicely. I am also really proud as there have been some difficult circumstances around him in the past half a year and that he's still able to play at this level. He deserves everything in the world and I think he knows what me and the rest of the guys are willing to do for him because we would really sacrifice a lot for him.