HEROIC have secured key VRS invites with the Sangal core, plus two former Falcons join the fray.
Danish organization HEROIC will remain in CS2 today, announcing its 2025 roster that features benched Falcons AWPer Álvaro "SunPayus" García and three members of Turkish squad Sangal.
SunPayus will join Linus "LNZ" Holtäng, Simon "yxngstxr" Boije, Yasin "xfl0ud" Koç, with Andrey "tN1R" Tatarinovich rounding out the squad for the BLAST qualifier. HEROIC has also named Pavle "maden" Bošković and Metizport phenom Linus "nilo" Bergman on the bench for the event. It's a full rebuild at HEROIC who had their core players poached by Falcons and Team Liquid in the offseason.
Ex-Sangal core to lead HEROIC roster into 2025
Reports from HLTV and Sheep Esports over the past fortnight proved accurate with HEROIC locking in their roster for the BLAST Bounty qualifier (and the year ahead) today. The squad was officially revealed on X/Twitter.
The big name on everyone's lips in the offseason has been SunPayus. The Spanish sniper's move to Falcons from ENCE drew eyes but the project was ill-fated, failing to amount to much outside of a top four finish at IEM Katowice and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade.
In September 2024 SunPayus was benched from Falcons. He spent the end of the season riding the pine, but with a 1.10 HLTV rating across 2024 (matching that of 2023), its clear the 26-year-old still has plenty in the tank.
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He'll be joined at HEROIC by the Sangal core of LNZ, yxngstxr, and xfl0ud. Arguably the most impressive tier two core available, Sangal rose to prominence as the year progressed, landing several online wins and lower-tier offline appearances. Sangal's single S-tier appearance came at ESL Pro League Season 20 where they were bundled out in the group stage by HEROIC, of all teams.
Sangal already lost star Samet "jottAAA" Köklü to fellow Turkish team Eternal Fire. Captain LNZ rose through the Ninjas in Pyjamas academy program while fellow Swede yxngstxr shares a connection with nilo — both played for Metizport at different points during the CS:GO and CS2 days.
As for xfl0ud, the Turkish rifler was touted as the next star behind İsmailсan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş but despite three separate instances on Eternal Fire, xfl0ud couldn't capitalize and was cast to Project G and Sangal. There, he built a resume as a solid support rifler, recording a 1.02 rating in 2024.
Nilo was originally believed to be the starting fifth for the new HEROIC CS2 roster, but the org has opted for tN1R who represented FORZE and GUN5 throughout 2024.
HEROIC will open their BLAST Bounty 2025 account on January 14. For more CS2 news, stay tuned to esports.gg.
