HEROIC face uncertain future after early Cologne Major exit

HEROIC’s run at the IEM Cologne Major 2026 ended far earlier than the team had hoped, and head coach Tobias “TOBIZ” Theo admitted that the organization now needs time to reassess its direction. Speaking to HLTV after HEROIC’s elimination, the Danish coach said the squad must “go home, breathe a little bit,” and then evaluate both the players and staff before deciding what the next step should be. 

The result capped off a difficult first half of the season for HEROIC. Their Cologne campaign ended in Stage 1 after a 0-2 loss to Liquid in the 1-2 pool, with Liquid winning 13-5 on Nuke and 13-11 on Inferno. HEROIC’s only victory at the Major came against Gaimin Gladiators, while defeats to Lynn Vision and Sharks in best-of-one matches left them under heavy pressure from the opening day. 

TOBIZ described the Major exit as a reflection of broader problems that have followed HEROIC throughout the season. Although he acknowledged that the team showed some encouraging signs in practice and in isolated matches, he said the same issues kept appearing regardless of the opponent or event level. According to him, the team now has to be honest about what has gone wrong and hold a deeper internal discussion about how those problems can be fixed. 

A major part of HEROIC’s instability has been the long-running absence of Alimzhan “Alkaren” Bitimbay. The Kazakh AWPer was unable to play at the start of 2026 because of visa issues, forcing HEROIC to bring Simon “yxngstxr” Boije back into the active lineup as a temporary replacement. HEROIC stated at the time that the decision was not related to Alkaren’s ability or character and that the organization was working on a solution. 

That temporary fix soon became a season-long complication. In February, TOBIZ said HEROIC had already played several events with yxngstxr standing in for Alkaren and admitted that competing without a natural AWPer was “really hard,” even though he praised yxngstxr’s efforts in the role. He also explained that the situation disrupted relationships and practice work the team had built with Alkaren and Tim “susp” Ångström. 

Still, TOBIZ refused to use the AWPer situation as the only explanation for HEROIC’s poor results. After the Cologne exit, he stressed that yxngstxr was not to blame and said the defeats were more connected to repeated individual and team mistakes. HEROIC had some positive moments during the season, including qualifying for the Major, winning DraculaN Season 5 and finishing second at the CCT Global Finals, but their form dropped sharply before and during Cologne. 

The warning signs had been visible before the Major. HEROIC exited PGL Astana 2026 after a 1-2 loss to magic, failing to build on an opening win against Aurora. HLTV noted at the time that the team struggled badly on the T side and that none of HEROIC’s players finished the event with a CT-side rating above 1.00. 

There had also been frustration earlier in the season. After HEROIC were knocked out of the BC Game Masters Championship by Tricked, TOBIZ called the result “super disappointing” and “embarrassing.” At that stage, the team still had no clear update on Alkaren’s return, with yxngstxr continuing to fill in at events. 

HEROIC entered 2026 with a rebuilt lineup. In January, the organization signed susp to replace yxngstxr, while keeping a core of Yasin “xfl0ud” Koç, Linus “nilo” Bergman, Christoffer “Chr1zN” Storgaard and Alkaren, with TOBIZ as coach. However, Alkaren’s visa issues meant that the roster HEROIC planned to use was quickly changed before the season had properly begun.

For now, HEROIC’s future remains unclear. TOBIZ confirmed that the team has received some tournament invites and held discussions about upcoming events, but he did not commit to any roster or staff decisions. His message was cautious: HEROIC need to step away from the pressure of the Major, evaluate everything, and only then decide what the next version of the project should look like.