MartinezSa: “It’s not tier one, but it’s the way to tier one”

HEROIC’s second trophy with their new lineup has given Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez another reason to believe the project is moving in the right direction — even if the Spanish AWPer knows there is still a considerable gap between winning events such as Stake Pulse Beat II and establishing themselves at the top level.

The international roster completed its Stockholm run with a 2-1 victory over 100 Thieves in the grand final, recovering from a Dust2 defeat and surviving championship points on Ancient before running away with Inferno. It was HEROIC’s second LAN title since adding MartinezSa and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin during the summer, following their undefeated Stake Ranked Episode 3 campaign in Barcelona in July.

For MartinezSa, however, the significance goes beyond adding another trophy.

“To be honest this kind of tournament is really important, because as we’ve said it’s not tier one, but it’s the way to tier one tournaments.”

That distinction captures HEROIC’s position particularly well. Their new roster has already demonstrated that it can win events below the elite circuit, but qualification attempts for some of the bigger tournaments have produced mixed results. Stake Pulse Beat II therefore represented more than another opportunity to play officials: it was a chance to accumulate ranking value, build confidence and turn the potential of the rebuilt lineup into something tangible.

A title that HEROIC needed

The current HEROIC lineup is still less than three months old, yet it has already collected two trophies.

MartinezSa and Brollan joined during the summer alongside new head coach Joonas “doto” Forss. The revamped team immediately won Stake Ranked Episode 3, going through 3DMAX, Phantom, Ninjas in Pyjamas and K27 without losing a series. HEROIC swept K27 3-0 in the final.

The period that followed was less straightforward. HEROIC missed out on several qualification opportunities, including a 1-2 loss to Ninjas in Pyjamas in the StarLadder StarSeries Fall Europe Closed Qualifier and a defeat to fnatic in the Esports World Cup Open Qualifier. They did, however, earn an IEM Beijing berth through its closed qualifier.

That inconsistency explains why MartinezSa placed so much value on the Stockholm victory.

“This tournament I think is so important for us,” he told HLTV. “We have been playing many tournaments, many closed qualifiers that we lost, we didn’t manage to qualify.”

Stake Pulse Beat II offered a different outcome.

HEROIC finished first in the 16-team, $60,000 competition and earned $20,000 for the victory. More importantly from a competitive standpoint, HLTV reported that the run lifted HEROIC ten places to No. 17 in the world ranking immediately after the tournament.

Ancient became a test of HEROIC’s resilience

The grand final provided a useful illustration of both HEROIC’s progress and some of the issues MartinezSa believes the team is still working through.

100 Thieves opened the series by taking Dust2 13-8. HEROIC then found themselves on the verge of losing Ancient after their opponents recovered from a 5-7 half and produced a six-round T-side streak.

HEROIC survived two championship points and eventually forced the map into double overtime, winning 19-17 to keep the series alive.

MartinezSa admitted that HEROIC’s communication can suffer when rounds begin moving against them.

“Sometimes we are going quiet when things are not coming like we would like them to come.”

That made the recovery particularly meaningful.

“I think we took a pause, and I don’t know, we managed to get to overtime,” MartinezSa said. “We showed resilience really well, it’s not the first time we showed it.”

The comment points toward an area that remains important for a relatively new international roster. HEROIC have enough individual quality to recover difficult games, but maintaining communication and structure when momentum disappears is a different challenge — especially for a lineup still developing its internal hierarchy.

On Ancient, they passed that test.

susp takes over on Inferno

There was little of the same tension on the deciding map.

HEROIC stormed to an 11-0 lead on Inferno before eventually closing the map 13-4. Tim “susp” Ångström was at the center of the dominant first half, and MartinezSa described the atmosphere inside HEROIC’s TeamSpeak as the Swedish rifler began taking over rounds.

“We were screaming in the TS, it was crazy,” MartinezSa recalled while describing one sequence in which susp found multiple kills through smoke.

“He did really well in this Inferno, this map especially, but he’s doing a really good job overall in the team.”

The decider was ultimately the release after the pressure of Ancient. HEROIC had been one round away from losing the tournament; less than an hour later, they were lifting the trophy.

MartinezSa himself remained productive throughout the final. The AWPer finished the three maps with 53 kills and 45 deaths, averaging 78.7 ADR, 71.6% KAST and a 1.14 Rating 3.0. Brollan led HEROIC statistically with a 1.34 rating.

MartinezSa’s numbers underline his importance

The final was not an isolated productive series for MartinezSa.

Across 13 maps at Stake Pulse Beat II, the 25-year-old recorded a 1.19 Rating 3.0, with 0.75 kills and 0.55 deaths per round and a +54 kill differential. That represented a notable improvement from HEROIC’s preceding Thunderpick World Championship Closed Qualifier, where he averaged a 1.01 rating across 11 maps.

His wider numbers also illustrate why HEROIC targeted him for the rebuild. Across his first three months with the organization, MartinezSa recorded a 1.14 Rating 3.0 over 79 maps, averaging 0.72 kills per round against only 0.55 deaths.

His role inside HEROIC also appears to extend beyond simply holding the AWP.

When asked which players receive the freedom to initiate plays, MartinezSa pointed primarily toward himself and susp. He described nilo as occupying the star roles while functioning more as a lurker, whereas MartinezSa and susp can request utility or space for proactive plays.

That arrangement gives HEROIC several different sources of initiative rather than building every aggressive sequence around a single star.

Brollan has become Chr1zN’s second voice

One of the most revealing parts of MartinezSa’s interview concerned Brollan.

The Swedish rifler arrived with far more experience at the highest level than most of the roster, and MartinezSa says HEROIC are already making use of that background beyond Brollan’s individual output.

“Brollan, right now for us, is very important.”

According to MartinezSa, Brollan has effectively become the secondary voice behind in-game leader Christoffer “Chr1zN” Storgaard.

“He is helping Chr1zN a lot,” MartinezSa explained. “Right now he is the second voice. He is calling also on some maps, CT side especially. He helps Chr1zN and he helps the team morale a lot.”

That is an important detail about how the new HEROIC operates.

Chr1zN remains the team’s IGL, but the calling structure is not entirely dependent on the 20-year-old Dane. Brollan can contribute experience and mid-round information, particularly on CT sides, while MartinezSa indicated that the rest of the lineup is also encouraged to make calls when their information demands it.

Brollan’s impact was visible statistically in the final as well. His 51-43 K-D and 1.34 rating made him HEROIC’s highest-rated player against 100 Thieves.

doto’s pauses are helping the new lineup

MartinezSa also highlighted the influence of doto, who stepped up from HEROIC’s academy structure during the summer rebuild.

For MartinezSa, working with the Finnish coach represented another adjustment after joining his first international roster.

He praised both doto and HEROIC’s assistant coach for their preparation and specifically highlighted the value of the coach’s tactical pauses.

“They are doing really good game plans and prep,” MartinezSa said, adding that doto is willing to use pauses simply to settle the team before deciding how to approach the next rounds.

That element was particularly relevant in the final. MartinezSa’s description of HEROIC going quiet during their Ancient collapse and then recovering following a pause shows why those interventions can matter for a lineup that is still learning how to handle difficult stretches together.

“It’s not everything around the Major”

The PGL Major Singapore race naturally remains one of HEROIC’s biggest objectives, and their Stockholm run strengthened their position heading toward the invite cutoff.

MartinezSa, though, was careful not to define HEROIC’s entire season by whether they reach the Major.

“Our goals this season, of course playing the Major, but if we didn’t manage to qualify it doesn’t matter, we know that we could do it next year,” he said.

“And also we have IEM Beijing, we won that closed qualifier. It’s not everything around the Major.”

That qualification gives HEROIC an important opportunity to test whether their results at events such as Stake Ranked and Stake Pulse can translate to stronger competition.

For MartinezSa, that is precisely why tournaments one step below the elite circuit matter.

HEROIC are not treating them as consolation prizes. They are using them as the route upward.

MartinezSa continues adapting to international Counter-Strike

There is also a personal transition behind the Spaniard’s strong start with HEROIC.

After spending his career primarily in Spanish-speaking environments, including Movistar Riders, 9z and Gentle Mates, HEROIC represents MartinezSa’s first international lineup.

That means his adaptation is not limited to learning a new tactical system or new teammates.

“I’m so happy to be in this team, my first international team,” MartinezSa said. “Sometimes it’s hard for me because I used to play in Spanish every time, but overall it’s really good.”

The early evidence is encouraging.

HEROIC have now won two LAN tournaments with MartinezSa and Brollan in the lineup, while MartinezSa produced a 1.19 rating across the Stockholm title run. The larger question is whether those results can carry into the stronger events the team is trying to reach.

That next stage is already approaching. MartinezSa said HEROIC’s upcoming schedule includes Stake Pulse Beat III and DraculaN before IEM Beijing, with the Major invite cutoff adding another layer of importance to their remaining events.

For a roster still establishing itself, those tournaments represent exactly the progression MartinezSa described after lifting the trophy in Stockholm: not tier one yet, but a route toward it.