cadiaN: "If the fans will cheer for us, I'm gonna give them an even better show"

After a worse than expected showing at the BLAST.tv Paris Major, Heroic came into IEM Dallas hoping to prove that they were still one of the best teams in the world. After victories over 9z, MOUZ, and now G2, Heroic look poised to lift their first trophy in 2023.

After an incredibly dominant performance over G2 in which cadiaN led the server in kills, rating, and K/D ratio, Dust2.us' Jeffrey "Mnmzzz" Moore spoke with the Danish IGL about the game, the upcoming playoffs, and the North American crowd.

Please note that the full interview can be found below on YouTube, while the transcript has some key snippets from their conversation.

Heroic has been one of the most dominant teams this year, but the only thing you don't have to back it up is the silverware. What would it mean to finally get that first trophy of 2023 and get the silverware to back up the best team in the world claim?

It's very true. It's maybe in some senses more important than others, but then again, not that many teams have been winning trophies this season. We were the best team in the world until Vitality won two in a row. They showed some excellent form and consistency and ability to close out games in the end. For us, we obviously want to secure a trophy, there's no denying that, and we'll do whatever we can to do it. We keep the mood high, we do the things that we know work, and try to change the things that we know we can do better.

Do you think there's a mental block for you guys once you come into the finals, and if so, what can you do to overcome it?

I wouldn't say it's a mental block, but we do have some difficulties that we are working on. We can definitely play better in finals, and we have been. We have already been cooking some stuff we want to try, and see if that works next time. Because obviously, when we play our game, let's be real, who can beat us when we play our game? Not anybody, in my opinion. When we play our best and we are on point, we are unbeatable. The problem is, we've had too many important games where the initiative and the overview has dropped, and we just become a good team, not an excellent one.

Depending on how the rest of the games shake out, we could have five of the six teams in the playoffs with Danish IGLs. Do you have a theory as to why Danish IGLs are so dominant at the moment?

I think that Danish culture in any sport is very team-dependent. We focus on the team and how to make that work. Things such as feelings and making sure everyone is comfortable and stuff like that are important, which is sometimes why we don't have as many superstars. but the cohesion of the team has always been important. When you are in that sort of environment and culture, for many teams, they take that on and try to bring it to the next teams and so on. It's a Danish thing of leadership and I'm happy to see them all do well.

At most events, you play the heel. You've played in NA, you were a Rogue player for a very long time. Are you expecting to be a heel or a hero for the Dallas crowd?

Good question, I remember when we played in Atlanta a few years ago and won with Heroic and had really good support. I have a lot of good friends in the US after living in the US for over thirteen months. I hope, but you can never take anything for granted. If the fans will cheer for us, I'm gonna give them an even better show. If they want to be with someone else, we'll see. I think we always enjoy going to the US, all the good food places and so on. We'll see. I hope the NA fans support us.