After their stellar group stage performance, we talked with Heroic’s superstar Martin "stavn" Lund as he waited to enter the arena for the semi-finals. We discussed Heroic’s year so far, the close relationship the team has, and his goals for the future.

ESL | Viola Schuldner

So just to get going, how have you guys been feeling about how you've played so far in this tournament?

stavn: I mean, we are feeling very confident with how things have gone so far in this tournament. I mean, for us, it's been like that the whole season. We've been doing good in the group stages, always going deep in the tournament. So, yeah, we're feeling confident.

On the last day of the group stage, you smashed G2. How did that feel? I mean, what do you think went differently in that game?

stavn: Yeah, so we definitely wanted to get some revenge against G2 from the Katowice final last year. They haven't been looking that good for some time now, I would say ever since they won in Katowice. Behind the scenes, there seem to be things not going that well in the team right now. You see in the huddles and so on, that maybe Hooxi is not feeling that comfortable in the team right now, and it's hard to say from outside what's going on, but they don't look like a team if you ask me. But, it definitely felt good beating them in that fashion as well.

Looking like a team is something that you guys do all the time. You're always praised for your camaraderie, your friendship in and out of the game. Do you think that there's anything in particular that contributes to that? Is it the fact that you're all Danish?

stavn: Yeah, I definitely think that the fact that we are all from the same nationality helps a lot. We have the same culture, like Danish people and so on. But I think that what makes us so close friends as well is that we want to be close friends because we have the idea that you need to be good friends if we spend so much time with each other because we spend more time with each other than our closest friends and families. Right? It's basically a second family for us, and we try to do things together. So, it's not only CS we talk about, but also other fun stuff we can do together.

Makes a lot of sense. Back in the early days of Counter-Strike like 2013, 2014, and 2015, there were only national teams who were from the same country. Nowadays, a lot of the teams in higher levels of CS are very international. What do you think the reason is for that shift?

stavn: I think the reason for that shift is that there is a lot more money in CS, so the organizations have the opportunity to handpick players more, and the competition is just getting tougher and tougher and there are so many good players. So, I guess that the fact that also FPL, I think, helped a lot with building international teams because now you're speaking English and you're getting to know players better. I think FPL helped a lot with building international teams, but also just the fact that people want to win and get the best players and hand-pick them and try to make a super team. So yeah, that's the reason.

Let's talk a little bit about you just as a player, specifically. You've been playing CS for a while, on Fragsters for a few years, and then Heroic for a couple of years now. How do you think your style as a player has kind of changed over time?

stavn: I would say that, as you say, I've only been playing for two teams, so I've always been trying like, if you look at many other players, they play for many teams and change all the time. For me, I like the consistency of trying to stay together, [not giving] up, and always building on something. I wouldn't say my style as a player has changed. I would say that I still feel that I play the same style as I did back in practice, but I've just become a lot better. Obviously, like me and cadiaN especially, we have been playing for many years together in Heroic now, and we've always had the same idea and philosophy on how we want to play the game. That's just been a pleasure to play under because we can build on that together, and I like working with him.

Yeah, it comes across in the game. You guys are maybe the most famous duo of people right now in modern CS. I mean, you're a three-time top 20 player in the world, is there anything you think contributes to why you mesh with him so well? Personality? The way you guys think about the game?

stavn: It's hard to say. I think we just have a good connection. I mean, I remember the first time I met him when he came to Heroic, we just instantly clicked together and we were just friends instantly, almost. So it's hard to say exactly. I think we just share the same passions outside the game also. We both like a lot of the same things and I mean, yeah, we're just good friends.

What kind of stuff do you guys like to do?

stavn: We both like football a lot. We’re both big competitors outside of CS when we play other stuff. We both want to win in everything we do, so we share that. What else do we share? We share the same humor. Humor. I would say we have a lot of the same humor, so that's good.

ESL | Helena Kristiansson

Got you. You guys spend a lot of time working together as a team. Is there anything you do to prepare for games outside? I mean, deathmatch probably, but anything in particular?

stavn: Yeah, obviously going on deathmatch is necessary. We do a lot of that as well. Practice is always necessary, but for opponents, as I've said many times, we always do the same preparation for an opponent. Whether it's a tier-two team or one of the best teams in the world, we always try to do the same, to get the same consistency, look at the same stuff, and do the game plan in the same way. So that's how we prepare.

Makes sense. So how do you feel about where the team is at right now? You guys have been going deep in a lot of events. You're one of the best teams in the world. Where would you say you're at compared to when jabbi first joined the team back in 2022 and compared to what you think the potential of the team is?

stavn: I would say that we have evolved a lot ever since jabbi joined. I would say that we feel like we are the best team in the world and we have been feeling there for some time, but we just need the trophies to also cement it and prove that we are. I would say I'm very proud of what we have achieved, even though we haven't won that many trophies, but we still won one on home soil in Copenhagen in Royal Arena

So, we know that we can win the tournaments. But it's obviously hard when you get so deep in the tournaments, you feel like you are the best team, and then you end up losing. And a lot of the times after we exit the tournament, we always feel like it wasn't the opponent that played... Like, obviously they played well, but it's more like we failed ourselves not playing the same way as we usually do. When you lose that many playoff games or semifinals and finals, the community starts doubting and talking sh*t and you just need to not let that go into your head. Just keep believing because we've done it before and, hopefully, we can do it again.

We would like to thank stavn for talking with us. His final words were right as Heroic finished the season strong with a win at the BLAST Spring Finals in Washington DC.

You can keep up with stavn on his Instagram and Twitter