Heroic have announced that Ismail “refrezh” Ali will no longer be part of the team’s roster. The 24-year-old will explore new opportunities while he remains under contract with the organization for the time being.
In their first change to the playing roster since February 2021, when refrezh and Rasmus “sjuush” Beck joined the team, Heroic have stated that despite being highly competitive over the past year the team has struggled to take the final step.
After competition returned to LAN in mid-2021 the Danes often made it deep at tournaments, placing in the top four at PGL Major Stockholm and IEM Katowice and in the top eight at the latest Major in Antwerp, but they were never able to reach the heights that saw them win ESL Pro League Season 13 in the online era.
refrezh is on his way out of Heroic
Their sole title on LAN came only last week, when, as the only top 10 team in attendance, Heroic toppled Astralis in the grand final of the Pinnacle Cup Championship in Lund.
refrezh was the team’s lowest-rated player on LAN at 0.96, notably going missing in some of the biggest events the team attended, most recently recording a measly 0.82 rating at PGL Major Antwerp.
His replacement is yet to be announced, but with the team’s next foray at IEM Cologne being only a little over two weeks away, it is likely already decided. According to a report from TV2.dk from June 11, the Danish squad were targeting Copenhagen Flames member Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard, who has recently been listed for transfer in the Danish organization along with Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen and Rasmus “Zyphon” Nordfoss.
“Since the beginning of this 5-man roster, we have always believed that the team were capable of great things,” Heroic‘s announcement reads. “However, during the last year Heroic has been highly competitive in the major tournaments but has struggled to take that final last step.”
“Therefore, despite all the qualities of refrezh, we have decided that it was time to try something new.”
Heroic have:
Casper “cadiaN” Møller
Richard “Xizt” Landström (coach)
