Heroic have announced the signing of Belarusian AWPer, Gleb ‘gr1ks’ Gazin, potentially completing the international roster’s mini rebuild.
One of the most promising young AWPers in Counter-Strike, the 20-year-old sniper’s move to tier one has been long-anticipated by those who pay attention to the lower levels of Counter-Strike.
The Belarusian was part of the Aurora team, who were replaced by Eternal Fire’s full Turkish roster. Despite that setback, gr1ks has continued to perform well at the tier two level playing under the roster name “Astrum” with his ex-Aurora teammates as he awaited his inevitable move to an organisation.
Are Heroic going to sign anyone else?
Heroic were deprived of Spanish sharpshooter, Álvaro ‘SunPayus’ García, along with their long-term coach Eetu “sAw” Saha when G2 signed the pair in advance of the major in May, with the pair joining after the major. Following the major itself, Heroic took the decision to bench Yasin ‘xfl0ud’ Koç after a tepid Stage 2 exit.
Despite losing two players, in signing gr1ks they may have completed their roster as they have the highly touted Linus ‘nilo’ Bergman on their bench. nilo joined Heroic at the start of 2025, but was immediately sidelined due to “personal circumstances.”
With nilo’s replacement, Andrey ‘tN1R’ Tatarinovich, proving to be Heroic’s strongest piece, nilo was stuck on the sidelines until the departure of xfl0ud. It seems that nilo will finally be returning to action, albeit likely not in the same positions that tN1R has now made his own. Sheep Esports has reported nilo’s expected return to the line-up.
Update:
Heroic have confirmed the return of nilo to the active roster, officially completing Heroic’s roster.
Announcement below:
Can Heroic break cycle of rebuilding?
It is no secret that Heroic have made vast amounts of money from selling their talent in recent years. Team Spirit talent scout, and self-styled “insider”, Overdrive claimed that Heroic made over $10m in 2024 alone from sales, following the departure of their then core to Team Falcons, with NertZ joining Liquid.
While Heroic fans may want a return to a stable roster, which competes for titles, such as that led by Casper ‘cadiaN’ Møller, the reality is that Heroic as an organisation is continually developing talent and selling them on at healthy profits. They may be perfectly content with the situation, even if it doesn’t lead to tier one trophies.
Now, Heroic’s real challenge is performing without the guidance of sAw. While it is difficult to know the effects of a coach from the outside, sAw has been Heroic’s one point of consistency in multiple rebuilds that have seen Heroic maintain a high level, qualifying for all Counter-Strike majors during that time.
Former MOUZ NXT coach, Tobias ‘Tobiz’ Theo, may prove to be Heroic’s most crucial signing of the summer.
Heroic are now (officially):
Linus ‘LNZ’ Holtäng
Andrey ‘tN1R’ Tatarinovich
Simon ‘yxngstxr’ Boije
Gleb ‘gr1ks’ Gazin
Tobias ‘TOBIZ’ Theo (c)
Linus ‘nilo’ Bergman (benched)
Yasin ‘xfl0ud’ Koç (benched)
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Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.
