Heroic to replace forZe at IEM Chicago

Heroic will replace forZe at IEM Chicago, ESL announced. ForZe were ruled out of the tournament due to visa issues

ForZe defeated Heroic at the European qualifier on June 29 but couldn’t acquire US visas for its players in time. The Russian organization asked for a couple more days to procure the visas, but ESL denied the request. IEM Chicago will start on July 18 and the teams had until July 10 to confirm their visas to ESL.

IEM Chicago will be Heroic’s third big event in a row. The Danish squad played at ESL One Cologne last week and ESL Pro League season nine finals in June and almost grabbed a playoff spot in both occasions, losing the last match of the group stage. They are currently placed 15th in HLTV’s CS:GO rankings.

Heroic was the most suitable candidate for the vacancy as they finished second at the European qualifier for IEM Chicago. With such short notice, ESL would probably have to invite a North American team if the Danes were unable to attend.

Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and crew will play against some of the best teams in the world such as Team Liquid, Vitality, ENCE, G2, MIBR, Renegades, and Envy at the $250,000 tournament.