Brollan on Leaving MOUZ for HEROIC, Dropping IGL Role Was Something Refreshing

After a year and a half calling the shots for MOUZ, Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin is back to rifling on HEROIC, and he is not mourning the leadership role he gave up. Speaking to HLTV at Stake Ranked Episode 3, his first event with the team, the Swede described the move as exactly what he needed, while conceding that a roster with almost no practice together is still finding its feet.

HEROIC reached the upper bracket final in Stockholm off the back of a messy series against Phantom, and Brollan is candid about why it looked that way.

Six Days of Practice and a Scrappy Start

“We have no practice room, basically, so it’s pretty hard to adapt and try to come up with new things mid-tournament,” Brollan said. “And we didn’t have a lot of practice at home, so it doesn’t help. But you need to accept that it’s like this.” The team had five or six days together before the event, which showed against opponents happy to improvise. “I guess Phantom haven’t practiced, so they’re going to be running and gunning basically with some random stuff, and it caught us off guard a lot of times. The communication was maybe not on point today, but it will come. I’m happy we won at least; it was a little bit of a scrappy game, but I’m happy we won.”

The adjustment is as much mental as tactical. “I came from a really structured team, a really on-point, same team, like we know exactly how to play things, and now it’s maybe a little bit more rusty,” he said. “I know it’s going to happen, that we’re going to play more in the lower level, but I’m trying to have more discipline myself, maybe less frustration with things in these hectic situations, but so far it’s a learning process and we just need to take it game by game.” The schedule offers little relief: Stake first, then BLAST, with practice waiting until they get home.

How the MOUZ Exit Happened

Brollan is matter-of-fact about the departure. “I had some offers and some interest from other teams. To be honest, MOUZ, they had said basically that they were going to go other ways, and wanted to do an announcement around me and these things. Then I really just accepted it and tried to move on from it.” The interest that existed did not always convert. “They wanted to go for another player, or some teams didn’t have the budget for it as well. But yeah, it is what it is sometimes, and HEROIC basically gave a good offer for me and I really have trust for the organization and trust in the players we are playing with.”

He had been benched by MOUZ in April to make way for a roster overhaul that saw Dorian “xertioN” Berman take over in-game leadership and Adrian “xelex” Vincze promoted from MOUZ NXT. He signed with HEROIC on 7 July, completing a squad that had already added Antonio “MartinezSa” Martinez as AWPer and Joonas “doto” Forss as coach, in place of Yasin “xfl0ud” Koc, Simon “yxngstxr” Boije and Tobias “TOBIZ” Theo.

Why Giving Up the IGL Role Suits Him

Brollan says he was open to either role, but is glad of where he landed. “I’m happy to be back in this role; it’s really fun. Of course, I think the in-game leader role is really fun, but it’s really, really stressful. To be a real leader, there’s a lot of work you need to do, so it’s maybe a little bit more chill now to be a rifler. Being a leader, you need to work hard, you need to figure out how to play with the team, and you need to just adapt to everything. But when HEROIC came with the offer, I think it was a really good fit for me, and that was what I basically needed: something refreshing.”

He is not claiming the star slot either. “So far, I’m probably not the star rifler in the positions. I’m more of a lurker now, maybe a bit of an anchor on some maps we’re playing. To be honest, we’re trying to figure out how we want to play still; I’m not sure how it will be in the future, but so far, it’s good.”

Passing the Torch to Chr1zN

Leadership on HEROIC now sits with Christoffer “Chr1zN” Storgaard, and Brollan’s read on him is warm but realistic about the step up. “Chr1zN has huge potential, as I said, but you can easily see that maybe a little bit is different between tier-one and tier-two, and of course he will just try to learn as much as possible, probably with doto as well,” he said. That learning happens in public: HEROIC’s run at Stake Ranked Episode 3 continues, with BLAST next on a schedule that leaves the practice room empty a while longer.