Heroic finished their first event with Patrick "es3tag" Hansen with a 1-3 record, eliminating Virtus.Pro from the tournament but falling to North in the end. After the event finished for Heroic, we talked with the team's newest member about leaving HUNDEN, facing FaZe and the rivalry with North.

Just a month ago, Heroic announced the signing of Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen, adding a Tricked player for the third time in the past 12 months. After joining his former teammates Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen and Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen, es3tag traveled to Germany for ESL One Cologne 2017, but only picked up just one win at the LAN event, defeating Virtus.pro 16-9 on Cobblestone.

es3tag felt the jitters before his first match in Cologne

Today, we caught up with es3tag to hear how he felt facing a team like FaZe in his first LAN match with Heroic, the rivalries in the Danish scene and up and coming players.

ell me about the first impressions coming into the team, what you had to do to adapt to a new environment and how it felt to play for Heroic, a higher tier team in Denmark?

I already knew two of my now teammates from Tricked, so it was really easy coming in, there were only two people I didn't really know. We meshed really, really well, there weren't any problems. It felt like we were all a unit, really quick. So there was no problem coming into the team and I can definitely feel like I'm playing on a higher level right now, in a higher tier you could say. The opponents are more difficult and there is a lot of practice still to be done. But I'm feeling confident, I feel like we are going to make top 10 in no time. We need to keep working, keep grinding and hopefully, we will get to playoffs next time.

As you mentioned playing with people you know from Tricked, this is the third player Tricked have lost to Heroic in the past year. Tell me about that, leaving your ex-teammates behind? That team had a lot of troubles, and you've felt it as well, in the past.

I mean all three of us have one thing in common, and that is that we all left HUNDEN, who has been a great mentor and just an all around great friend. I think that we were all sad about leaving him, I was probably the saddest because we have just built this team around Tricked and we have just gotten to the top 30, and that is without JUGi and without niko.

So we were doing really well, Heroic was doing really well, the Danish scene was flourishing in a lot of ways. But I took the next step because there were some issues with new players, and you know, only I and HUNDEN have been there since the start so he was the one I didn't want to leave the most. But all of the ex-Tricked are great friends of mine, I miss them a lot, but I had to think about myself and where I can get the most out of my career. So I picked Heroic.

The LAN debut match with Heroic was against FaZe, a scary opponent to face in your first match and in a big tournament like this. Talk me a bit through that match, it wasn't the greatest of starts for you as a team?

I mean, personally, I'm not happy about my performance throughout the entire tournament. I feel like I was lacking in some areas, I don't know, maybe I was just having a bad day or some bad days. I know for a fact that I've been doing very well in practice and I think if we practice some more, it's going to be more consistent.

But yeah, facing FaZe in my debut match, facing the number two team in the world, at a big tournament like this... I got the jitters. It was scary, but I feel that, once you are in the game and you get in the zone, you don't think about all the things around it, you just play. You shoot for the head and you say what you say and you play the game. So I didn't feel it after, but I definitely felt it before. It was a scary game.

Another tough matchup you had was against Virtus.Pro. Maybe they don't have such good form or results at the moment, but they are still a big name, big players, a lot of accomplishments. Tell me about that match, and you winning against them there, how much did that mean for you going forward?

It meant a lot, winning versus VP because we didn't go 0-3. We know VP can be really, really strong or have a slump like they have right now. But they still hit like night or day. But yeah, it was kind of anticipated by us that we would win against VP because of their form right now, but you never know. I'm just happy we didn't go 0-3. They were probably lacking because Snax didn't get his birthday cake, so... There is that.

The last match you played was against North, another interesting matchup, the Danish rivalry, and especially MSL and snappi have some of that going between the two of them.

And me too.

Oh, OK, then tell me a bit about your rivalry with them and that match?

You know, facing North... It's either great or it's the worst, right? If we win, it's the best feeling, but if we lose it's heartbreaking. Because there is a lot of rivalry in the Danish scene, specifically with these two teams.

Well, a lot of people think that North is really bad mannered and terrible to play against because they are really arrogant, and to some extent it's true, but I felt like they showed us respect after the game. cajun b especially, he gave me an extra pat on the back, "Welcome to the tier2/tier1". And I know he has been watching a lot of Tricked's demos and he thinks I'm a good player, so I respect cajun b a lot. But for me and MSL, we go way back, and there have been some situations that I'm not happy about... But it probably shouldn't go out on HLTV. (laughs)

Who do you see out from the Danish scene, maybe ex-teammates or someone from the other top10 Danish teams breaking through soon?

It would be easier to pick from some of my previous teammates. I think HUNDEN, he is never going to give up. That guy is... he will keep fighting. I think alongside HUNDEN, I think cadiaN is going to come back into the scene, there is bORUP and maybe AcilioN.

But it's hard because there is so much talent in the Danish scene, there is so many people that I don't know, that are just below the top10 and they are so talented. But I know for a fact that HUNDEN is going to break through at some point. Not because of his individual skill, but because of his knowledge, because of his hard work. He works all the time and he never quits. So HUNDEN for sure.

Tell me a bit about your plans as a team now, what do you want to do in the next couple of weeks, months, what do you have planned?

Even though we are out of the tournament, we are still keeping in the zone, we are practicing for the DreamHack Masters Malmö qualifier, we are going to play that when we get home from here. Afterward, we have DreamHack Valencia, which we should win, I mean, NiP is there, EnVyUs is there, but we hope to do well in Valencia. And then there is DreamHack Atlanta. Yeah, we are packed this July, just a lot of games, a lot of experience that I can get, so I'm just picking up where I can, going to try to do my best. Hopefully, we win the DreamHacks and get some points on the board. That is what it's all about in the end.

Tell me about the first impressions coming into the team, what you had to do to adapt to a new environment and how it felt to play for Heroic, a higher tier team in Denmark? I already knew two of my now teammates from Tricked, so it was really easy coming in, there were only two people I didn't really know. We meshed really, really well, there weren't any problems. It felt like we were all a unit, really quick. So there was no problem coming into the team and I can definitely feel like I'm playing on a higher level right now, in a higher tier you could say. The opponents are more difficult and there is a lot of practice still to be done. But I'm feeling confident, I feel like we are going to make top 10 in no time. We need to keep working, keep grinding and hopefully, we will get to playoffs next time. As you mentioned playing with people you know from Tricked, this is the third player Tricked have lost to Heroic in the past year. Tell me about that, leaving your ex-teammates behind? That team had a lot of troubles, and you've felt it as well, in the past. I mean all three of us have one thing in common, and that is that we all left HUNDEN, who has been a great mentor and just an all around great friend. I think that we were all sad about leaving him, I was probably the saddest because we have just built this team around Tricked and we have just gotten to the top 30, and that is without JUGi and without niko. So we were doing really well, Heroic was doing really well, the Danish scene was flourishing in a lot of ways. But I took the next step because there were some issues with new players, and you know, only I and HUNDEN have been there since the start so he was the one I didn't want to leave the most. But all of the ex-Tricked are great friends of mine, I miss them a lot, but I had to think about myself and where I can get the most out of my career. So I picked Heroic. The LAN debut match with Heroic was against FaZe, a scary opponent to face in your first match and in a big tournament like this. Talk me a bit through that match, it wasn't the greatest of starts for you as a team? I mean, personally, I'm not happy about my performance throughout the entire tournament. I feel like I was lacking in some areas, I don't know, maybe I was just having a bad day or some bad days. I know for a fact that I've been doing very well in practice and I think if we practice some more, it's going to be more consistent. But yeah, facing FaZe in my debut match, facing the number two team in the world, at a big tournament like this... I got the jitters. It was scary, but I feel that, once you are in the game and you get in the zone, you don't think about all the things around it, you just play. You shoot for the head and you say what you say and you play the game. So I didn't feel it after, but I definitely felt it before. It was a scary game. Another tough matchup you had was against Virtus.Pro. Maybe they don't have such good form or results at the moment, but they are still a big name, big players, a lot of accomplishments. Tell me about that match, and you winning against them there, how much did that mean for you going forward? It meant a lot, winning versus VP because we didn't go 0-3. We know VP can be really, really strong or have a slump like they have right now. But they still hit like night or day. But yeah, it was kind of anticipated by us that we would win against VP because of their form right now, but you never know. I'm just happy we didn't go 0-3. They were probably lacking because Snax didn't get his birthday cake, so... There is that. The last match you played was against North, another interesting matchup, the Danish rivalry, and especially MSL and snappi have some of that going between the two of them... And me too. OK, then tell me a bit about your rivalry with them and that match? You know, facing North... It's either great or it's the worst, right? If we win, it's the best feeling, but if we lose it's heartbreaking. Because there is a lot of rivalry in the Danish scene, specifically with these two teams. Well, a lot of people think that North is really bad mannered and terrible to play against because they are really arrogant, and to some extent it's true, but I felt like they showed us respect after the game. cajun b especially, he gave me an extra pat on the back, "Welcome to the tier2/tier1". And I know he has been watching a lot of Tricked's demos and he thinks I'm a good player, so I respect cajun b a lot. But for me and MSL, we go way back, and there have been some situations that I'm not happy about... But it probably shouldn't go out on HLTV. (laughs)

Three of today's Heroic players—niko, JUGi and es3tag—playing alongside HUNDEN at League of Sharks in October 2016