HEROIC are the first finalists of DreamHack Open Rotterdam after securing a 2-1 series victory against FORZE.

The first semi-final in Rotterdam kicked off on Overpass, where Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund and Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer ensured the first pistol round of the series for HEROIC. This early jolt allowed the Danish offensive to build up a decent early lead, as an additional four were converted afterward. It was at this point that Bogdan "⁠xsepower⁠" Chernikov had woken up for his team, posting back-to-back AWP triple kills and yielding the Russian quintet their first two victories as a result. Contrary to HEROIC's initial momentum, the offensive demonstrated a spotty remainder of the half, concluding it with an 8-7 lead.

Much like their T half, the Danes managed to accrue fruitful early rounds off the back of a successful pistol conversion, establishing a more convincing lead. Occasional breaches kept Andrey "⁠Jerry⁠" Mekhryakov and his men in the game, but the conceded early rounds came to haunt the squad in the long run, as map point was secured by the defence shortly. FORZE postponed the inevitable by three rounds, but fell 12-16 on Overpass come its conclusion.

Inferno was next on the agenda, and once more the Danes were able to produce a pistol round victory, maintaining a perfect record in the series. Consecutive triple kills from Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller meant a two-round lead, but the gap was closed immediately after, with Almaz "⁠almazer⁠" Asadullin posting a 3k of his own. Triple kills galore was the theme of the initial half, as Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen added another two to the tally, as well as another three rounds to his team's position. After this onslaught, FORZE finally found consistent footing to their offense, closing out the half with a strong 9-6 T performance.

The Russian defence finally managed to halt the Danes' pistol round perfection, securing their first of the series along with an extra conversion to go along with it. Rifles in the hands of cadiaN and company saw HEROIC work on closing the score discrepancy, and great promise was shown as the Ts brought the difference to a single round. In spite of the Danes' attempts, outstanding showings from Evgenii "⁠FL1T⁠" Lebedev and Dmitriy "⁠facecrack⁠" Alekseyev in the concluding rounds of the map yielded FORZE a 16-11 victory.

Nuke was the concluding map of the series, and once more HEROIC were able to walk away with a victory on the opening round. A force buy from FORZE set the defence back temporarily, but a Deagle buy in response set the CTs back on track. With both stavn and es3tag running on all cylinders, HEROIC steadily gained a lead by closing eight consecutive rounds, placing their opponents in a predicament. With the gravity of the situation in mind, FORZE had finally found an answer to their difficulties, and as such managed to avoid a complete blowout with a 5-10 scoreline on the offense.

The final pistol round of the series went in the way of the Danish offense, and just as had happened in the previous half, the squad was upset by a force buy from FORZE. On this occasion, however, the Russians managed to extend their position by three rounds instead of falling flat right after, a welcome development for their CT campaign.

In what had become a recurrence, stavn stepped up for his team once more, securing a pivotal momentum snatch through landing a Krieg triple kill. This performance created space for HEROIC to secure map and series point. A brisk A hit from the Danes put the lid on the series, as the team advanced to the grand final of Rotterdam on a 16-8 note.

FORZE	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Evgenii 'FL1T' LebedevFL1T	58 - 57	+1	80.2	1.04
Andrey 'Jerry' MekhryakovJerry	49 - 56	-7	65.7	0.94
Bogdan 'xsepower' Chernikovxsepower	43 - 52	-9	65.8	0.92
Almaz 'almazer' Asadullinalmazer	44 - 60	-16	68.7	0.90
Dmitriy 'facecrack' Alekseyevfacecrack	45 - 58	-13	63.7	0.87

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	67 - 45	+22	87.0	1.35
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansenes3tag	60 - 46	+14	79.8	1.22
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	55 - 46	+9	72.8	1.14
Johannes 'b0RUP' Borupb0RUP	56 - 48	+8	80.2	1.13
Marco 'Snappi' PfeifferSnappi	44 - 55	-11	65.1	0.90