HEROIC win Draculan Season 5 with yxngstxr standing in

HEROIC won Draculan Season 5 on Saturday, going 5-0 through the bracket with stand-in Simon "yxngstxr" Boije filling in for Alkaren, who missed the tournament due to visa issues.

The run was clean: four straight 2-0s through the upper bracket, then a 2-1 over 100 Thieves in the grand final. One map lost across the whole tournament. HEROIC entered ranked #22 in the Valve Regional Standings and played like it.

Tournament results (all BO3)

- February 25: HEROIC 2-0 INFINITE
- February 26: HEROIC 2-0 Astral
- February 26: HEROIC 2-0 CyberShoke
- February 27: HEROIC 2-0 FlyQuest
- February 28: HEROIC 2-1 100 Thieves (Grand Final)

Series record: 5-0 | Maps: 10-1

"Probably the bench"

yxngstxr won a title as a stand-in and knows exactly where that leaves him. When asked post-match what's next for him, his answer was short: "Probably the bench."

It's a funny line and a true one. In Counter-Strike, stand-ins fill gaps. Once Alkaren's visa situation resolves, yxngstxr goes back to waiting — championship or not.

100 Thieves break into the rankings

100 Thieves entered without a VRS ranking and made the grand final, dropping only one series before getting there (to ENCE). Combined with their Romanimperium V results, they're now projected to sit at #33 VRS in March, according to VRS expert Udknud on X — from unranked a few weeks ago.

Whether that holds up when the field gets harder is the real test, but the results so far are real.