HEROIC bench coach doto after two trophy wins

HEROIC have announced that head coach Joonas "doto" Forss has been benched, concluding his brief time leading the organization's main roster.

The 30-year-old Finnish coach took over from Tobias "TOBIZ" Theo in July. In that span, he guided HEROIC to titles at Stake Ranked Episode 3 and Stake Pulse Beat II, and helped qualify the team for the PGL Singapore Major. It was his first role coaching a tier-one team after previous positions with ENCE Prospects and HEROIC Academy.

HEROIC CEO Joachim Harg released a statement acknowledging doto's achievements. "Joonas has delivered great results for us, both with the Academy team and now with the main team," Harg said. "He has won us two trophies and put us in an excellent position to qualify for the PGL Singapore Major. More importantly, he is a genuinely great guy, which made the decision to bench him incredibly difficult. But sometimes you have to make difficult decisions and choose the direction you believe is best for the project in the long term."

On X, doto expressed disappointment with the move. "We won two trophies and put ourselves in a strong position to qualify for the Major," he wrote. "I'm proud of what we achieved together and would have loved to finish what we started. From building the academy team to taking over the main roster, thank you to all the players and staff I've worked with at HEROIC. Wishing the team the best for the rest of the season. I want to keep coaching and am open to discussing new opportunities."

HEROIC are currently ranked 17th globally. The team will compete next at Stake Pulse Beat III, scheduled for October 12-17.