Welcome to all esports and Counter-Strike 2 fans! From 28.09.2025 to 12.10.2025 one of the biggest tournaments of the autumn part of the season — ESL Pro League Season 22 is taking place. The tournament features 24 teams that will compete for the title of champion and a prize pool of 400,000 dollars. Today we highlight the HEROIC vs 3DMAX match, which promises to be one of the most exciting of the third game day. While the teams prepare, we’ll share our CS2 betting tips and insights on this match.
How the bookies view it: 3DMAX favorite
Most bookmakers, with a slight edge, consider 3DMAX the favorites in the match against HEROIC at ESL Pro League Season 22. The teams are roughly of the same level, so the match promises to be exciting.
HEROIC form. What result can be expected from HEROIC
Our betting tips and CS2 picks for the HEROIC vs 3DMAX matchup begin with analyzing HEROIC form. In the 2023 season, Heroic looked very solid. They consistently participated in top-tier tournaments and were a serious force on the scene.
HEROIC showed a series of strong performances. Among their best results were 2nd place at IEM Rio 2023, top 4 at BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 and IEM Dallas 2023. The team also won the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023 and finished top 3 at the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023.
HEROIC roster: nilo, LNZ, yxngstxr, alkarenn, xfl0ud.
At IEM Cologne 2023, HEROIC were among the main contenders for the title. They reached the playoffs but couldn’t get past the first round, losing to Astralis 0-2.
At the Gamers8 tournament, the team debuted against Falcons. Overall, the match ended as expected, although the French team put up a fight, especially on the first map (Mirage — 22:18 in favor of Heroic). The second map was won by Heroic 16:10.
In their previous match, Heroic faced GamerLegion. Despite GL not looking very threatening, they managed to "stress out" the Danes and even took a map, but still lost in the end.
Heroic ended their Gamers8 run with a match against ENCE. The Danish club once again couldn’t beat the Finns and left the major at the top-4 stage.
In the 2024 season, Heroic faced many challenges and didn’t start the year as well as the previous one. They still attended top tournaments, but the results were slightly worse: top 16 at BLAST Premier: Spring Groups 2024, top 8 at IEM Chengdu 2024, top 28 at ESL Pro League Season 9, top 6 at IEM Dallas 2024, and top 8 at YaLLa Compass 2024. The series of championship appearances continued: Heroic played at BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2024 (top 12), IEM Cologne 2024 (top 20), and BLAST Premier: Fall Showdown 2024 (top 16). In October 2024, Heroic were close to winning a title, reaching the final of Elisa Masters Espoo 2024, but lost to ENCE in the grand final.
In the Elimination Stage at the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, Heroic defeated BIG and FaZe, going 2-0. In the match for playoff qualification, Heroic lost to MongolZ, then to Spirit. However, they managed to reach the main stage of the tournament after defeating the reigning world champions — NaVi. But in their first playoff match, Heroic lost to G2, who knocked them out of the championship race.
The 2025 season began for HEROIC with qualifiers and several S-tier tournament appearances. At BLAST Bounty Spring 2025, they finished in the top 8. Then came IEM Katowice 2025, where the result was even worse — the team finished in the top 20.
HEROIC performed best this year at A-tier tournaments, winning CCT Season 2 Global Finals and MESA Nomadic Masters Spring 2025.
At BLAST Bounty Fall 2025: Closed Qualifier, HEROIC won their first-round match against Complexity Gaming 2-1, but then lost to Aurora Gaming and were eliminated from the tournament, finishing 9-16th.
At the Esports World Cup 2025 in the Round of 16, they unexpectedly defeated Team Spirit 2-1, but later lost to Aurora Gaming again and were eliminated, finishing in the top 8, which can be considered a decent result for them.
At ESL Pro League Season 22, although HEROIC are not the strongest team, they always strive to show their best game and please their fans.
3DMAX form. What result can be expected from 3DMAX
We continue our CS2 tips with analyzing 3DMAX form. The team returned to pro CS in 2023, participating in just three A-, B-, and C-tier tournaments that year. Their main achievement was winning the ESL Challenger League Season 46: Europe.
3DMAX roster: Lucky, bodyy, Ex3rcice, Maka, Graviti.
In the 2024 season, 3DMAX participated in significantly more tournaments. Although they didn’t secure any major victories, there were still some notable achievements. The team finished in the top 11 at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European Qualifier and IEM China 2024: European Open Qualifier, placed top 4 at RES Western European Masters: Spring 2024, and ended up in the top 12 at European RMR A.
Before ESL Pro League Season 19, 3DMAX competed in the A1 Gaming League Season 8, where they took second place. At ESL Pro League Season 19, 3DMAX proved that they should not be considered a weak team. In their opening match, they defeated sAw, and in the following game against Fnatic, they caused a minor upset by confidently winning 2-0, giving up only 15 rounds across two maps. In the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 19, they continued to perform solidly, losing only to Astralis and G2, and ultimately finishing in the top 12 out of 32 participating teams.
Throughout the season, 3DMAX also aimed to make their mark at top-tier events. For instance, at Intel Extreme Masters Cologne 2024, they finished in the top 24 after a 1-2 loss to Heroic. Later, they attempted to compete at ESL Pro League Season 20 but delivered a weaker performance, ending in the top 20.
However, their results at lower-tier tournaments were much better. 3DMAX became the champions of YaLLa Compass Summer 2024 and secured top-three finishes at both the Thunderpick World Championship 2024 and ESL Challenger League Season 48: Europe.
At the Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024: European RMR B, the team started with a win over TSM and then pulled off a surprise by defeating Eternal Fire 2-0 in the qualification match. They went on to beat G2 Esports and advanced to the Elimination Stage. There, they performed at their expected level, finishing with a 1-3 record and a top-13 placement overall.
In the 2025 season, 3DMAX participated in BLAST Bounty Season 1 but were eliminated early after a 1-2 loss to Heroic, finishing in the top 32. Their next event was IEM Katowice 2025, where they performed noticeably better. The team easily defeated both FlyQuest and MIBR with 2-0 scores. In the group stage, they lost to Vitality and dropped to the lower bracket. There, they managed to beat BIG, but their run was halted by Eternal Fire, leaving 3DMAX in the top 8 of the tournament.
At PGL Cluj-Napoca 2025, the team started strong with a win over Virtus.pro, followed by a loss to MOUZ, and then a victory over MIBR. However, despite a 2-1 standing, they failed to reach the playoffs after back-to-back defeats to Eternal Fire and sAw, finishing in the top 9.
After that, 3DMAX continued to participate in multiple tournaments, consistently placing between 9th and 12th, which reaffirmed their status as a solid mid-tier team in professional Counter-Strike 2.
At IEM Cologne 2025, the 3DMAX team won their first match against MIBR with a score of 2:0. However, in the second round of the upper bracket, they lost to NiP with a score of 0:2, dropping to the lower bracket, where they defeated TYLOO 2-0 and advanced to the Group Stage.
In the Group Stage, 3DMAX lost 0-2 to The MongolZ, dropping to the lower bracket, where they defeated GamerLegion 2-1 and lost 0-2 to G2, finishing 9-12th in the tournament.
At the Esports World Cup 2025, 3DMAX won 2-1 against NAVI in the Round of 16, but then lost to The MongolZ, leaving the tournament in the top 8, which is considered a good result for them.
Recent head to head
The teams have played against each other 5 times, with HEROIC winning 3 matches and 3DMAX winning 2. The match at ESL Pro League Season 22 is not decisive, but a victory will help the teams consolidate their positions and increase their chances of advancing to the next stage of the tournament.
Which maps does HEROIC pick and ban most often?
Let’s analyze both teams map statistics to make smart CS2 picks.
Strong maps
- Mirage: high win percentage (64.3%) with 28 matches played.
- Anubis: high win percentage (63.2%) with 19 matches played.
Average results
- Dust2: average winning percentage (53.1%) with 32 matches played.
- Nuke: average winning percentage (50.0%) with 24 matches played.
- Train: average winning percentage (50.0%) with 12 matches played.
Weak maps
- Ancient: low win percentage (48.4%) with 31 matches played.
Which maps does 3DMAX pick and ban most often?
Strong maps
- Train: high win percentage (66.7%) with 9 matches played.
- Inferno: high win percentage (64.7%) with 34 matches played.
Average results
- Dust2: average winning percentage (54.2%) with 24 matches played.
- Anubis: average winning percentage (46.7%) with 15 matches played.
Weak maps
- Nuke: low win percentage (46.2%) with 26 matches played.
- Ancient: low win percentage (37.0%) with 27 matches played.
Predicted result of the match between HEROIC and 3DMAX at ESL Pro League Season 22
Analysts and experts are divided on the HEROIC vs 3DMAX match at ESL Pro League Season 22. Some consider HEROIC the favorites because the team shows more consistent results, while others favor 3DMAX due to their style of play. In our opinion, this match will be a full bo3. Fans can expect a dynamic and exciting game.
Betting prediction: total +2.5.
