Unexpected changes might be coming to HEROIC’s roster. According to insider GromovCS, the organization is considering replacing gr1ks — a player who joined the team just a few weeks ago. His potential replacement is said to be Älımjan “alkarenn” Bıtımbai, a promising young talent from Team Spirit Academy. While these are just rumors for now, such a move could significantly impact the team’s future development.
Update:
gr1ks has left HEROIC’s active roster after just 39 days with the team. According to the organization, the Belarusian player “didn’t fit into the team’s structure.” HEROIC will field Kazakh AWPer alkarenn from Spirit Academy on loan as a temporary replacement.
— HEROIC (@heroicgg) August 7, 2025
gr1ks in HEROIC
gr1ks joined HEROIC quite recently — at the end of June 2025. Since then, the team has participated in two tournaments: FISSURE Playground #1 and IEM Cologne 2025, where they placed 13th–16th.
His individual performance at these events was modest, with ratings of 0.95 and 0.99, respectively. However, his overall stats from the past three months are impressive: 1.15 rating and 77.7 ADR. These numbers suggest that despite a rough start, gr1ks still has the potential to secure his spot in HEROIC’s main lineup.
alkarenn in Team Spirit Academy
Älımjan “alkarenn” Bıtımbai is a young player from Kazakhstan currently playing for Team Spirit Academy. He has shown solid performances at the tier-2 and tier-3 levels, but hasn’t yet had a real chance to prove himself on the big stage.
His only tournament wins so far have come at LanDaLan #1 and LanDaLan #2. His stats over the past three months are slightly below those of gr1ks, with a 1.10 rating and 69.6 ADR. A move to HEROIC could be his first major step toward competing at the highest level of Counter-Strike.
How likely is this move?
At the moment, this remains unconfirmed information, and neither party has officially commented on the potential transfer. Considering gr1ks only recently joined the team and has solid overall statistics, such a replacement seems questionable — though not entirely impossible, especially if internal issues or coaching shifts are at play.
In response to the rumor, analyst and caster launders offered a brief but sharp reaction:
“Saw wouldn’t have let this happen.”
Implying that HEROIC’s former coach might have handled the situation differently or stood by gr1ks longer.
In any case, if GromovCS’s report turns out to be true, this could become one of the more surprising roster moves of the 2025 summer shuffle.
Community reactions to gr1ks’ removal
The sudden benching sparked an immediate reaction in the Counter-Strike scene:
neL (CEO of CroissantStrike):
“-gr1ks already? What the f*ck?”
tedd (CS analyst):
“I’ve liked 99% of Heroic’s decisions throughout the last year and we can never know exactly what the reason behind this is, but gr1ks has got undeniable Tier 1 potential. I just hope he gets to join another team soon and refusing both GL & FURIA to join Heroic doesn’t end up becoming the worst decision he’s made.”
These comments reflect the broader sentiment — surprise, confusion, and concern that a rising talent like gr1ks might have been let go too soon.
