(Photo by Liu YiCun/Riot Games)
UK Valorant pro player Benjy ‘Benjyfishy’ Fish has spoken about almost becoming a champion with Team Heretics at Valorant Masters Shanghai.
The former Fortnite player, who switched to Valorant two years ago, made an impressive run at the latest Valorant Champions Tour 2024 event, reaching the grand final.
Heretics went 2-1 in the group stage, tying with FUT Esports in third place, before beating EDG in the upper bracket round one, 2-0.
After a 2-1 loss to G2, they made a solid lower bracket run, beating FUT 2-0, 100 Thieves 2-0 and G2 an incredible 3-0 to reach the grand final.
There, they faced Gen.G, and lost 3-2, despite being 2-1 up.
Benjyfishy, who joined Heretics last summer, said in the post-match press conference: “I think we all really enjoyed [the event]. For me, the walkout during grand finals was really special. I think that’s something we’ll remember for a long time, so we appreciate [the support].”
He added on Twitter after the grand final: “Just not ready yet 🙁
“This event meant alot to me, it was my first time experiencing such an incredible crowd and I am really proud of all of my teammates for all the effort each one of us put in to make it happen.”
Benjyfishy, Team Heretics
“Shanghai, I hope to be back soon.”
Earlier this year, Benjyfishy apologised after exiting Valorant Masters Madrid for ‘getting a bit too excited’ during the season.
Elsewhere, the only other UK player at the tournament, Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett, saw his Fnatic side exit the playoffs stage, after losing 2-1 to Gen.G in the upper bracket and 2-1 to FUT in the lower bracket.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
