(Photo by Christina Oh/Riot Games)
Two of Team Heretics’ British Valorant talents – player Benjyfishy (pictured front, left) and head coach Neilzinho – have reflected on their Valorant Champions 2024 grand final loss.
Heretics have had a fantastic year in terms of growth, performances and experience building, but of course feel disappointed to not have won a trophy in Valorant, considering several were within touching distance.
The European side came agonisingly close to winning the main event of the year, Valorant Champions 2024 in Seoul, South Korea, after falling 3-2 to China’s EDG in the grand final yesterday.
This comes after Benjyfishy spoke about finishing second at Valorant Masters Shanghai back in June 2024, and finishing VCT EMEA 2024 Stage 2 in third place (with Fnatic winning) in July. Prior to that, they reached the latter stages of Valorant Masters Madrid.
However, in the Champions press conference after the grand final loss, the Brits both spoke about coming back stronger next year, and wanting to create a dynasty.
‘My vision for this team was to create a team that keeps on winning’ – Neilzinho
Team Heretics UK head coach Neilzinho said: “Valorant comes down to consistency, and unfortunately for us, we don’t have the level of consistency to close it out sometimes. And that’s expected for a team so young.”
“Trust me, if we had won today, there’d be no way we’d be slowing down. It’s not gonna happen with me, [fellow British coach] Weber and [Heretics general manager] Niklas at the helm, there’s no way.
“My vision for this team was to create a team that keeps on winning, to create a dynasty in this game. I don’t want us to win one Champions or one event then never win one again, I want us to be at a point when we’re ready to win, we keep winning.”
Neilzinho, Team Heretics
“We came into this year to gain experience and we’ve done that, but we’ve also created a family. These guys, we’re all brothers now. As a coach, you can’t ask for anything better than that. It’s a joy to be with them every single day and work with them every day.
“The goal posts have moved now, we won’t go into next year settling for less than what we did this year, I’m not saying it’ll be easy, it’s obviously gonna be tough. But these guys have proven if they can do what they’ve done in less than a year, what’ll happen next year.
“And this team was always built for the future. It’s not lucky that we’ve reached almost every grand final [this year] and beaten some incredible teams. So it sucks to lose right now, but this is just the beginning.”
Neilzinho, who was named VCT EMEA coach of the season recently, said it’s been ‘an incredible year’ with the team.
He continued: “We created the team that everyone believed in and we’ve created the family because that’ll be the foundations for us moving forward, to create a dynasty like Benjy said. We want to go on a run, replicate this form and do better every year. Every one of these guys are so hard-working, so it’ll happen. We just need time.
“For me I’m just excited for the future and that’s what I want to focus on now.”
‘You always learn something when you play in front of this many people’ – Benjyfishy
Team Heretics UK player Benjyfishy said (in regards to what he learnt from the tournament): “I think for me I’ve improved playing under pressure and I just have to control my emotions while I’m playing. Obviously not after I’ve just lost a grand final, but during the game. Sometimes I got a bit excited during the game, but I think that’s natural.
“You always learn something when you play in front of this many people. Maybe I haven’t realised to the full extent yet, but I’m sure when I look back later on and rewatch stuff or think about it, I’ll take some stuff with me.
“Obviously we lost, and it sucks, but I hope people can see what we’ve done and what I’ve been able to do, from swapping to a different esport and getting this far.”
“I’m not done yet and I’m not gonna be done for a long, long time. So I hope that by the time I’m done, I have some sort of dynasty. And hopefully it’s with my boys. So thank you to anyone that’s been watching, supporting and sending me messages. Thank you so much.”
Benjyfishy, Team Heretics
Benjyfishy, who joined Heretics last year after Benjyfishy switched from Fortnite to Valorant in 2022, added: “I think Valorant as an esports in general, for me I love how in-depth it can get, if I compare it to Fortnite. But when it’s a grand finals at Champions, it doesn’t really get much more than that. I haven’t experienced anything like it. I’ve practiced way more than what I have before.
“It’s the game that I love and you’re never gonna be perfect, it’s impossible to be perfect in a game like this. You can’t always do everything right, you’re always gonna learn from mistakes in every single game you play and every day you practice. I didn’t really feel that with Fortnite.
“I really like improvement and noticing myself improve. I can feel myself improving every day on Valorant, so that’s why I love it the most. It’s the scene and Valorant in general, they will keep growing. And I hope to be with all my boys as the best team in the world for when that happens.”
Valorant Champions 2025 is set to take place in Paris next year.
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.
