Boo: Finals losses “didn’t make me think that we’re going to lose again. So winning one doesn’t mean we’re going to win again” – VCT EMEA Stage 2 Interview

Team Heretics’ Esports World Cup win saw them finally overcome their grand finals curse at the sixth time of asking. Now back on home soil for VCT EMEA Stage 2, Los Niños are continuing their solid form with opening wins against BBL and Gentle Mates. The victory against the latter featured two hectic opening maps, both of which Heretics trailed by a large distance before turning around to close the gap. Hotspawn spoke to Team Heretics’ IGL Ričardas “Boo” Lukaševičius for an interview after the series.

Hotspawn: The first two maps both saw massive comebacks from TH today.

Why do you think things were so hot and cold like that?

Boo: The first one, Corrode — we did practice the map, but not as much as them, I am quite sure. We knew that we wre going to leave it open, but we were not looking to pick it at all. But yeah, they picked it, so we had to play.

I think we played three scrims only, and it honestly was the same thing as it was in official. We were getting like 2, 3, 4 rounds on attack, but we had like 11, 10 on defence. I think we won every scrim, but we had crazy bad attacks.

And yeah, I think it’s just like an experience on the map, just not enough time to prepare. Everything went [the] same as scrims, but we were fine with losing Corrode because we know that’s not our strength.

But Ascent, again, it’s a defence-sided map in our opinion, but two rounds is a failure in my eyes. We should have gotten like 4 or 5. It’s hard on attack, but we should have gottenway more rounds.

I think yeah, we underperformed on Ascent attack for sure. And then on defence, both rounds we lost was mistakes from us, basically. So yeah, just two very different-sided maps, at least for us. They played well. Veqaj, I think, just kind of destroyed us throughout the whole best-of-three. But yeah, it was a grind.

And I think the main takeaways: our resilience that started in Saudi where we were honestly down a lot, not just in finals against Fnatic, but even in other games. We were coming back and we kind of learned how to comeback, because usually we are the ones getting reversed from the last year.

So just, like, a little bit of new map, a little bit of new mental strength from us. And I mean, they played well. I think they played really well.

Touching on the EWC final, and it’s finally a grand final win for your team after the finals losing streak.

What do you think was different about that final that made it the first you were able to get over the line?

I think it’s two main things. One thing is experience. Our previous finals, we had one [versus] Fnatic and we were winning 2-0, and we were winning like 7-2 on the third map, but we still choked it — we got reverse swept. Just a lot of best-of-five finals where we got a lot of experience.

Everything is possible, basically. We experienced it ourselves that everything is possible, even though it was not in our favor. But we knew that we can also do it, it’s possible. That’s one thing.

There’d been a feeling for a while that, one Heretics finally wins a final, then the pressure will be lifted and they’ll win many more titles afterwards.

Do you think it’ll make future finals easier now that you’ve gotten over that ‘curse’?

For the team, I think so. For me personally, no, because all the losses in the finals before didn’t make me think that we’re going to lose again. So winning this one doesn’t mean we’re going to win again.

I think every single final is [an] individual final. It depends on us in the moment, our form, enemy form. You know, sometimes we play really good, but there is EDG that are just playing better and there is nothing you can do. Or sometimes we are getting completely lost mentally, like against, I don’t know, Fnatic in EMEA Stage 1. We just got lost.

So each of them is different. And yeah, maybe for others it has some, you know, lifting the weight from the shoulders. For me, it’s more like, I know how long the path is and we need to do it again. And there is nothing easy about it.

Going back a little further and your run was very short at Masters Toronto, losing to the eventual third and first place teams.

What were the takeaways from that tournament?

In theory, yeah, it’s unlucky. We always lose to 1st and 3rd. But you know, while the tournament was still going, while the group stage was still going, we didn’t know that they were going to win. So, you know, it’s like hindsight.

But no, like, I don’t think it’s an excuse. I don’t think it’s unlucky seeding. I don’t think it’s anything. Teams are building throughout the tournament. And the Wolves that we lost to was not the Wolves that got to the third place. They improved five times. Paper Rex improved as well during the tournament.

That’s what happens when you go on a run. So I think we were supposed to still win the games if we played well. So, you know, it’s not an excuse.

And for the problems, I mean, there was a lot of problems, I’m not gonna lie. But I think the main one was like lack of responsibility in terms of like- we were all kind of chilling and waiting. Waiting for someone else to do the most important things, like the round-winning plays, round-winning calls. A player was waiting to get hyped instead of hyping others.

We were fine, but we didn’t do the things that we were supposed to do. We just disappeared, kinda. And then during the games when it happens and we’re losing, there is no chance to come back.

Why did we come back against Fnatic? Because people stepped up. They, instead of waiting for others to do something, did it themselves. And then you can start building. You get rounds, then [it] becomes easier to play because you’re actually winning rounds — economy is in your favour, ults are in your favour. But if you’re losing and there is nothing being done to break out from the cycle, you’re just going to keep losing. So that was the main issue during Toronto.

You’ve not had long to get ready for Stage 2, especially considering there’s a new map as well as a large number of roster changes.

How has the preparation been?

I think now it’s fine, but before the first game, after EWC, we had 2 scrim days And the only positive from that is that the team we played against had exactly the same situation: BBL. So that’s why we didn’t get punished in any way. So thanks to Riot for scheduling it that way. I think [the] same for KC/Fnatic.

So there was a lot of disadvantage, but in reality it didn’t matter. And now when we’re back to just regular weeks, the field is equal. We have the whole week to prepare for the game.

I think that’s our strongest state to be in. I think with this roster, without paTiTek, with Wo0t, we are so far 15-0 in group stage. Stage 1 [2024] we had 3-2, but both games we lost were with paTiTek. Then Stage 2 [2024] 5-0, Stage 1 [2025] 5-0, and so far 2-0. So it’s 15 wins in a row in group stage. And that’s our comfort zone. That’s where we can prepare as much as we want. We can change comps, we can change map pools, we can anti-strat, we can prepare for enemies’ anti-strats.

We have so many smart people working with us that can build entire gameplans and players that are capable of executing it. So now when we’re back to the season, just regular season, I feel extremely comfortable.