Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Unranked MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius kicked off Valorant Champions 2024 the right way, moving past FunPlus Phoenix FunPlus Phoenix China Unranked Autumn Kale Dunne Life Qu Donghao (瞿东豪) AAAAY Zhang Yang (张杨) BerLIN Zhang Bolin (張柏霖) yosemite Wang Lei (王磊) in a tight 2-1 Group B opener.

Their Group B opening win is almost a repeat of the two teams' Masters Shanghai encounter, where Heretics took a 2-1 win which put them in the playoffs in third place. This time, in a GSL format, Heretics need just one more victory to take first place of Group B.

This match also marked the return of MiniBoo to Heretics' international lineup, even if his showing was limited today. His only (unfortunate) highlight came on Abyss, where a movement error caused him to fall off the map.

MiniBoo's performance was offset by RieNs ' 1.53 Abyss rating, the highest of the match. He also tabled 202 ADR and a +16 differential, all of which were the highest numbers of the server in that map. He stood out especially on attack, where he got 21 of his total 28 kills.

RieNs even seemed to take the highlight of the map with a Guardian 4K, but AAAAY immediately replied with his own Guardian, clicking his way to Champions' first ace. RieNs kept his performance up, though, and led his team to a 14-12 overtime win.

Tap, tap.

Bind looked like it was going the opposite way, as dominant showings from all of FPX's players and their new double-controller and Chamber-based comp put the team up 10-4. RieNs and Wo0t kickstarted a small comeback for their team but, at 10-9, FPX put an end to Heretics' hopes and took the final three rounds needed to level the series.

The match headed to Lotus, the only map FPX won against Heretics in Shanghai. In a much closer affair, neither FPX or Heretics found anything beyond a one-round lead in the first half. That trend maintained throughout the rest of the match and extended into overtime, where Heretics secured a 15-13 win dotted with showy plays from both sides.

With that fresh comp in place on Bind, Autumn 's Chamber was at the top of the charts with six opening kills and a 1.29 rating. He was second only to benjyfishy who, despite losing the map, was the best man in the server in every category but first kills and headshot percentage: 1.40 rating, 23 kills, 11 assists, and 223 ADR.

Lotus' close nature resulted in a total of twelve 3Ks between both teams, but just three clutches. Most players were also close in the stats leaderboard, with RieNs being the sole standout with a 1.33 rating. His map three performance also cemented his place as the man of the match with a 1.34 rating and +27 differential across the three maps.

Check him PC.

Heretics' win sets up a much-anticipated rematch between them and Gen.G. The latter took the Masters Shanghai crown in their last encounter in what was one of the best matches of the year. Gen.G will come into that winner's match off a hot 2-0 over Sentinels, avenging their own finals loss at Masters Madrid, and only one match loss since their Shanghai debut.

Heretics' year has not been as clean, but they have been partially hampered due to MiniBoo's absence in overseas tournaments. Heretics may be an unstoppable force once his LAN jitters have shaken off, and they're coming for revenge.

“I'm going to take my revenge,” Wo0t said in the post-match interview. “Your time is over.”