Team Heretics shocks Paris, upsets G2 Esports in sweep

The second match on day three of Valorant Champions 2025 was between two regional powerhouses, both of which have plenty of international success, looking to make it back to a VCT grand final. Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #2 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius swept G2 Esports G2 Esports North America Rank #2 jawgemo Alexander Mor trent Trent Cairns valyn Jacob Batio JonahP Jonah Pulice leaf Nathan Orf 2-0 in Group D, reminding its opponents just why a fourth seed designation is a bit disingenuous for one of EMEA's best.

Team Heretics received the first map pick, choosing Corrode, while G2 selected the defense side first. G2 decided to run double-Sentinel without a Viper, while Heretics ran double Controller with Astra and Viper. MiniBoo quickly got some Sheriff kills to win the first pistol, but G2 held strong with classics to win the eco. For a very attack-sided map, G2 swapped its composition again to get a stronger defense side, and it paid off with leaf getting two triple kills as the team reached the half up 8-4.

Heretics won the second pistol and the bonus to erase the deficit. The attack side already looked worrying for G2, with the pushes either dying in seconds or losing to time. When jawgemo 's Raze ulted himself and died soon after, the map was effectively over. It took until round 21 for G2 to win its first attack round, and while Heretics did give some hope to G2 at the end, Heretics cleaned it up 13-11 and took the series lead.

Now, G2 had to win on Lotus, a strong map regionally and a completely different story from its known struggles on Corrode. The compositions changed for both teams, with Heretics running Chamber and Deadlock while G2 ran Tejo and Fade. G2 got its first pistol win of the series thanks to jawgemo on Yoru, and converted the bonus. That momentum built fast, as it took a Wo0t 2v4 clutch with a Chamber ult to get Heretics its first round win. That clutch from Wo0t did allow for a good recovery from a 6-0 deficit, as G2 ended the half up only 7-5.

Heretics won the second pistol, meaning that the team quickly tied the game and once again put the ball in G2's court: to attack better than they did on Corrode. Even as G2 forced a signature Stinger buy, Wo0t once again clutched on B site. Just like that, from down 6-0, G2 was down 8-7 early in the second half. A big thrifty from valyn stopped a complete collapse, as jawgemo soon after won a big 1v1 to tie the game at 9-9. Rounds were traded, but G2 fumbled a 4v2 post-plant on C site, and the economy was in shambles. Wo0t landed unbelievable shots to close the map 13-10 and sweep G2 2-0.

In both maps, G2 had advantages that were tossed away, from the composition choice on Corrode to the lost clutches on Lotus. Even then, the Heretics shown in the first game at Champs looked nothing like the regional Heretics who failed to win a map in the EMEA Stage 2 playoffs, and that was thanks to RieNs. He ended the series with a 1.32 match rating, 41 kills, 85% KAST, and an outstanding Fade across both maps.

With this win, Team Heretics will face T1 T1 Korea Rank #3 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) DH Kang Dong-ho (강동호) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) in the winners match of Group D, with the victor of that making it to playoffs. The top seed from Americas, G2, will face Dragon Ranger Gaming Dragon Ranger Gaming China Rank #4 Flex1n Lo Rui (罗瑞) vo0kashu Ilya Ushakov Akeman Zhang Haoran (张浩然) Demon1 Max Mazanov Nicc Shao Yi-qun (邵逸群) SpiritZ1 Lin Dingyu (林定宇) in the elimination match of Group D, simply to see who goes home and who stays alive.