It's been almost three months since Team Heretics Team Heretics Europe Rank #2 MiniBoo Dominykas Lukaševičius Wo0t Mert Alkan RieNs Enes Ecirli benjyfishy Benjamin David Fish Boo Ričardas Lukaševičius lost to EDward Gaming EDward Gaming China Rank #1 S1Mon Hsien Meng-Hsun (谢孟勋) ZmjjKK Zheng Yongkang (郑永康) nobody Wang Senxu (王森旭) CHICHOO Wan Shunzhi (万顺治) Smoggy Zhang Zhao (张钊) in the grand final of Champions 2024. Now, Los Niños are set to return to the stage for the first time since then for Red Bull Home Ground #5, one of the biggest events of the VCT OFF//SEASON, in VCT EMEA's home city of Berlin.

Entering the 2024 season with three rookies, a fourth player who played only one tier-one match in 2023, and poor offseason results, Heretics was expected by many to rank towards the bottom of EMEA. Four grand finals and zero roster changes later, the team is widely regarded as one of the strongest and most consistent in the region.

benjyfishy on stage at Champions 2024 benjyfishy walking on stage at the Champions 2024 grand final. (Photo by Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games)

However, zero roster changes doesn't guarantee a repeat performance for strong teams. The 2024 season saw teams like FNATIC FNATIC Europe Rank #4 crashies Austin Roberts Boaster Jake Howlett kaajak Kajetan Haremski Chronicle Timofey Khromov Alfajer Emir Ali Beder and Paper Rex Paper Rex Asia-Pacific Rank #5 mindfreak Aaron Leonhart Jinggg Wang Jing Jie f0rsakeN Jason Susanto d4v41 Khalish Rusyaidee something Ilya Petrov unable to replicate their 2023 heights on the international stage despite impressive domestic performances.

“A problem that I believe that FNATIC had for this year, at least at the start of the year, maybe is that they were scared of experimenting a bit,” Benjamin "benjyfishy" David Fish commented. “We were changing comps so many times throughout the season and I think that's why we were so good. We're very experimental and I think that's why we're also going to do good next year.”

He also doesn't believe that the experience Heretics gained this year will stifle their motivation or their identity as a young and hungry team. “All of us still have the hunger to want to win and the hunger to play and grind and everything you need to be champions, but we've also got that experience that young players don't have on big stages…so I only see it as a good thing that we got all the experience this year.”

Although confident, the team isn't feeling any pressure to perform right away in Red Bull. “If we lose, we lose,” benjyfishy said. “Naturally people are going to have high standards for us, but we never put expectations on ourselves; we never take outside views or outside perspectives.”

Looking ahead to the event, benjyfishy is hoping to face T1 T1 Korea Rank #4 stax Kim Gu-taek (김구택) Meteor Kim Tae-oh (김태오) Sylvan Go Young-sup (고영섭) BuZz Yu Byeong-cheol (유병철) iZu Ham Woo-ju (함우주) , who qualified by winning the APAC Play-ins. “I love stax , and I love the players in T1, carpe as well,” he said. “I'm a very big fan of the org in general and I never got a chance to play them last year.”

As for the 2025 season, things like expectations or winning it all haven't even crossed his mind. “I like to try and live in the present, and right now all I'm focused on is what I've got to do today.”

“Maybe when I come back to Berlin in like two months for the season…but for now, I'm playing, I'm practicing, I'm trying to work on myself, get better as a player, as a person, and hopefully this event will help [me] do that.”

benjyfishy and the rest of Heretics will play their first match of the offseason on Nov. 21 in approximately eight hours against FOKUS FOKUS Europe Rank #16 hoody Aaro Peltokangas YaBoiLewis Lewis Hughes Mistic James Orfila al0rante Felix Brandl xuss Tselmeg Tsolmon in the Red Bull Home Ground main event.