Team Heretics Valorant’s Neilzinho and Boo talk about team’s performance
After the rough start to the year, Team Heretics won their second match at VCT EMEA Superweek against Karmine Corp. After the one-sided dominant victory, Strafe had an opportunity to talk with Team Heretics Valorant’s Coach Neilzinho and Player boo. In an exclusive 1 on 1 interview, they addressed the team’s performance issues and mentality issues and the changes made to win over Karmine Corp.
Q. How does the first win under the Heretics banner feel? What are your thoughts on the game?
TH Neilzinho: “I think for us, we had a tough start of the year. But it didn't faze us, we played really well in scrims. So it was just the case of preparing for the game. We had some great preparation for them, we knew how they’d play. We weren’t caught off by the Gekko, It was the case of being confident and hitting our shots and we did that well”
TH Boo: “What really worked for us today is we finally played like we play in practice. Because both here and in Brazil and in the first game against FUT it wasn’t the way we usually play.”
Q. You had a rough start of the year, what do you think was going wrong with Team Heretics?
TH Neilzinho: “I think a lot of it is down to just nerves. I think we struggle a lot against the teams we think we should be beating. I think last week, people were getting frustrated when we were losing. But we had quite a bit of team talks and we just had to remember how good we are when we practice. Today was a big step because. We had a good mental we played our game and we played really well”
TH Boo: “It’s like 80-90% outside the game things. Mostly mental, Mental, confidence, and communication. Like in-game, our game plans are good, But the way we execute and adapt wasn’t working and this time it was flawless.”
Q. Keloqz played really well today, and It seems Team Heretics has a relatively easy time activating Keloqz on defense but it is not the same when it comes to offense. What do you think is the limiting factor for Keloqz?
TH Neilzinho: “I think on the defense, He can use the operator quite a lot and he is super confident with it. So he can take his fights, he can choose his angles. The one thing Keloqz struggles with on attack is discipline. And that is something the staff are working really hard on, so he doesn’t overheat. So I think sometimes on attack he can make risky plays and he gets caught off-guard a little bit. But he’s been improving a lot and I think he played a lot better against Karmine Corp. We will try to get him to rifle more because his rifle is insane. Once he rifles a little bit more on attack, he will have more of an impact. He has been doing really well in scrims and hopefully he starts to show it”
TH Boo: “On attack duelists' role is making space and it involves a lot of dying. On defense the duelist role is getting entries with operator without getting traded and pushing with utilities. And that’s why he gets more kills on defense. I personally wouldn’t say there is some kind of problem with Keloqz on attack”
Q. There have been a lot of role changes with Team Heretics? What are your thoughts on it?
TH Neilzinho: “We have been playing around a lot with roles. After Chamber got nerfed. We got a role issue with Sentinel. So we had a couple of different role changes in the team. Boo is moved to more of a Sentinel role and that has helped Zeek to step up more in terms of IGL’ing so right now we have a good balance. Mixwell really wanted to play harbor. I like to be innovative.I don’t really like to copy standard comps and I am really happy I get to try different comps. We even tried a little bit of Gekko but we will see how it goes.”
TH Boo: “ I adapted quite well to my role. I like it, I think it fits my personality as I am a really calm, really silent guy overall compared to teammates so it is good for me.”
Q. What are your thoughts on Gekko?
TH Neilzinho: “I think he is impactful. The problem I have with Gekko is he is very one-dimensional right now, on how he is used. He is a little selfish. You have to throw the utility for yourself and in positions where you can pick them back up. But I think the abilities are insane. The molotovs’ already been nerfed and kinda sucks but I think it’s just gonna take some time before teams figure out how to utilize him like with Harbor. I think Gekko and Harbor are a good combination and way to go. But it is really hard to figure out where he sits right now. We don’t really have much time to figure out mid-season but we’ll see. Some teams are doing it. You see NaVi doing it but it already cost them a game. So yeah we’ll see how it goes.
TH Boo: “Gekko is a good agent and has a good kit. Karmine was using it well. They were using it much better against BBL than against us. But the thing is, you can counter it. Like he is really counterable. If you know what he’d do, you can adjust your game plan around it and that’s what we did and that’s what other teams can do. He is good, but can you play him 2-3 games in a row, I don’t know, probably not. It needs some fixes, maybe not. I like the agent but better teams will counter you”
Q. Will we see experimentation from Team Heretics during the last leg of the competition?
TH Neilzinho: “Yeah Of Course. We will definitely experiment in our own way. Like we have some maps where we have some very interesting compositions I will say But we haven’t played them yet. But we will save it when we wanna use it, we will definitely take risks. We weren’t gonna sit back and not take risks. We will take risks on some maps but we won’t on every single map. But we have it prepared so if the opportunity comes when we can try those compositions we will do it”
Q. Team Heretics has a really strong roster. What are the sectors you’d improve on to convert the first win into a successful season?
TH Neilzinho: “I think for this team the biggest thing to improve on is confidence. We have good players, but when people saw the team getting built, they called the team washed up. We do have a team of people who I think deserves a second chance. We have a World Champions MVP who was dropped and didn’t do much last year. Same with Mixwell everyone said he was finished, Same with Avova, everyone said he’s finished and same with Keloqz. For me I just wanna keep improving our confidence. We have a really good game plan and we have a really good structure. If we play like we did today, We will upset a lot of teams. So I just focus on our confidence and make sure the guys are performing like we did today.
Q. Where do you rank Team Heretics right now and what will be your rank towards the end of the season?
TH Neilzinho: “If we can play like we played today. My expectations from the season are top four. We can be a top four team if we play like we played today. If we can replicate what we did today we will 100% be a top four team. We just have to keep building our confidence.”
TH Boo: “It’s hard for me to say. Fundamentally and mechanically NaVi and Fnatic are a better team than us. Vitality has a really good balanced team. They trust each other and have fun together but other than that you can say the result.There are some upsets, really close games but it's really hard to say.”
Q. What are expectations from the team?
TH Neilzinho: “Finishing top four and qualifying for Tokyo is the minimum expectations I have set for the guys. I won’t accept anything less. A lot of people won’t agree with us. But I know how we perform in the scrims and against the best teams and it shows we can definitely be the best team”
TH Boo: “The expectations from the season are top four and qualifying for Masters tokyo. We are taking it step by step, match by match. And even if we lose a game we don’t give up and we work hard and that’s how we will move forward.”
Q. Which team are you looking forward to facing?
TH Neilzinho: “I look forward to facing NaVi. I worked with them briefly during the Champions. I really like their coach doombr0s and have worked with their Asst. Coach. So we have a good history against them. So NaVi and all the best teams. We improve when we face the best teams.”
TH Boo: “I really look forward to facing Vitality, but it’s really far away. Maybe it won’t matter much or it will matter the most. But we can’t really think about it. But the exciting game is against NaVi. I like how they play, respect Ange1 and respect the way they play the game. Despite the results we will learn a lot from the game.”
In the second week of VCT EMEA, Team Heretics will take on Fnatic. Fnatic's Alfajer has finally got the VISA and will return to competition. Team Heretics has a huge challenge in front of them going into the second week. A win over Fnatic will surely improve their confidence.
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Credits: Riot Games // VCT
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