Team Heretics out of EMEA Kickoff without ticket to Santiago
A fan favorites’ journey in VCT 2026 - EMEA Kickoff has come to an end. The pressure was too much, and Team Heretics is out of Kickoff after falling to Team Liquid in the lower bracket. Heretics are now out of the race for a spot at VCT 2026 - Masters Santiago 2026. It's a familiar start to the year, as they also missed VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Masters Bangkok 2025 at the beginning of 2025.
Two rough Kickoff journeys
Both Liquid and Heretics had rough starts to their VCT EMEA Kickoff campaigns, each dropping their first two matches. Team Heretics opened with a loss to Natus Vincere, followed by another defeat against GIANTX that sent them to the lower bracket. There, they found new energy, taking down Karmine Corp and getting their revenge on NAVI. However, Team Heretics' Kickoff journey came to an abrupt end as Liquid crushed their hopes with a decisive 2-0 victory.
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VCT 2026 - EMEA Kickoff - Lower Round 6
Team Heretics
Fighting for Survival
The match started on Abyss, a map both teams were winless on going into the matchup. The winds quickly shifted in Heretics’ favor as they took the pistol and bonus round conversion. But Liquid responded in the fourth round with a Kamil "kamo" Frąckowiak sheriff ace, and the map became a tight contest all the way through the second half. Team Liquid took the map with a 13-11 victory.
Bind started with a bang as Ayaz "nAts" Akhmetshin clutched a 1v3 in the pistol round. That set Liquid on an unstoppable path, pushing the scoreline to 10-0 before Heretics could find an answer. With an 11-1 half in Liquid’s favor, it was impossible for Heretics to regain control. Dominykas "MiniBoo" Lukaševičius together with nAts carried Liquid to a 13-3 win, taking the series 2-0.
No Masters Santiago
With this loss, Team Heretics will be heading home from Kickoff without a ticket to Masters Santiago. Missing out on the first international event of 2026 will be heartbreaking. The team will now have weeks of preparation ahead of VCT 2026 - EMEA Stage 1. Team Liquid, meanwhile, will continue to fight their way through the lower bracket in hopes of securing that final Masters spot.
For more VCT news, stay tuned to THESPIKE.GG.
After earning a bachelor's degree in journalism and media creation and working as a journalist for two years, Gry set her sights on her true goal: becoming an esports journalist. Although she's relatively new to esports writing, the scene itself is far from unfamiliar. After spending a few years dominating in CS:GO, she dove into VALORANT when it launched-and her passion for the game has never faded. Now, Gry is part of the content team at THESPIKEGG, where she'll conduct interviews and write a variety of articles.
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