Team Heretics out of EMEA Kickoff without ticket to Santiago

A fan favorites’ journey in VALORANT Champions Tour 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 VALORANT Champions Tour 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.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - EMEA Kickoff

Team Heretics

0

X

2

Team Liquid

Lower Round 6, Best of 3 - February 12, 2026 - 5:00PM

11

Abyss

13

3

Bind

13

Team Heretics

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

benjyfishy

0.99

209

31/34/6

-3

0.91

62.5%

142.7

41%

70%

7

3

RieNs

0.83

173

25/31/8

-6

0.81

64.6%

121.6

42%

40%

2

3

Wo0t

0.73

170

23/31/5

-8

0.74

68.8%

112.9

36%

50%

5

5

Boo

0.72

149

20/28/16

-8

0.71

63.5%

103.9

29%

25%

1

3

ComeBack

0.66

144

20/32/5

-12

0.63

67.7%

91.2

30%

70%

7

3

Team Liquid

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

MiniBoo

1.44

284

39/25/10

+14

1.56

85.4%

178.7

35%

45%

5

6

kamo

1.41

273

41/30/13

+11

1.37

85.4%

192.9

45%

42%

5

7

nAts

1.30

258

36/24/6

+12

1.50

88.5%

165.8

28%

50%

3

3

wayne

0.81

139

19/23/18

-4

0.83

79.2%

94.6

45%

38%

3

5

purp0

0.79

143

21/22/10

-1

0.95

75.0%

105.5

40%

50%

1

1

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 VALORANT Champions Tour 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.