“It does feel a little bit privileged in the franchise league.” Interview with Team Heretics Boo

Team Heretics will come up against some of the best Americas and EMEA teams at Red Bull Home Ground with their new lineup. We had a chance to speak with Ričardas "Boo" Lukaševičius before the tournament and ask about his thoughts on the new league system as well as the current situation of other teams in the world.

THESPIKE.GG: What do you think about the new league system? Could you compare it to the recent one and evaluate the changes stating the pros and cons?

Boo: I think it’s nice that they've started off with the tournament in Brazil with all 30 teams. It’s a good system but the only thing that I think is a downside for me is teams that are not in the franchise league can’t get to the biggest events. It’s good for the teams and players that are tier one, they are in a good position in their career but for teams and players who are tier two and three or who are not pro yet, it’s going to be hard to reach the franchise league. At the same time, there are ways for teams in the regional leagues throughout the VCT circuit to reach franchising. Overall it’s a good balance but it does feel a little bit privileged in the franchise league.

Boo also wanted to add: So I have a brother who's also a pro player but he's playing in the Spanish League so I can see the difference where I'm in a good position and he's kind of like in a position where he's a little bit forced to play with the worse teammates because of the way the regional leagues work. Like you have to have three national players, in his situation, three Spanish players. So like he's kind of forced to play with Spanish players and there are not good enough Spanish players for 10 teams. So I just compare our positions where I can improve and grow unlimitedly because I have everything I need and he is playing in tier two and he is bounded basically.

THESPIKE.GG: That was one of the concerns of players and teams outside of the franchise league and how they can improve and work their way up. Do you think that your performance and your team's performance will benefit only playing in the franchise league?

Boo: Yes definitely. The way you improve the most is when you play against good teams. I found it out last year with my last team when we qualified for the Challengers and then played two seasons there. Before, we were winning everything also we won the qualifiers, and then suddenly when we were tier one, we got stomped. So it was a reality check, but it also made us improve way more, when you're constantly playing top teams, they're challenging you, they're like you're losing uh this is the best way to improve, like losing to good teams. So yeah definitely. If you're doing everything correctly just keep growing.

THESPIKE.GG: You have been competing in VALORANT for a long time now, mainly with Lithuanian mixes and most recently Giants and OG LDN, now being part of Heretics and in the EMEA Leagues, how do you think you will compare to the other teams in the region?

boo: I think we have a clear amplitude of how we can do, I think we can do really good, like the top three, even top one team, and if things go in the correct way, we have the mechanical skill for it. We have the experience of players. We have players who are smart enough to improve to the level where they can be the best. But it can also go sideways and maybe we struggle somewhere while other teams are improving faster. Maybe some of the teams are better originally because let's say Fnatic or NAVI, they have 3 or 4 people core from last year. So they're already in front of us in terms of team development. So it can be, you know, from top three to top one in my opinion. I don't see us being the worst team in the league. I feel confident that we can be top four, or top five without many troubles, and going higher will require more and more improvement.

THESPIKE.GG: Just following on from the answer there when you say there are a few teams that have got the core lineup from the last VCT. Do you think it's a good way for teams and mainly for the fans to see, franchise teams, having this split where you see more teams getting a combination of different players from different teams, or would you prefer that teams kept most of the players for Franchise League?

boo: I mean it's hard to say because, in the short term, it will help the teams that were together before obviously. I think long term it will not matter that much, but some teams were disbanded undeservedly like my old team. We were improving in the last two months. We were going up and up and we were in a good relationship with each other. We were feeling okay, if we get into the franchise, we can be top three because most of the other teams will change the lineups and like new teams and such and we are already familiar with each other. We already have our style and, you know, we're going to be good, and then suddenly, I mean it wasn't a surprise that the team didn't get into franchising and disbanded basically everybody left for different teams. So it felt sad basically.

THESPIKE.GG: Being in a team with m1xwell and the experience he brings, has this made your own gameplay and mental performance improve?

Boo: Yeah, I noticed his impact the most during the Indian event and he obviously has a lot of experience on the stage. I know how to play online but offline, it's different. I don't have that much experience, but I still can say that playing online at home and playing offline is different not because the PC is wrong or the temperatures or anything like that, it's just the atmosphere. You react differently to what enemies do. There is still this problem of you don't hear that much of the in-game sound. So he's really good with that. He made some really good mid-round calls during the Indian event in the semifinals, group stage, and finals. He kind of taught me how to look in the game on LAN. That's the biggest takeaway from me from Oscar and this is another tournament where I will probably see that. So yeah, that's the main point I can say about it.

THESPIKE.GG: This is your first LAN event with the majority of Franchise teams, how have you prepared for this event, and are you using this event to gauge your fellow EMEA opponents?

Boo: Yeah, exactly. This tournament has the same goal as the Indian tournament where we get to know each other, play, and learn together and to kind of scout other teams, and other regions as well. Like in India we played like five Pacific franchise teams. We’ll be playing against 3 Americas franchise teams as well as 3 EMEA teams. So these are the main goals. I mean, of course, the goal is to win the event, but the side goals basically experience. Like checking out if the things we worked on are good, are we going in the right direction or not? It's not just about comments when like the main goal is the Brazil tournament and everything before that is like practice basically.

THESPIKE.GG: With the Lock-in event in Brazil, who are you most looking forward to playing against and why?

Boo: I mean, I've never been to international events besides India. We played one big team, Paper Rex, but there are still more teams, like Wentinels with 2 ex-LOUD players. There are big names from other regions that I didn't play against. So I guess it would be them. I think also there will be new big names because again, it's not only in Europe, other regions also changed a little. So yes, probably the big names DRX as well. I would even say legendary roster at this point, like the Asian top one. So yeah, these are the teams.

THESPIKE.GG: Predictions for winners of each region in the first league split?

Boo: I think in Pacific, DRX, because I played against Paper Rex. I don't know how it's gonna look in the new season, but for this moment, I think it's Paper Rex too, but when they played against us, I could say that they were not fully serious They were testing out new comps and testing out new things. But I also felt that they're beatable like they're really beatable and I just think that DRX are way more structured and better thought out. In the Americas, I think it will not be a South American team. I have to see how Cloud9 will do, but I would say, I don't even know that as NRG is also really strong because they have the core of OpTic with ardiis who was very good. So it might be, yeah, I probably would say NRG, to be honest, and in Europe, if it's not us then cheeky smile then I would say NAVI just because of the way they work, the way they play. We’ve never seen NAVI like 13-0 to 13-1 victories. Like their whole journey was a grind and they grind it for two years straight and when they get, it's not easy but you can see the work and I think even with the change where they lost ardiis, the mentality of the team, the flow of the team, I don't think it's gonna change. Thank you.

You can find more information about Red Bull Home Ground on the events page, and don’t forget to have a look at our VCT 2023 Hub!

This interview has been edited for clarity.