Following Workforce Heretics’ loss towards NAVI at VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026, Head Coach Neil ‘neilzinho’ Finlay nonetheless sees room for development for his revamped roster.
“We nonetheless have to attempt to discover our identification as a group,” shared neilzinho in an interview with Esports Insider.
”We had a extremely robust identification with MiniBoo. We knew it was gonna be troublesome changing him. It was by no means gonna be simple. So, that’s our purpose for Kickoff, to be trustworthy. Clearly, we wanna go to Chile [Masters Santiago]. We’re ok to go to Chile.“
neilzinho was a Counter-Strike participant and coach earlier than transitioning to VALORANT teaching in 2020. His first international occasion within the VALORANT teaching sales space was Masters Berlin 2021 beneath G2 Esports.
One 12 months later, the British coach helped Enjoyable Plus Phoenix (FPX) attain fourth place at Champions Istanbul in an analyst position earlier than getting signed by Workforce Heretics in 2022.
Three Years of Teaching Workforce Heretics
neilzinho turned Workforce Heretics’ Head Coach forward of the 2023 VCT season and has stayed with the Spanish esports organisation ever since.
Out of six international VCT tournaments Workforce Heretics attended throughout his tenure, Masters Shanghai and Champions Seoul led to runner-up finishes for the group. Furthermore, final 12 months, the organisation lifted its first worldwide trophy by successful the Esports World Cup.
When requested what made him stick with Workforce Heretics for a fourth season, neilzinho defined:
“I believe it’s the identical as with the blokes: Gamers had presents, we had presents to go elsewhere, nevertheless it was largely simply that we just like the org. The org offers me full management of the roster when it comes to how we schedule apply, how we do all the things. […] They offer us house to make errors. They offer us house to be taught.”
He continued: “And likewise we simply love one another as a group, in order that’s the principle motive. There’s no motive to go wherever else, actually. It’s not simple to construct a group like we’ve, with everybody who has such good vibes and real like for one another outdoors of the sport. It’s simply someplace that I wish to work, and clearly, the boys are an enormous a part of that.”
Changing MiniBoo With ComeBack
Though Workforce Heretics has seen few roster modifications over latest years, the newest Off//Season introduced surprising information for a lot of followers of the organisation.
The group parted methods with its duelist Dominykas ‘MiniBoo’ Lukaševičius, who can be the brother of in-game chief (IGL) Ričardas ‘Boo’ Lukaševičius, to signal Turkish prodigy, Berkcan ‘ComeBack’ Şentürk.
“It was a mutual resolution to sort of half methods with Domi [MiniBoo],” defined neilzinho. “I believe it was identical to a change of surroundings and we wished to attempt to breathe some new life and possibly assist us recover from that end line and possibly usher in a distinct dynamic to the group.”
The British coach additional shared why the group particularly selected ComeBack: “It was largely simply that he’s extremely proficient. He’s nonetheless so younger as properly. I don’t suppose he confirmed wherever close to his full potential immediately [match of January 22nd], however you see it in scrims. We noticed it once we trialled him. And I believe we’ve carried out a reasonably good job of choosing younger, proficient gamers.”
One in every of Workforce Heretics’ essential purpose is to “get the perfect out of ComeBack”, who nonetheless isn’t fluent in English.
“It, sadly, isn’t only a case the place everybody slots in, they usually’re unbelievable immediately. There’s numerous work that goes into it behind the scenes, and he wants numerous assist proper now,” neilzinho advised Esports Insider.
“We knew precisely what we have been stepping into once we picked him up. We knew we have been gonna have an enormous drop in our teamplay, probably,” added the coach. “Communication is on the coronary heart of all the things we do. Once more, we knew it was gonna be an enormous threat. However for him, it’s nearly studying the language, and we’re attempting to speedrun it. We’ve acquired him English classes.”
“However as soon as he can converse the language, I believe our ability ceiling is limitless with this roster,” he concluded.
Discovering Workforce Heretics’ New Identification
Throughout Workforce Heretics’ opening match of the season towards NAVI, the revamped roster leaned closely into the present double-duelist meta. However relatively than choosing the favored agent mixture of Waylay and Yoru, Workforce Heretics went for Mert ‘Wo0t’ Alkan on Yoru and ComeBack on Raze or Neon.
Based on neilzinho, participant consolation and quite a few different elements performed into this selection:
“It’s a little bit of all the things, to be trustworthy. We didn’t have a lot time to experiment this low season. RieNs was away on army service, so we missed out on a superb 5/six weeks of apply. It’s not an excuse, it’s simply the truth. Like we’re a bit of bit additional behind than what we’d wish to be, so we haven’t had the possibility to essentially get a superb learn on the meta.
“And double duelist is one thing that, while you’ve acquired gamers that we do, you possibly can afford to do it. The performs are pretty easy, and it offers the gamers numerous freedom, as properly. It’s not one thing that I’m an enormous fan of as a coach, nevertheless it’s one thing that we agreed on as a group,” clarified the 35-year-old coach.
Whereas the 2-1 loss to NAVI has pushed Workforce Heretics into the Center Bracket at VCT EMEA Kickoff 2026, neilzinho stays targeted on the remainder of the match.
“The margins are so slim at this stage. I believe it’s the explanation why there’s not one group that persistently wins each single worldwide,” he emphasised.
“However quick time period, it’s largely about getting our identification as a group and actually build up our teamwork trigger we’re fairly far behind, to be trustworthy,” neilzinho continued. “So, hopefully we are able to undergo Kickoff and each loss that we’ve – hopefully that is the one one which we’ve in Kickoff – we’re gonna be taught quite a bit from it. Sadly, you do have to lose to be taught probably the most generally. So, I believe that loss, it hurts, nevertheless it’s gonna assist us quite a bit.”
Workforce Heretics will return to the VCT EMEA stage on January twenty eighth to compete towards ULF Esports. The very best-of-three sequence shall be broadcast by way of the league’s official Twitch and YouTube channels.
