The Team Heretics prospect, Dominykas “MiniBoo” Lukaševičius, has decided to skip the upcoming international Valorant event. He is going through mental health issues.
Team Heretics performed exceptionally well in the VCT EMEA Stage 1 tournament after adding Mert “Wo0t” Alkan back to the roster. During their Stage 1 campaign, the Heretics boys defeated FUT Esports and Natus Vincere to secure one of three regional slots at the next tournament, VCT Masters Shanghai 2024.
Team Heretics made a deep run in the event, securing a spot in the Grand Final. Before the match against Fnatic, Chronicle tweeted that Stage 1’s schedule was way too packed. Teams had to play five official days in a row, with two of the matches being best-of-5s. Under the post, MiniBoo agreed to Chronicle and mentioned he was having a hard time sleeping.
I completly agree with you. Even playing late match and then day after playing early match is hard. I find it extremely difficult to fall asleep after intense match and you need to be awake so early compared to previous day
— Heretics MiniBoo (@M1niBoo) May 12, 2024
Right after the Stage 1 tournament ended, Team Heretics made a shocking announcement, writing that their star Duelist would not fly to China with the team. The organization claimed MiniBoo was suffering severe signs of burnout, anxiety, and overall exhaustion.
Update regarding @HereticsVal for Masters Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/YHlMWSNDM3
— Team Heretics (@TeamHeretics) May 14, 2024
Like any reputable organization, Team Heretics prioritized the health and well-being of their players over trophies and titles. After monitoring MiniBoo’s condition for several days, Team Heretics decided that he should sit this tournament out.
The community is in full support of the decision, as health is vital, especially in an elite and competitive environment like professional esports. They are commending Team Heretics for making a tough decision which was ultimately the correct move.
Huge respect to you for this. It’s easy to try and quick fix issues at the cost of player wellbeing. Well done!
— Tombizz ❤️🇺🇦 (@Tombizz) May 14, 2024
During the player’s absence, the support staff will do everything in their power to ensure his mental health improves so he can rejoin the team for Stage 2. MiniBoo, being 18, is also still in school and has upcoming exams.
MiniBoo’s temporary replacement is yet to be confirmed, so it will be interesting to see who Team Heretics will grab for VCT Masters Shanghai. With only three of eleven teams qualifying from the EMEA league, Team Heretics could potentially have a wide variety of players to borrow.
In the meantime, we wish MiniBoo a speedy recovery and hope that he will return to the team as soon as possible and show us some more insane plays.
