Team Heretics’ Weber : “I just like to remind people to take a deep breath and chill.”

Team Heretics’ upset victory over Giants in Week 6 of the 2023 VCT EMEA League created a surge of momentum in the late stages of the season. Despite them bringing in their assistant coach Brandon “weber” Weber as the replacement for Aleksander “zeek” Zygmunt, TH displayed a different side that nobody expected. Not only that, with weber on board, TH showed an improved version of their Valorant.

Such a change turned them into a credible team and one that holds the capacity of continuing their renewal against KOI, their next opponent in the season.

Unfortunately for them, TH received yet another disappointing defeat by losing 2-1 to KOI to fall to 2-6 and having a round differential of -43, thus leaving them with little to no hope of reaching playoffs. Nevertheless, for TH, there is a respite to consider given their recent state with the contribution of weber. At the very least, TH aren’t pushovers any longer.

Following TH’s series against KOI, Fragster.com caught up with weber to discuss how the team lost to their Spanish rivals, his transition to the starting lineup from the assistant coach role, and how he will tackle the final week of the regular season.

Weber on facing KOI

Pedro Romero, Fragster.com: Commiserations on that series loss against KOI. It was a pretty tough way to go down. Before I can get your thoughts on how the series played out, I want to know what the difference was like when it came to preparing against KOI relative to last week. 

Brandon “weber” Weber: I would say the preparation has not been any different week in and week out. We always prepare in the same way. We have a routine of how I and Neil used to do it, and with me playing and trying to focus on it more, it’s been solely down to him. Obviously, I’m being stretched a bit too thin since I can’t do all the dirty work with Neil. It’s tough on him so I appreciate him and the work he’s been doing for the team. He’s working extra [hard] in making a lot of those strategic sides of things and fixing things after the game like VOD reviewing. I’m proud of Neil for the preparation that he’s been doing. To get back to the question, it’s no different. We have a specific way of doing it and I don’t think we were underprepared. I think it was fine to be honest.

Fragster: Looking at the entire series overall, you guys lost Fracture but were able to bounce back in Lotus and then in Ascent, it was tight all the way through. Even so, what do you think went wrong for the team in the latter stages of that third map?

weber: It’s tough to say. We won a big round but there was a technical pause [after that] because keloqz’s headset wasn’t working since we celebrated. We took the pause and then I think the admin was talking to us and we kind of got a little bit unfocused. I’m not too sure about that but I hold myself responsible to a higher standard. I know people don’t expect too much of me, but I do that regardless if I’m playing or not and I fell short in performing for my team in the last few rounds. I didn’t give as much impact as I should have so that was disappointing from my perspective. I don’t think there was a significant change in strategic prowess from the other team. They just did very basic stuff and they would probably say the same. We weren’t fooled by anything. That loss was on us for the most part.

Fragster: So it was basically a mental lapse after that technical pause? Was that the main reason [behind the loss] in your eyes or was it any amalgamation of things?

weber: Yeah, it was certainly an amalgamation of things. I’ll never use this as an excuse but it’s late. I woke up at 8 a.m. and finished up at 2 a.m. I did my best because, honestly, I know that I’m not up to scratch as these guys so my job is to chip in wherever I can. As you said, there are multiple factors as to why that happened and, simply put, there was one round where I just missed and that was a very important round. It’s a shame, really, but there’s really not much else to say.

Weber’s transition to the starting lineup of TH

Fragster: Looking at how you’ve been able to contribute to the team, it’s always interesting to see an assistant coach step in to the starting linup and try to do their best. You’ve been able to do just that so far after the benching of zeek, so how have you viewed your transition into the lineup and their subsequent performance with you on board?

weber: I would say the team has been elevated by me coming in. With that being said, on a mechanical level, I can’t match up to zeek, but in terms of providing more clarity to the game and a more safe environment per se to troubleshoot trial and error, we have a lot of ideas. Boo’s doing great with his calling.

He’s having a lot of freedom now to call what he wants and, honestly, we wouldn’t have gone to a third map without him. We wouldn’t have gotten off to that great start on Ascent also without Boo. Obviously, m1xwell chimed him with some great calls too so those two got to show their voice. Again, there are a lot of factors but certainly, with it being a lot more light-hearted in [terms of] atmosphere, people have more freedom to voice their opinions.

Fragster: I’ve also been seeing how you’ve been contributing to the team during rounds. For example, in the video TH posted about their comms against Giants, you give people directions as to how they’ll go about a given round. Was your inclusion in calling also taken into consideration?

weber: I would say that’s one of the parts that I bring. Also, with me being alive or dead, I just like to remind people to take a deep breath and chill. When we go in to A site, I tell them to get in a good post-plant position and say these things during a high-tense environment. That’s just what I’m trying to bring in with those directions. I think I did that a lot more in the first game, but for today, it was a bit more different, but that’s on me to be fair.

Fragster: So far as my understanding has gone for TH’s place within the league, as of now, you’re mathematically eliminated from reaching playoffs, so the direction is going to go towards the LCQ. How are you and the rest of the team going to approach this final week of the season against Team Vitality?

weber: Simply put, we’re going to have a bit of fun. We’ll just play the game. We know we can’t qualify right now so we’ll just have some fun, to be honest with you. That’s one thing the boys have been yelling for, so we’ll enjoy the last week, get home, recuperate for a couple of weeks, and plan the attack for the LCQ.

 

Feature Image Credit: Hara Amorós / Riot Games / LVP / lag