Interview with Team Heretics IGL Ričardas “Boo” Lukaševičius

Yoann: Hey, hello everyone! Today I have the pleasure to be with Team Heretics in-game leader, Boo! How are you, and how would you introduce yourself? 

Boo: Hello, my name is Boo, I’m playing for Team Heretics as the IGL, and I’m from Lithuania! 

Yoann: When and how did you get into esports?

Boo: I have been trying to become a pro player since I was 15. I played CSGO, but I became a pro player for Giants when I switched to Valorant. It was a lot of grinding and a lot of work for many years. And finally, at some point I became successful! 

Yoann: That’s nice! Talking about success, you had an amazing 2024 season despite complex situations with the roster. What do you take from this year as the IGL?

Boo: We learned a lot. I learned who I was, and who my teammates are, what works for us, what are our weaknesses. We had issues where we needed to switch players, with the visas, and the tough schedule. We learned to work with what we have, get prepared in limited time, that was a huge new skill for me. 

Now, we know each other much better, and we are ready for next year!

Yoann: That’s great! You seemed to struggle to close out the best of 5s, what will you change next season to make sure to secure some trophies?

Boo: We had different issues with the best of 5s. In the two finals we lost in Europe against KC and Fnatic, we lacked experience, and we had stamina problems. The team at the start and at the end of the match was completely different. 

For the Gen.G final, the map pool was so bad it was close to impossible to win. 

And about the best of 5 against EDG, we got generally outplayed on some maps, which is fine.

Something we can work on is to be less emotional and put less pressure on ourselves. It’s easy to say, hard to do because it’s the grand final of Champions. This is what we work on, it’s a non stop process, and that’s going to be our focus. 

Yoann: That’s interesting! How challenging is it to be the leader in a high tier org? How do you deal with stress and high loads of work?

Boo: I don’t have many challenges working for a high tier org. Everything is designed so I don’t need to worry about many things, I can just focus on the game, focus on the team. Results wise, we are not being pressured, I think we are on a really good spot in a really good org.

The way I deal with stress, and the way we teach players to deal with it is to not worry about things you cannot change, only worry about things you can control. That way, to take away 80% of negative emotions. Other than that, just resting as much as possible, sometimes even prioritizing resting over training. If you are burnt out, and you feel really bad, the training is not going to be efficient. 

Yoann: Amazing! What advice would you give to an in-game leader willing to improve his calling?

Boo: I think a lot of leaders are overthinking, and I was as well. Trying to come up with as complex strats or comps as possible. I think simple gameplay is even better, especially at the start of a game, you can get into more complex stuff once you have more information about enemies, and how they are playing. Not overthinking, keeping it simple, it’s easier for both you and your players. They don’t have as many things to worry about, they can express themselves in the game. 

Yoann: Let’s now move on to the Quick Questions part! I will ask you 10 quick questions, and you'll have to answer as fast as possible, ready?

Boo: Yeah!

Yoann: Phantom or Vandal?

Boo: Vandal!

Yoann: What's your favorite map?

Boo: Lotus.

Yoann: What's your favorite agent?

Boo: Raze!

Yoann: What's your favorite skin collection?

Boo: Prime.

Yoann: What's your best memory in esports?

Boo: Qualifying for any international events, it’s amazing!

Yoann: For sure! Who's your biggest inspiration?

Boo: Karrigan!

Yoann: Can you name the ten teams that won an international event?

Boo: Sentinels, Gambit, Acend, Loud, Fnatic, FPX, Gen.G, EDG, EG, and Optic! 

Yoann: 10/10 great job! Which team would you like to play against in the near future?

Boo: I want to play against Apeks, I’m glad that they qualified! It’s going to be fun!

Yoann: What kind of music do you listen to while working?

Boo: Deep house is fine.

Yoann: Can you quote a voice line from your favorite agent, Raze?

Boo: “Here comes the party”.

Yoann: Nice one! Let’s now go back to the standard questions. What are your hobbies or passions aside from gaming?

Boo: I like to play basketball, spending time with family and friends!

Yoann: How do you feel about the Valorant meta and map pool after the recent updates?

Boo: The meta is completely fine, it was very good last year. For the map changes, I’m sad they didn’t bring Fracture back, and I’m extremely angry that Ascent is still in the pool, I think it’s time. Lotus is gone too, it hurts.

Yoann: What would you change to the game if you were a developer? 

Boo: Delete Clove. It’s not a bad agent, I just hate what Clove did to ranked, in terms of playing with the team, playing smart, things like that.

Yoann: How do you feel about EDG bringing it to Champions?

Boo: That’s completely fine if you pick Clove for a reason, if you have a plan it’s all good. But Clove’s 80% pick rate in ranked is boring. 

Yoann: Yeah, I understand. What advice would you give to someone willing to become a Valorant pro?

Boo: The main thing is to not autopilot when you play. It’s so easy to get lost in grinding 10 or 12 games per day doing the same things over and over again, not realizing you should change some things. Actively thinking about what you did, what your enemies did, how you can do things differently, play something new, change agents. 

Just don’t lock the same agent all the time, and do the same things all the time. Keep thinking and you’re going to improve.

Yoann: That’s some great advice! What are your short and long-term ambitions on Valorant?

Boo: Short term is just winning international events, Masters or Champions. In the long-term, I just want to play as long as possible at a high level.

Yoann: Would you like to become a coach one day?

Boo: Yeah of course!

Yoann: That’s cool! Is there anything else you would like to say?

Boo: I just want to thank the fans, there were a lot of them last year, it’s been crazy! Thank you for supporting us! I hope you’re excited for next year!

Yoann: We are, I can tell you that! Thank you so much for your time, and I wish you the best in the future!

Boo: Thank you!

Team Heretics Boo’s socials:

Twitter/X: https://x.com/BooVAL1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booval1