Team Heretics are out of the
League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2025 season, following a 1-3 loss to Team Vitality in the Summer Playoffs. Finishing the year in a shared seventh place, the organization is back to the drawing board. In an exclusive interview, AD Carry
Víctor "Flakked" Lirola Tortosa speaks with
Sheep Esports about his regrets, his future in Europe, and the team’s struggles with discipline.
What went wrong against Vitality?
Víctor "Flakked" Lirola Tortosa: "I didn’t have time to gather all my thoughts yet, but as a team we just choked a lot. We started forgetting many fundamentals, especially in teamfights. Both teams played the map poorly, but in teamfights we were worse. There are probably more things I could say, but the biggest issue was that we choked and couldn’t play fights well.
What do you think happened this summer that led to this position, and what was the atmosphere before this match?
Flakked: The atmosphere was fine—not too excited, not too passive. The week of scrims was okay, nothing particularly good or terrible to highlight. A big issue in the team is that we get complacent too early. For example, even when we lost to Fnatic, we told ourselves that we were happy with the fight we put up, and then, the next week of scrims went very poorly. It's just really cringe. That's when we started thinking about being stricter during practice. As professional players, we shouldn’t need our phones confiscated; we should just be focused enough. Overall, we just get too complacent.
Do you have any particular regrets about the summer split or the year in general, aside from what you already mentioned?
Flakked: My biggest regret is not being more direct and speaking up earlier about issues I noticed. I'm not saying it would have been a magic change that would have led us to winning the LEC, but it's something I do regret. I was not proactive enough in addressing team issues.
How do you feel about your current position as a player, your career evolution, and your future prospects?
Flakked: I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I’m fine with what I did this year. I could have played better, but I also know I could have played much worse. I’m not complacent about my performance, but overall, I’m proud of how I’ve evolved and what I’ve achieved. As for the future, I didn’t expect to go home today, so I don’t know what will happen next. Of course, I still want to compete at the highest level, and I’ll have time to think about it.
How do you feel about your personal level compared to the rest of the league?
Flakked: At the beginning, I was very inconsistent. Right now, I'm quite sad because I feel like I had just started playing my best of the season, and now it’s all over. I’m really devastated about that, but I’m confident in myself. It just sucks not being able to show it.
What is your take on this year's format overall? From the three splits, to the controversial format in Summer, do you think the current structure of Europe is good as it is? Is it tiring as a player to have three splits of competition?
Flakked: I don’t think it’s insanely tiring, but the summer format doesn’t make much sense—it feels unfair. Having a shot at qualifying for Worlds or get knocked out after just four best-of-threes doesn’t feel right. Of course, competition is stressful, especially for teams that aren’t winning. Even for the winning teams, there’s still a lot of pressure. Pressure is relative and affects people differently. But even in a normal split, it would still be stressful—if League is your main priority, which it should be for LEC players, it’s always going to be stressful.
Have you thought about your future, especially with your contract expiring at Heretics? Could you see yourself returning to the ERLs in the worst of cases?
Flakked: I haven't had the chance to think about my future yet. My goal is to compete in the LEC and play at the highest level in Europe. I would have to consider playing in ERLs, but I don’t think I’d go back there, especially given how the ecosystem is right now. I have a lot of questions on my mind, but I don’t plan on returning to the ERLs.
What are your plans for the next few months now that your season has ended?
Flakked: I will definitely take a break because I really need it—this year was really hard. I’ll probably go to Korea afterward, because I love playing solo queue and grinding, and I want to prove to myself that I’m still capable. But right now, I really need a break.
Do you have any final words for your fans?
Flakked: It’s tiring to always find myself going on social media just to apologize, but I don’t know what else to say. I’ve been in Heretics for three years, and it makes me really disappointed that I haven’t managed to get anything done for them. I feel guilty. I’m really grateful to those who have kept supporting us, even though we gave them reasons not to. I’m really sad, and I’m devastated. I’m sorry to our fans."
Header Photo Credit: Wojciech Wandzel/Riot Games
