Valorant star leaving Team Heretics for “extended break”

After a dominant Valorant Champions Tour EU run that ended in Team Heretics just missing out on the VCT Masters crown, their coach has confirmed that star player Dustyn ‘niesoW’ Durnas will be stepping down from competitive play for the time being. 

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• Team Heretics came in second during VCT EU.
• The team hadn’t dropped a Bo3 until that moment.
• niesoW will be taking an “extended break” following the tournament.

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Team Heretics have cemented their place in Valorant history after a series of dominant runs in the region.

After winning First Strike Europe, taking down teams like G2 Esports and Team Liquid, the Spanish org proved that they were a force to be reckoned with.

Key to this success was German superstar niesoW, who despite being unable to participate in Masters playoffs made his stamp yet again during the tournament’s Semi-Final and Final.

nieSoW rumored to leaving Heretics

It was rumored at the time, however, that the player was planning to step down from the Heretics lineup permanently.

Citing “family problems” and an inability to commit to practice as the reason for this decision, a report from Universo Valorant claimed he would step down from the roster in the coming days.

After Universo’s report came out though, Heretics head coach Tanishq ‘Tanizhq‘ Sabharwal put out a twitlonger saying it was wrong, and that niesoW was only taking an “extended break.”

“The report is false, niesoW is not retiring, he is taking an extended break right now to focus on real life and his family situation,” Tanizhq wrote. “The team has known about the situation for a long time, niesoW informed us that he wanted to take a break after First Strike in December.”

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Having this information allowed Heretics to plan around niesoW’s upcoming absence, the coach said, even though he did come back for Masters 1.

“With the 2nd stage of Challengers and Masters starting so soon after the end of the previous event, no Masters 1 teams or players are really able to rest,” Tanizhq continued. “We are therefore supporting niesoW in taking a prolonged break from the team to rest, focus on himself and stabilize his situation.”

Heretics fans can definitely breathe a big sigh of relief now that we know niesoW will not be stepping down permanently from the team, but there’s still no indication of when he could possibly rejoin the roster.