Team Heretics have signed the head coach for FunPlus Phoenix Ivan “Johnta” Shevtsov to work alongside their current performance and mental coach Noel Garberi.
Johnta will join Team Heretics to save them from their fall from grace after placing second at the European Masters. Before the qualifiers, and leading up to Challengers Finals, Team Heretics had won four consecutive tournaments in 2020, including First Strike Europe against SUMN FC. They had back-to-back round eight finishes before dropping out in Round 16 at the second qualifier.
The news of Johnta joining the team as another coach comes alongside the rumors that Žygimantas “nukkye” Chmieliauskas and Auni “AvovA” Chahade will be leaving the roster and going to G2 Esports. In place of nukkye and AvovA, G2 Esports’ Ardis “ardiis” Svarenieks and Patryk “paTiTek” Fabrowski will be coming over to Team Heretics as an even trade between rosters. Team Heretics will look to return to their original championship form before their playing to qualify for Iceland.
Johnta brings top-tier coaching experience to Team Heretics
Johnta coached FunPlus Phoenix back in early December of 2021 when the team placed top four at First Strike Europe. Afterward, FunPlus Phoenix and Team Heretics dominated the European scene with FunPlus willing Europe Stage 2 Challengers 1 against Guild Esports in April. However, they too fell short at Challengers Finals and did not qualify for Masters 2 in Iceland. FunPlus had great performances during the early Stage 1 Challengers events as well, placing in the top four three consecutive times.
New challenges, new coach.@JohntaOfficial comes from FPX to work from now on alongside with @GarberiNoel to guide Heretics Valorant back to the top.
Welcome 🧡 pic.twitter.com/BqKbIxsCQP
— Team Heretics (@TeamHeretics) May 13, 2021
With Johnta’s long history with coaching a top-tier European VALORANT team, he should have no trouble fitting into Team Heretics; especially with top-tier talent from G2 Esports coming over to revamp the Team Heretics squad.
There is over a month of downtime between Iceland and next tournament in the VCT. Team Heretics has plenty of time to gel with their new additions: Johnta and the rumored teammates from G2 Esports.
