Team Heretics Will win
April 3, as part of VCT 2026: EMEA Stage 1 Group Stage Week 1, the match Natus Vincere vs Team Heretics will take place. The teams are set to face off on Friday, with the action starting at 5:00 PM CEST. In the recent VCT 2026 Kickoff, Team Heretics finished in 3rd place, while Natus Vincere struggled and finished 9th, but in a new split the match can unfold under any scenario. In this VALORANT Match Preview, we will look at the best odds for Natus Vincere vs Team Heretics, the current form and rosters of both teams, performances at Tier-1 tournaments, and head-to-head matchups to determine who has a better chance of winning.
Bookmakers Offers For The Match Natus Vincere vs Team Heretics
Bookmakers consider Team Heretics the clear favorites based on their dominant performance in the Kickoff tournament, where they convincingly eliminated NAVI. The average odds for a Team Heretics victory are around 1.78, while Natus Vincere's win is valued at approximately 1.92.
Natus Vincere vs Team Heretics Line-Ups
Natus Vincere formed their current roster in the off-season of late 2025. After a mixed 2025 season, the organization brought in a revamped squad featuring Shao, hiro, Ruxic, Filu, and sociablEE. The team is looking to find consistency after a difficult start to the 2026 season.
The current Team Heretics roster was also solidified in the off-season heading into 2026. Retaining their core from a successful 2025 season, the organization made a key adjustment by bringing in ComeBack to replace MiniBoo. The starting five consists of Boo (IGL), benjyfishy, RieNs, Wo0t, and the new addition ComeBack. This roster has maintained a high level of coordination and tactical structure.
Natus Vincere Form & Performance
Natus Vincere is a team that has been struggling to find its footing in the Tier-1 scene over the last six months. The team's biggest challenge has been integrating a new roster and finding consistency against highly structured EMEA opponents.
The 2026 season for Natus Vincere began with the VCT 2026: EMEA Kickoff. After a promising start in the group stage, they faced Team Heretics in the Upper Bracket Quarterfinals, securing a narrow 2–1 victory. However, their tournament run came to an abrupt end in the Lower Bracket. In a rematch against Team Heretics, NAVI suffered a devastating 0–2 defeat, managing to win only 9 rounds across two maps (Haven 5–13, Breeze 4–13). This performance highlighted significant issues in their teamplay and coordination, leading to their elimination from the tournament and failure to qualify for Masters Santiago. Over the last 6 months, NAVI has shown individual flashes of potential but has struggled to close out matches against top-tier competition.
Team Heretics Form & Performance
Over the last 6 months, Team Heretics has established themselves as one of the most consistent contenders in the EMEA region. Coming off a 2025 season where they won the VALORAND Esports World Cup, the team has maintained their core and added firepower.
The first major tournament for the updated Team Heretics roster was the VCT 2026: EMEA Kickoff. They performed exceptionally well, showcasing superior coordination and aggression. Their peak in the tournament was their dominant 2–0 victory over Natus Vincere in the Lower Bracket, where they demonstrated complete control on both Haven and Breeze. This win was particularly significant as it avenged their earlier 1–2 loss to NAVI in the Upper Bracket. Following this, they advanced further and finished the tournament in 3rd place, narrowly missing out on the Grand Final. The team's tactical core, led by IGL Boo, combined with the explosive play of new duelist ComeBack, has proven to be a winning formula.
Natus Vincere Map Pool (Last 3 Months)
NAVI’s map pool has been significantly impacted by the departure of Train from the competitive rotation, which was previously one of their core maps. In the Kickoff tournament, their performance was inconsistent across the board:
- Haven — 2 games — 50.00% winrate
- Breeze — 1 game — 0.00% winrate (lost 4–13 to Team Heretics)
- Split — 2 games — 50.00% winrate
- Bind — 1 game — 0.00% winrate
- Abyss — 2 games — 100.00% winrate
- Lotus — 1 game — 0.00% winrate
NAVI showed strength on Abyss, winning both appearances, but struggled significantly on other maps. The team is currently in the process of rebuilding their map pool after the removal of Train, which has forced them to rethink their pick/ban strategy.
Team Heretics Map Pool (Last 3 Months)
Team Heretics demonstrated a much more stable and diverse map pool during the Kickoff tournament, showcasing their ability to compete on multiple fronts:
- Haven — 3 games — 66.67% winrate (including a 13–5 win over NAVI)
- Breeze — 2 games — 50.00% winrate (including a 13–4 win over NAVI)
- Split — 4 games — 75.00% winrate
- Bind — 3 games — 66.67% winrate
- Abyss — 3 games — 33.33% winrate
- Lotus — 3 games — 66.67% winrate
Heretics’ strongest maps are Split (75% winrate) and Lotus (66.67% winrate). Their victory over NAVI on Haven was particularly convincing, demonstrating complete tactical control. The team also showed proficiency on Bind, winning two out of three matches.
NaVi vs Team Heretics Head-To-Head
The core organizations, Natus Vincere and Team Heretics, have faced each other several times in the VCT EMEA league, with Team Heretics generally holding the upper hand. In their last five encounters, Heretics secured four victories, while Natus Vincere managed to win only once. Their most recent clash occurred during the VCT 2026: EMEA Kickoff in the Lower Bracket on February 6, where Team Heretics dominated with a 2–0 scoreline, taking Haven 13–5 and Breeze 13–4. Earlier, in the Upper Bracket of the same tournament on January 22, Natus Vincere managed to claim a narrow 2–1 victory.
Best Pick For Match Natus Vincere vs Team Heretics
Predicting the outcome of the Natus Vincere vs Team Heretics match in VCT 2026: EMEA Stage 1 Group Stage Week 1 heavily leans toward one side. Team Heretics have a stable, long-standing core, recently secured 3rd place at the EMEA Kickoff, and possess a strong tactical foundation. They demonstrated their superiority over NAVI in their most recent encounter, completely outclassing them in a playoff elimination match. Natus Vincere have highly skilled individuals, but the newly assembled roster has consistently struggled with teamplay and has not yet achieved significant results this season. At this stage, Team Heretics have demonstrated a much higher and more consistent level of performance, so in our opinion, they have a better chance of winning.
Betting Prediction: Team Heretics win.
Данил
Danil Chepil is an expert in the world of esports, having been following the esports scene since 2014. He specializes in Counter-Strike, Dota 2, and VALORANT.
Danil began his acquaintance and collaboration with EgamersWorld in 2022 when, after the Russian aggression, he could no longer continue his career as a bartender.
At that time, he didn't realize that he had a talent for writing news and articles on esports and gaming topics.
At the moment, the majority of bookmakers unanimously see the team Team Heretics as the favorite of the game with average odds on a victory in the sum of 1.528. Natus Vincere chances to prevail are evaluated with average odds 2.345 by bookmakers.
How did the participants perform in the last matches
| Last Matches | Team Heretics | Natus Vincere |
| 5 matches (wins) | 0 | 0 |
| 10 matches (wins) | 0 | 0 |
We will also remind you of the statistics of matches that the teams played with each other. The competitors have held 3 matches. In these battles Team Heretics got 3 victories while Natus Vincere managed to take 0 matches.
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