Insider Gaming spoke to Benjy ‘benjyfishy’ Fish after their EWC 2026 quarter-final defeat at the hands of BBL Esports.
The Brit reflected on what Team Heretics’ EWC 2025 meant to the roster, meeting Magnus Carlsen, and what Team Heretics will work on coming into VCT EMEA Stage 2.
Insider Gaming interview with benjyfishy at the Esports World Cup 2026
You’re out of the competition today, but I want to take you back to last year when you won this competition. What did that triumph mean to the team in terms of your future ambitions?
It means a lot. It was the first trophy for this team and also the first trophy for me. I’ve had a pretty long esports career now, and that was my first big one.
So I think for us it meant finally winning something, and to do it in that way where we were down 0-2 and we came back to 3-2, it was a really big boost for us.
When you got that experience of getting into the Stage 1 playoffs, did you draw on winning that trophy then?
Winning Stage 1 as well was also huge. Being able to win something in the VCT set felt really good. I wish we could have done better at London.
But I think now we have experience of what it’s like to win a Stage and have the extra time going into an international, I think we’ll be a lot better the next time we get that.
Because you won EWC last year, there was a lot of emphasis on the tournament on you. You were at the Opening Ceremony. Is that something you enjoyed?
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I think the Opening Ceremony was really cool. I think maybe people had higher expectations for us since we won last year, but for me, that’s a whole year ago.
That was a different team. It’s completely different Heretics now than it was last year. It’s just another tournament, and we didn’t do the best, but I think we did as well as we could have.
How was it to adjust to the latest update, and what are your overall feelings on how the new meta sits with the team?
I think right now the meta is still double-Duelist mainly, but I think the buff to Sentinels and also Initiators has been really nice. I think I’ve been noticing having more impact on Cypher than I did before, so that’s a good feeling.
But I think the meta is probably going to stay double-Duelist for a while unless they change it at some point, maybe after Stage 2. But I can see the rest of this year mostly just being double-Duelist, and for me, I’m happy with it. I think we’re good with it as a team.
You shared a picture of yourself meeting Magnus Carlsen. Have you got a chance to mix with other athletes from other games, and what experience or what can you take from other esports?
I’ve got to meet a lot of different players.
Actually, someone that I spoke to was a guy called Pac, and he’s a Trackmania pro for Vitality. My brother is a really big fan of Trackmania, so I asked my brother if he knew him, and he was like, ‘Oh my God!’ He was freaking out.
For me, I really enjoy getting to speak to people from other esports. I think in general all these players at the highest level, they face the same problems, the same pressure.
But I think we all do what we love, so that’s why we’re here.
What are your reflections on the rest of the year, your ambitions, and what you need to work on?
I think when we’re the best version of Team Heretics, we’re a very good team. I think right now in the current meta, micro decisions and trusting your instincts are so important right now. I think that’s what we need to work on.
When we’re the best version of Heretics is when we’re making good decisions, when we’re playing with each other. We’re not winning as individuals, we’re winning as a team.
So I think we’ll just keep working on improving our teamplay until Stage 2, and hopefully you’ll see a better version of us.
I feel like you guys have shifted from an explosive team that headshots everyone to making the correct decisions and teamwork. Was that a big focus this year?
I think we did speak about a lot of decision-making. I think our coaches want us to trust ourselves to make the decision in the moment, but try to do it with a teammate.
I think a lot of times you know what the right play is, but sometimes you doubt yourself, or you don’t want to do it because you think something might go wrong. I think it’s more about just trusting yourself and playing in the moment, just playing the game.
Sometimes, if you’re out of it, you can stop playing the game, and you play too passive or whatever. I think for us it’s just making sure that everyone’s playing the game properly and making good decisions.
End of Interview
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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