Team Heretics buy Misfits Gaming’s LEC spot

Team Heretics announced Wednesday that they have acquired Misfits Gaming’s franchise spot in the League of Legends European Championship and will join the LEC in 2023.

Heretics will play in the league next year, the team announced on its Twitch channel. This expansion was possible, the team said, because of new investors in Heretics that will be announced in a few days. Those funds helped Heretics pay for Misfits’ spot in the LEC.

HERETICS LEC 2023.

YOU CAN’T TEACH PASSION.
#VamosHeretics pic.twitter.com/9XjnZrUf9O

— Team Heretics (@TeamHeretics) July 27, 2022

Heretics, a Spanish organization, was founded in 2016 and started competing in esports in 2017. While they started with Call of Duty, Heretics expanded to other esports such as League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.  Nowadays they are represented by a few personalities and streamers such as David “gregfg” Cánovas Martínez and Jorge “Werlyb” Casanovas Moreno-Torres. The expansion into talent helped Heretics acquire a fanbase among the Spanish community.

Team Heretics have been involved in the League of Legends Spanish scene for a few years. In 2017, when they were competing in the second division of the Spanish League, they fielded players such as Iván “Razork” Martín Díaz. Some might remember their partnership with G2 Esports as an organization named G2 Heretics, which used to play in the SuperLiga. In 2022, Team Heretics returned to the Spanish European Regional League with their own branding as they bought a spot in the SuperLiga, an entry that was welcomed by the Spanish community.

Team Heretics are having a good split this summer as they are tied for first place in the SuperLiga. The team also managed to qualify for the upcoming European Masters. Misfits, meanwhile, are tied for sixth in the LEC with a 5-6 record.

Misfits are best-known for qualifying for the League of Legends World Championship after reaching the LEC through qualifiers in 2016 before franchising was part of the league. The team reached Worlds via championship points after finishing third in the league in spring and as runners-up in the summer split. Misfits then shocked the League of Legends community at Worlds by qualifying for the quarterfinals and giving the back-to-back champions, South Korean powerhouses SK Telecom T1, a five-game series that nearly ended with the Europeans in the Worlds semifinals. SKT went on to the finals of the event.

NOS VAMOS A EUROPA 🇪🇺

Con la victoria de hoy nos aseguramos el billete para el European Masters.

El trabajo no termina, queremos ser campeones de la fase regular. Nos vemos el lunes.#VamosHeretics #SuperligaLoL pic.twitter.com/ySEPjrxXFt

— Team Heretics (@TeamHeretics) July 21, 2022

Misfits were awarded an LEC franchise spot in 2019 but have failed to qualify for Worlds since that 2017 run. According to Riot Games, the sale will not result in any immediate changes for the current Misfits roster.

“Misfits Gaming Group owns the player contracts until the end of the season,” Riot said in a statement. “There will be no direct impact until the sale takes effect at the start of the Free Agency period in November.”