Caide “chloric” Heaton has reportedly reached a verbal agreement to join Team Heretics ahead of the 2027 VCT season, according to sources cited by Sheep Esports. The American is expected to leave Natus Vincere once his 2026 stint with the organization wraps up, joining Heretics as their new in-game leader. Nothing has been made official by either side, but the shape of the deal is already clear.
According to the report, chloric was Heretics’ first-choice IGL option, beating out a list of names the org reportedly trialed that reads like a small-scale IGL combine: Boaster, Rosé, starxo, and batujnax. His NAVI contract is set to expire at the end of the year, per the Global Contract Database, which lines up neatly with a move that would close the book on his first EMEA campaign.
There’s a nice bit of irony baked into the timeline. chloric joined NAVI ahead of VCT EMEA Stage 1 and stuck around through Stage 2, where NAVI’s run ended in the Play-In at the hands of the very team he’s now reportedly set to join. Heretics won Stage 1 outright but couldn’t back it up, missing the Stage 2 playoffs and getting knocked out of the Play-In by Eintracht Frankfurt, a result that left their Championship Points total short of a VALORANT Champions 2026 spot.
A second NAVI export joins the party
chloric isn’t the only NAVI name reportedly headed to Heretics. Emirhan “hiro” Kat is also set to make the move after two years with the Ukrainian organization, meaning Heretics would be pulling two players off the same NAVI roster in one offseason window. That’s an aggressive way to rebuild a core, and it says a lot about how highly the Spanish org rates the pieces NAVI just lost.
The retention side of the ledger matters just as much here. Benjamin “benjyfishy” Fish is expected to stay put, and Enes “RieNs” Ecirli, a Heretics staple since late 2023, has reportedly already extended his deal through 2028. With RieNs locked in and chloric filling the import slot, the report notes Heretics have effectively used up their import allowance under the new VCT EMEA structure, meaning any further additions will need to come from within the region.
Why the timing lines up with a new EMEA era
None of this is happening in a vacuum. VCT EMEA is shifting to a new format for 2027, with eight partnered teams and four spots up for grabs through open qualifiers across Europe, Türkiye and the MENA region. That kind of structural shake-up raises the stakes on every roster decision organizations make this offseason, and Heretics moving early on both an IGL and a support player suggests they’re treating squad-building as the actual competition right now, not just a formality before it starts.
For context on how quickly rosters can turn over league-wide once a season closes, it’s worth glancing at the churn already unfolding elsewhere in Valorant as players explore new opportunities heading into 2027.
What’s left unresolved is everything that comes after the handshake. The chloric agreement is verbal, not signed, and neither Heretics nor chloric’s camp has confirmed it publicly. If it holds, the reported 2027 core takes shape as chloric and hiro arriving while benjyfishy and RieNs stay put, but the rest of the lineup, and any official confirmation, remains open.
