FUT add a Champions finalist and Esports World Cup winner to their 2027 core, and Team Heretics are left with only RieNs and benjyfishy.
FUT Esports have signed Mert “Wo0t” Alkan from Team Heretics, giving the Turkish partner team three players for the 2027 VCT season and taking one of EMEA’s most decorated flex players out of the Heretics rebuild. FUT confirmed the move on X on under the line “A NEW ERA BEGINS.”
It is Wo0t’s first Turkish club since he left Fire Flux Esports in October 2023.
Back with yetujey
At FUT he joins Eray “yetujey” Budak, his teammate at Fire Flux Young and then at Fire Flux Esports in the Turkish Challengers circuit. Okan “KROSTALY” Alaçam is the third player.
The trio have already played together. Wo0t lined up for FUT at Monsters Reloaded on 24 October, three days after Heretics announced his exit, and the team lost the semi-final 2-1 to Fire Flux.
The rest of the 2026 lineup has gone. Doğan “xeus” Gözgen left on 2 November, and Efe “s0pp” Tur and Volkan “sociablEE” Yonal followed a day later on their way to Eternal Fire. Head coach Berke “Vlad” Kantürk also left on 3 November. That leaves FUT with two places and the head coach role to fill, with manager Mighty and assistant coach Bambino still in place.
FUT were third in both EMEA stages in 2026, reached the top six at Masters London and went out of Champions Shanghai in the group stage after beating JD Gaming and losing to 100 Thieves and T1. They are one of two Turkish organisations, with BBL Esports, on Riot’s partner list for 2027 and 2028.
Shanghai, Seoul and an Esports World Cup
Wo0t joined Heretics in October 2023 as part of a rebuild that also brought in RieNs and MiniBoo. His peak came at Masters Shanghai in 2024, where he played duelist and led the event with 427 kills as Heretics finished second. He later moved back to flex, often as a supporting initiator, before returning to duelist next to koshmaras.
| Event | Result |
|---|---|
| VCT 2024 EMEA Stage 1 | 2nd |
| Masters Shanghai 2024 | 2nd |
| Valorant Champions 2024 (Seoul) | 2nd |
| VCT 2025 EMEA Stage 1 | 2nd |
| Esports World Cup 2025 | 1st |
| VCT 2026 EMEA Stage 1 | 1st |
The Esports World Cup title in 2025 came with a reverse sweep of FNATIC in the final, and the 2026 EMEA Stage 1 title was what Heretics called their “first VCT trophy”. From June the year went badly: seventh to eighth at Masters London, fifth to eighth at the Esports World Cup and a 2-0 defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Stage 2 play-ins that kept them away from Champions.
Heretics said goodbye on 21 October with a short message: “Joined as a boy, leaving as a man. Came to change our destiny.”
Heretics need three players again
The 2023 rebuild replaced three players. Three years later the club are in the same place. koshmaras left on 4 September, Boo on 24 September before joining Aurora, and now Wo0t has gone back to Turkey.
RieNs and benjyfishy are the only players left, and according to Riot’s VCT Global Contract Database both of their deals ran until 2 November. Heretics, who also keep their partner seat for 2027, have not announced a new signing yet.
