Fnatic’s Valorant campaign began on a high note last Friday as they defeated Team Vitality 2-0 in the first match of their VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff. Now in a strong position to push for qualification into VCT 2024 Masters Madrid in March, Jack Freeman caught up with UK star Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett last Friday to discuss his progression from SUMN FC to Fnatic, struggles at Valorant Champions 2023, and expectations for the upcoming season.
The last time Esports News UK interviewed Boaster was back in late 2020 when his team reached the finals of Valorant First Strike Europe. In a memorable statement, Boaster claimed, ‘we must be looking pretty, like a delicious dish [to orgs].’ They certainly were appetising as Fnatic signed the roster and the rest is history.
Reflecting on this journey, he said: “From the start, it’s been an uphill battle and it’s been a learning experience for sure. What better way to learn than putting yourself right on the frontline and getting some experience.
“It’s an experience younger Boaster wanted to have and now older Boaster is living it to its fullest. So I’m looking forward to more years to come.”
And he’s certainly ambitious this year, with hopes to win VCT Masters Madrid and VCT Masters Shanghai, as well the pinnacle of Valorant esports – Valorant Champions 2024 – to be held in Seoul, South Korea at the end of the season.
‘It’s just identifying the fact that yes we are tired but remember what it felt like to lose Champs [last] year, and let’s go for it fully this year and try and win all three [titles].’
Boaster
Sharing his thoughts on this year’s Valorant Champions Tour ecosystem, Boaster was keen to express his excitement over to the newly added VCT China league, saying: ‘You’ve seen it in League of Legends, the capabilities [the players] have. So it’s nice that they’ve got a whole ecosystem and structure around it and it looks quite hype.
‘[It’s] always fun getting more teams involved because that’s one thing that Counter-Strike wasn’t that good at, was involving especially the Eastern teams. It’s cool that we’re getting the APAC region [and] Korea in as well.’
To cap off his thoughts on VCT this year, the former Counter-Strike player Boaster added one more thing…
“We’re starting with Madrid but first we’ve got to get there, so one game at a time. [Against] Vitality today, we started off quite slow, but then by the second game we were on fine form.
“I’m looking forward to it. [There will be] more dances [from me] and we’re going to be taking them to the candy shop.”
After following up, he further elaborated: “Last year we identified that by Champs we were a bit tired of the game. We didn’t have the kind of hunger for it anymore and I think it’s because we played too much.”
‘This year we got Madrid, we got China [and Valorant Champions]. We know what went wrong last year and this year we’re going to do whatever it takes to fix it.
‘It’s just identifying the fact that yes we are tired, but remember what it felt like to lose Champs [last] year, and let’s go for it fully this year and try and win all three.’
Boaster also spoke about the togetherness in the Fnatic camp and keeping check on their egos – see the clip below and more in the full interview video at the top of this article.
Currently, Fnatic has secured a place in the VCT 2024 EMEA Kickoff Playoffs where they must reach the Grand Finals in order to qualify for VCT 2024 Masters Madrid. Their opponents in the semi-finals will be decided today (February 26th 2024) after the conclusion of the Play-In stage.
Read more about Boaster and his esports journey on Esports News UK here, including his VCT Lock In and Masters Tokyo victories with Fnatic last year.
