Valorant community celebrates Boaster after heartbreaking Champions loss

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Last Updated: 06/10/2025

Members of the Valorant community have come together on social media to celebrate Britain’s Jake ‘Boaster’ Howlett after an agonising 2-3 Grand Final loss saw NRG down Fnatic at Valorant Champions 2025.

A historic comeback saw Fnatic fight back from 11-1 down on map three to go on to force a fifth and final map, but NRG showed their mental resilience to take the fifth map and become VCT Paris winners.

Boaster, a player who always wears his heart on his sleeve, was visibly emotional after the loss, but the Valorant community have celebrated that vulnerability and the meaning it gives to the scene and its competitions.

Community celebrates Boaster’s impact on Valorant’s esports scene

Esports influencer, Jake Lucky was amongst those to celebrate Boaster’s career and personality, stating, “The emotion says it all from Boaster, but what this guy has brought to the Valorant scene can never be downplayed. Everybody is watching him entertain when it’s a grand finals like this. And to be so close so many times this year, he will get his.”

G2’s Jonah ‘JonahP’ Pulice was amongst those moved by Boaster after the Grand Final loss, saying “We love you @OfficialBoaster.”

NA CS player, and member of Team Mythic, Austin ‘Cooper’ Abadir echoed those statements, saying, “I hope Boaster keeps being himself and being entertaining. I never watch Valorant, and I tuned in for the final and honestly was super entertained.”

Photographer Yicun Liu shared a story about Boaster, who encouraged the photographer to take photos of the sad moments after Fnatic’s Masters Shanghai 2024 defeat.

The story garnered more praise from Valorant fans, thankful for Boaster’s openness and honesty with one fan stating “Thank you, Boaster, for sharing your sadness with us. A very mature human being and great personality I am truly inspired. Let’s win next year!”

British broadcast talent, Tom ‘Tombizz’ Bissmire celebrated Fnatic’s year despite defeat, posting, “I really hope this isn’t the last time we see this version of Fnatic. The year didn’t end with a trophy but 3 back to back finals is very impressive.”

Boaster becomes star of Ohnepixel co-streams

Boaster became the co-star of Ohnepixel’s co-stream of the playoffs, with the German streamer stepping away from his usual Counter-Strike streams into the world of Valorant.

Ohnepixel’s co-streams have become some of the most watched in esports, with his streams contributing to the growing trend of co-streams cumulatively surpassing official streams in Q2 of 2025.

Despite streaming Valorant rarely, Ohne’s stream at times rivalled the viewership of the official stream.

Boaster’s antics made him a significant part of Ohnepixel’s co-streams, with Boaster notably shouting Ohne out during the Grand Final, saying “Ohnepixel, zestify” in response to Ohne’s previous reactions to Boaster’s all-singing, all-dancing on-stage performances.

Ohnepixel stated on stream, “without Boaster, I would only have half as much fun [watching Valorant].”

Following the final, British Valorant broadcasting legend, Yinsu Collins, Boaster’s partner, revealed that Ohnepixel had sent Boaster a message following the final, asking the Brit not to retire. Yinsu shared the detail on an Instagram story as part of a Q&A with her fans.

In a later Instagram story, Yinsu put questions of Boaster’s potential retirement to rest, stating he will not retire and adding, “It is sometimes a bit exhausting for people to clickbait his retirement. He’s never said he’s gonna retire.”

Those words will be reassuring to fans of Fnatic and Valorant’s community in general who hope to continue to watch the energetic IGL dancing on stage for years ahead.

Darragh Harbinson, Senior Editor

Darragh Harbinson is an esports writer specialising in Counter-Strike. He has written for Esports News UK, Esports Insider, UKCSGO, Dexerto, and Rush B Media.

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