VALORANT Champions, the biggest and final tournament of 2021, kicks off on Dec. 1. A handful of players sat at a long and narrow desk the day before the event, ready to answer questions from journalists. Among them was Fnatic’s Jake “Boaster” Howlett and Cloud9’s Anthony “vanity” Malaspina.
The two teams face off Dec. 1 at 3:00 p.m. ET. Vanity has played Fnatic before, although as part of Version1. He was asked about how the first match against Fnatic compares to this one.
“It’s a completely different group of players, they’re the same team but I’m playing with four new people,” vanity said. “I think obviously, we were a little under prepared because of the circumstances, the practices circumstances weren’t the best with ping and PCs. But, I don’t know. We’re excited to play and hopefully get some revenge.”
Boaster vs Vanity, Fnatic vs Cloud9
Boaster, sitting to the right of vanity, couldn’t help himself from chiming in once the Cloud9 IGL finished.
“Yea, well, I can actually tell you how that’s going to go,” Boaster said before pointing at his hand. “This is your bum,” he said as he slapped it with his other hand. “During the game and after.”
— Yinsu (@YinsuCollins) November 30, 2021
Boaster started giggling sheepishly, admitting that the game would be a fun time with or without the spanking. This is one of the few times we’ve seen VALORANT talent from around the world interact and while the tournament hasn’t even started yet, the only thing Boaster doesn’t know is who he will be playing against in the grand final.
“I honestly don’t know who is going to be in the grand finals with us, I wouldn’t mind Sentinels,” he said when asked about who Fnatic would play in the hypothetical championship series. “I wouldn’t mind meeting them in the quarters or semis if you make it that far too. I would like to play them again because I’m due for a little redemption, if you’re down for that.
“I’m down for that,” Sentinels player Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan responded while vanity cackled in the background. Fnatic had lost to Sentinels in the grand final of Masters 2, and the match is still a sore spot for Fnatic.
Champions is also one of the few chances that teams from different regions get to clash. It’s an opportunity for teams like Crazy Raccoon, FURIA and Team Secret to prove they can run with the big dogs. Most teams view Masters 3 champions Gambit Esports as the best in the world, but a few are looking at the lone Korean squad as the team they are most excited to play against.
“I would say Vision Strikers,” vanity said of who he thought would challenge Cloud9 most in Group D. Boaster gasped.
“How dare you!?” he said, wondering why any team outside Fnatic would come out of vanity’s mouth.
Catch Cloud9 against Fnatic tomorrow, Dec 1 on the official VALORANT Twitch channel.
