“When you’re on stage, you still respect each other, but you want to destroy” – TL nAts on his Boaster speech

A convincing 3-0 victory against a battered Fnatic saw Team Liquid the final victors in VCT EMEA Kickoff, booking their spot at Masters Santiago. Following the victory, Hotspawn spoke to IGL Ayaz “nAts” Akhmetshin for an interview.

Hotspawn: Let’s just start with the obvious one nAts;

Thoughts on the win? How are you feeling after qualifying?

NAts: “There are two things. First of all, I finally broke my curse with one year qualifying, one year not qualifying.

“Second is that I’m quite happy the way we play the game on the stage because I think in the whole [of] my Valorant career I never had such a feeling, and [it] doesn’t matter how the rest will go. I never had such a feeling to play the game like that on the stage where you just watch the mini map, and in 10 seconds of the round you’re literally on their spawn. It does look funny, not gonna lie.”

Hotspawn: Especially MiniBoo in their spawn before they’ve really left.

NAts: “Yeah. I cannot imagine playing against that. I think it’s too much.”

Hotspawn: Fnatic players have already mentioned their exhaustion after the Gentle Mates series, and seeing Corrode so one-sided made it look like you guys were going to win with ease.

Were you surprised that they fought back on the following maps?

NAts: “I mean not really. I also been asked the question that if we would lose Abyss, do I think we would lose the rest of the maps? I don’t think we would because, as you said and as kaajak said, I mean that’s natural. It’s very hard to handle so many games in a row, especially hard games, and yesterday’s game, I think it went too much for them. They lost too much energy.

“I think that’s experience and knowing that specifically. Not about them, but I already played the game a lot and I knew in what kind of shape they are [in]. So even if the Abyss would go in a different way, I still had ideas how to make sure that they will be even more exhausted.”

Hotspawn: On those closer maps, even though Fnatic had leads, if looked as though it was impossible for Liquid to lose today.

Did it feel the same for you?

NAts: “I had the same feeling, honestly. I think there are ways to lose, but I think there is a lot of confidence. Also I like the way they tried to approach the anti against us because I think both Heretics and Vitality, they couldn’t do much. I think Fnatic today actually tried to approach some things in a different way. So it’s a good learning experience for us for Santiago.”

NO CHILL @nAts__ss 💀 pic.twitter.com/bRJ2eExiX8

— VALORANT Esports EMEA (@vct_emea) February 15, 2026

Hotspawn: On broadcast they showed your speech before Corrode where you were targeting Boaster specifically, while there were also moments shown between rounds where he was standing up and directing a few words your way.

Where has that rivalry come from?

NAts: “I think we are respecting each other. I respect every player who I play against and I respect everyone who is working hard, and I think he’s a hard-working person. But it’s just sometimes funny when he plays against those comps and I see that he sometimes doesn’t have solutions.

“But there is nothing personal, honestly. This game today, it was just a game.”

“The thing is, I don’t remember my speeches because I don’t prepare them, I don’t think about them, I just say speak about them in the moment, what I believe and what I think [is] supposed to be said. I just know that whatever I say, I believe in those things and I don’t feel bad about it, and I don’t think I said anything bad there.

“And as I said, even today’s one, it’s nothing more personal because I think, and I think everyone will agree, when you are on the stage and when you’re fighting each other, you are not really a friend. You still respect each other, but you want to destroy. That’s it.”

Hotspawn: You’ve qualified for Santiago now then.

What teams are looking tough to you?

NAts: “I watched every region, honestly. I actually don’t know in terms of which team I would like to face because every first seed is interesting. I actually don’t know. But for me it’s interesting how it will go in Santiago, especially for these first seeds, how they will perform there. But there is nothing really about someone specific I want to face there.”

Hotspawn: Do you have any theory as to why there were so many unusual first seeds, while the usual established teams had to fight through middle and lower brackets in most regions?

NAts: “I think there is a lot of different reasons. Most of the teams who are usually performing good during a year, at the start of the year, they’re pretty weak because they’re creating the system, they’re adding the depth. And I’m not saying that the teams who qualified, they don’t have depth, but it’s too early into the season to speak about these kind of things. And there is a potential of the less depth beating the stronger teams.

“So I think it’s a lot about the preparation, and I think Kickoff has always been the same thing — a lot of random things happening. And I know that that’s why some teams don’t really take Kickoff seriously, they just try to play as many games as possible to make sure they have time and energy to prepare for Stage 1, for Stage 2, because there is a lot also staying on that. People still want to qualify to Masters through the Kickoff, but as experience shows, it’s too random sometimes.”