VIT Derke: "My dream is to win Champs [...] that’s probably the main reason I'm still playing"

Team Vitality entered the VALORANT Champions Shanghai playoffs as EMEA’s only hope, and it has kicked off its run with a victory. The team defeated Nongshim RedForce 2-1 in a nailbiter to qualify for the Upper Bracket semifinal, where it will face G2 Esports.

This is already Team Vitality’s best-ever performance at a Champions event, as it is guaranteed to finish in the top four. Following the series win, Sheep Esports spoke with the team’s duelist, Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev, to discuss the victory over Nongshim RedForce, its upcoming match against G2, the Offseason, and more.

Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev: “I’m a bit relieved. We didn’t lose, and I think we played well. Haven shouldn’t have been that close. Maybe we were a bit sloppy and trolled a little, but I feel like we stayed composed. I’m just very happy that we won because, half a year ago, I felt like we were mentally crumbling in some of the rounds and letting things get into our heads. Now, we can fast reset and keep winning rounds, which helped us win the game.

Derke: Not really. With VALORANT, I don’t really expect anything anymore, to be honest. Sometimes weird things happen that are outside everyone’s expectations, even your own, so you just play game by game and see what happens. We just want to make the most of it because it sucked losing games where we could have won and didn’t get it done ourselves, but then another team kind of saved us. It happened in both Stage 1 and Stage 2, and we qualified for London and Champions because of it.

We missed out on some opportunities this year, and other teams bailed us out. We wanted to prove ourselves, mostly to ourselves, but also to the fans. Sometimes they flame us, and rightfully so with this team, and we just want to do well. I’m happy we’ve started doing really well. Champions is getting better for us each day, and if we keep it up, I feel like we can make a very long run.

Derke: I don’t know if Riot should change anything about the qualification process. I don’t know how it’s going to be next year, honestly. One thing they should change is fix Ranked. Hopefully, they read this and do something about it because sometimes it’s not very enjoyable to play. I can just sit there for two hours, but it’s not the same, I want to say. I’ll be happy if they do that.

Derke: I don’t know if my team has started thinking about it. We never said, “Let’s win the trophy.” We just focus on ourselves. We have so many things to focus on and improve that sometimes the end goal doesn’t really matter. We take it step by step, and it’s working really well for us. For me personally, of course, my dream is to win Champs. It’s the only trophy I haven’t won, and that’s probably the main reason I’m still playing.

I’m getting hungrier every time because it’s annoying not to have won it for so long, even though it’s only once a year. You don’t get many chances. You have to prove yourself in one tournament each year, and then maybe you can win it. So for me, it’s just step by step. If you deserve it, you win it. If you don’t, you’re on the flight home. It’s as simple as that.

Derke: At one point, they (production) didn’t really like me wearing the cap because of the lights. Sometimes, when the spotlight goes into my eyes for even half a second, it can mess with me. With the moving lights, when they go left and right or up and down, they can sometimes stay in my eyes for a bit too long, and it just affects me.

But I feel like they’ve become a bit less sensitive to it now. Thankfully, they’ve also been really nice about it, and I appreciate it a lot. Like I said before, they usually turn the lights down, especially around me. So I don’t have to wear the cap. I can stay bald and just play. I feel like that’s very nice of them (Riot Games) because some events in the past didn’t really want to do it.

Derke: Just fix our mistakes, play better and focus on ourselves. We’re playing very well, and if we can stay focused and resilient, I think we can do very well.

Derke: I don’t know. It’s very uncertain, and it’s annoying to think about. I don’t like thinking about it because anything can happen. For me, I just want to enjoy Champs and then go into the offseason ready for whatever happens. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Some teams might not make it, and you might not get a spot or be on a team. I just don’t really have time to think about it.

I want to enjoy my time at Champions, and then I’ll have all the time to think about it or maybe go in a different direction. Whatever happens, I don’t mind. It’s tough sometimes, mostly because everyone is circulating and it’s kind of annoying because I feel like some teams are breaking the rules a bit. But I don’t really want to judge or, how do I say it, cry about it. You just don’t know what’s going to happen or whether you’re going to get a spot. So it might not turn out very well. It could turn out very badly, but yeah, we’ll see.”