"I get more freedom": Derke on playstyle difference between Team Vitality and Fnatic ahead of VCT Masters Bangkok (Exclusive)

Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev attended the VCT Masters Bangkok pre-event press conference alongside his Team Vitality IGL, Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel, on February 19, 2025. The Finnish/Russian Duelist joined the French lineup ahead of the 2024 VCT season after four seasons with Fnatic.

When I asked Derke about how well he was settling into his new team, he only had positive things to say. While talking about his experience playing with Sayf in Team Vitality and with Jake "Boaster" Howlett back in Fnatic, he made some points that provided interesting insights into the teams' playstyles and how Derke likes to play.

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Derke speaks about settling into Team Vitality at the VCT Masters Bangkok pre-event press conference

Derke with Sayf and the VCT EMEA Kickoff trophy (Image via Riot Games)

My first question to Derke at the VCT Masters Bangkok press conference was about his experience settling in with Team Vitality. Despite being an intra-region transfer, players might find it hard to fit into the culture and working style of new teams.

Derke, however, had no such issues, as he pointed out:

“Settling in wasn’t difficult really. I mean I’ve known Sayf for ages now and Less, I have known through competitions. So the only new faces I came into were the org itself — which treated me really well — and kicks and trexx.I knew trexx from competitions as well, but somehow never talked to him that much. Coming in was really good. Everyone’s passionate and hungry and they want to win.”

He went on to describe how the team had a shared agenda and how each player's previous experience helped enrich the squad:

“Me and Less bring some experience from our past (teams) and Sayf settling in as IGL… everyone was good, smooth, and everyone wanted to win. A lot of that shared passion helped us.”

In fact, from what he said next, it appears that Derke might be feeling more at home in the Vitality camp than he had been feeling back at Fnatic — at least in the recent past.

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"Sometimes you just have to go and do what you want": Derke highlights the difference between Boaster and Sayf as IGLs

Derke with Fnatic teammates, Boaster and Alfajer, at LOCK//IN Sao Paulo (Image via Riot Games)

While not one of the teams that qualified for VCT Masters Bangkok, Fnatic is among the best teams in tier-one Valorant esports. Under Boaster's leadership, the team has won several tournaments in 2023 and 2024, and Derke was a big part of the success.

I asked Derke about his opinion on the difference between the leadership styles of Boaster, and his current IGL, Sayf. Derke answered:

“The main difference between Sayf and Boaster is that Sayf used to be a Duelist before me. So with me coming into this team, I get more freedom than Boaster would give me. Even when Boaster did give me freedom, he just liked set stuff — playing more precisely set, like, ‘Oh you have to do these things,’ and be more disciplined and safer on the server.”

Derke went on to say that he enjoyed the more free-flowing style that Sayf allowed for:

“But with Sayf its more like, we run different things, people say what they want to say to do and we adapt. That playstyle in this team suits us more than playing disciplined. Sometimes you just have to go and do what you want and have some fun too. I mean that’s kind of why people start playing, and if you are not having fun, then there’s no point playing.”

If anything, Derke's performance has only improved since leaving Fnatic. Team Vitality soared through the upper bracket, winning EMEA Kickoff 2025 while dropping only three maps. Derke had the second-highest ACS in the tournament.

Fnatic's slow and steady playstyle has proved its mettle and only time will tell if Team Vitality's more "fun" — almost Paper Rex-esque — approach to Valorant will continue to net the superb results it has so far.

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Derke and Vitality will play their first match at VCT Masters Bangkok against T1 on February 21, 2025, from 2 am PST onwards.