Following NIP’s victory against G2 Esports at VCT Europe Challengers 2 and advancing to Masters, we’ve caught up with Yaroslav “Jady” Nikolaev, NIP’s Sage and Sova player. We talked to Jady about how much back-to-back wins against G2 mean to him, his take on Sage in Valorant, as well as his personal goals in 2021.

Interview with Jady

RunItBack: Your team again overcame G2, making it back-to-back victories for NIP. How are you feeling after this huge win and becoming the second team to make it to Europe’s Masters event?

Jady: For me it’s a lot of emotions. I’ve played only for three months on the pro scene. These two wins really add up to my adrenaline. I really like to win against teams from the top four. G2, FPX, it doesn’t matter. It’s so good for my mind to feel those wins. For my mentality. These wins make me better.

RunItBack: Knowing that you’ll be playing G2 once again, did you guys do something differently in preparing against G2 this time around comparing to the last time?

Jady: We didn’t prepare a lot. We watched their games, well, mostly Ex6TenZ (akukhoS) because he’s the caller and IGL (in-game leader). For me, I just know how they play on Ascent, I know that they play a lot around mid. I don’t know, I just felt it. And then, well, we didn’t change much, we just played the same way and won it. I think the sponsor of our win is Ex6TenZ because his calls are really insane. I can’t explain it. It’s insane. His calls are the best bro! He’s the best caller in the world, I don’t care! *laughs*

RunItBack: *laughs* So, we’re really interested to hear more about you on Sage. On Haven you played Sova, but we regularly see you play Sage. Why Sage? She isn’t typically the aggressive character yet you are able to frag out with her.

Jady: First of all, I think it’s the captain’s call that I should play on Sage. We tend to roll 5 agents without duelists. I think Sage is really my best agent. Sage and Sova, I like those a lot. I don’t like to play on duellists, everyone can play on them. But not everyone can play support roles. Like Sage, I don’t know, it’s just my agent, I feel her a lot. And about aggressive playstyle, I think she can be aggressive in some moments because you have the wall, you can boost yourself. You have slows, you can peek on them. You have the heal, you can just kill one and then heal yourself. I think it’s a really aggressive agent, like Sova too. I’m trying to play aggressive but sometimes it’s just impossible for me because I need to follow exit calls. Sometimes I can’t play a lot of aggressive style but I’m trying it. So I feel really good on it (Sage).

RunItBack: Do you have a personal goal in Valorant in 2021?

Jady: Well, for me, I need to move to a normal city. It’s sometimes hard to play on 80 ping. I will do that this summer. This is the first goal. Then, I don’t really want to become the best player (in Valorant) because it’s impossible to be always the best in my opinion. I just want to be a good teammate. And that’s all. I just want to be the best to my team. I don’t aspire to be individually the best.

I have a teacher like Ex6TenZ here. I never played with IGLs before. This is my first experience with an IGL and he taught me a lot about communication, team play, a lot of team play stuff. So this year I’d just like to improve my team play skills.

RunItBack: Thank you for your time Jady. We wish you and NIP all the best at Masters and for the rest of 2021 in Valorant.

*Questions and answers may have been altered slightly for the sake of clarity and brevity.

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