Vitality Derke: "If we keep showing this form, we can definitely win"

Team Vitality's efforts of creating a superteam seem to have finally come to fruition at VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026, as they came out of the gates swinging against Dragon Ranger Gaming with a dominant 2-0. While all five players were lighting the server on fire, the charge was spearheaded by Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev, widely recognised as one of the best duelist players in the world.

Derke last played at an international event more than a year ago at VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Masters Bangkok 2025. Now that he is back on stage, we had the opportunity to talk to him about the potential of this Vitality roster, his take on the Neon nerfs, and the other top contenders of the tournament.

Back on the international stage

THESPIKE: How are you enjoying London so far?

Derke: I'm enjoying it a lot. I've been here multiple times before, so I knew the food would be good and the weather might be a bit bad. It's also nice being close to home, Berlin's less than two hours to fly. We've got a nice hotel in a nice location, we've been going to all the places for food. I'm just enjoying it, really. Nando's when we got to England, of course, then Dishoom, a really good Indian place, and a Japanese katsu and udon spot I loved.

THESPIKE: It's been a while since you were last on the international stage. How does it feel being back?

Derke: It's good to be back, especially with this team. A month or so ago we could have lost the chance to even come here, we could have not made playoffs, but we got a bit lucky and now we're making the most of it.

THESPIKE: Especially after the Fnatic win, I felt like it stopped being just luck. It felt like you'd properly scaled into playoffs, and you brought that form onto the international stage too. What was that process like, with the team clicking into shape?

Derke: When you lose, it exposes a lot of mistakes and problems. So we just said, let's fix them. We fixed them at a good time. Could have been better, but we fixed it when it mattered the most. Now we're playing how we're supposed to play, how we played from the very start when we made the team. Everyone's happy, everyone's comfortable in their roles, everyone trusts each other more. Everything's so good now. It's been a really good learning experience.

That win over Fnatic was no small feat. It snapped a nine-match losing streak against a roster built partly on former Fnatic stars, and was the result that turned Vitality's Stage 1 around, sending Fnatic tumbling out of London contention while Vitality marched on to the upper final.

THESPIKE: You mentioned how it's special to qualify with this team. With you and Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov being international veterans now, how has taking on more of a leadership role been?

Derke: It feels weird. When I first qualified I was 18 or 19, and now I'm 23, so it's strange being in this space, kind of being hired to be the big brother and set an example sometimes, instead of just trolling around and doing dumb stuff for the sake of it. I'm still a troll. But for VIT Sayonara, I can't teach him the troll stuff, otherwise it gets out of hand. I need to show some responsibility sometimes.

The 18 year old has been one of the most touted rookies for years, and has continued to shine on a star-studded roster, living up to the hype.

THESPIKE: What about Elias "Jamppi" Olkkonen? He seems like even more of a goofball.

Derke: He's just got a million dad jokes. He makes them up on the fly, and some are so awful you laugh because they're awful.

VALORANT Champions Tour 2026 - Masters London 2026

Team Vitality

2

X

0

Dragon Ranger Gaming

Swiss stage, Best of 3 - June 6, 2026 - 4:30PM

13

Lotus

5

13

Breeze

3

Team Vitality

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Derke

1.50

285

37/20/5

+17

1.85

73.3%

180.3

37%

69%

11

5

Sayonara

1.49

302

36/21/9

+15

1.71

73.6%

193.2

28%

83%

5

1

PROFEK

1.21

201

28/16/10

+12

1.75

73.6%

129.8

32%

100%

4

0

Chronicle

1.08

183

26/14/7

+12

1.86

79.9%

124.1

23%

33%

1

2

Jamppi

0.93

162

19/19/15

0

1.00

81.6%

116.1

27%

60%

3

2

Dragon Ranger Gaming

player

Rating

ACS

K/D/A

+/-

K/D

KAST

ADR

HS%

FBSR

FB

FD

Life

0.92

208

26/30/2

-4

0.87

47.6%

119.9

53%

36%

5

9

vo0kashu

0.86

200

19/29/14

-10

0.66

62.5%

137.3

27%

40%

2

3

Nicc

0.79

152

20/26/5

-6

0.77

56.3%

103.5

36%

0%

0

2

SpiritZ1

0.56

153

16/30/3

-14

0.53

49.7%

105.9

38%

25%

2

6

Flex1n

0.40

92

9/31/9

-22

0.29

47.2%

70.1

24%

20%

1

4

Back to a Jett meta

THESPIKE: Your ace to close out the game was on Jett, which seems to be your comfort pick and the agent we see you ace on most. With the Neon nerfs, how are you feeling about the meta as a duelist?

Derke: So happy I can go back to my comfort. None of this "I'll stun for you, I'll slide for you, I'll jump for you." None of that. I'm just going into my smoke and hiding, dashing out, two times, oh Jamppi's out, let me trade him. Just focusing on my crosshair.

THESPIKE: And the team's been comfortable scaling into the new meta?

Derke: Everyone's even more comfortable, I think. The biggest one now is just me getting comfortable, and that made everyone else comfortable, because I can actually make entries and go in way easier, and they can rely on me more. It makes everyone's life easier.

"Everyone wants to play us"

THESPIKE: Looking at the tournament, you look really strong, but who are the other top contenders in your eyes?

Derke: G2 Esports always get hard in playoffs. I think NRG can be good too. It depends how the group stage goes for both of us, so I won't say too much. With the other first seeds, EDward Gaming will be interesting to see, because I think they're a bit like us, especially Zheng "ZmjjKK" Yongkang's Jett. It's a tournament where we don't really know what's going to happen, just because the changes were so recent.

THESPIKE: The last time EMEA won an international was with you, back in 2023. It's been three years. Over that time you've seen Team Heretics come close, Fnatic come close. Is this Vitality's year to sweep them aside and help EMEA reclaim the top spot?

Derke: If we keep showing this form, we can definitely win. The funny thing is, when players from other teams get asked who they want to play, everyone wants to play us. So we feel the respect, even with all the "super team" talk. Everyone knows we're strong and we can show it. We just need to ride that wave, get to the final or as far as we can, and we can win. Even the EMEA grand final was close.

THESPIKE: Do you miss Jake "Boaster" Howlett's shenanigans?

Derke: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Sometimes he'd go "oh, Derke," and I'd turn my head and he'd fart on the chair. Those I don't miss. But he used to have fun jokes, or he'd pull out an OP from nowhere and just get a 4K. Those I miss. It was funny, we actually met at the airport last time, same flight, and talking to him again was nice. It'll be fun to see each other again, especially at an international we both qualify for, because we haven't qualified for the same event in about a year now.

This time, the reunion will have to wait. Fnatic's Stage 1 ended in the lower bracket, leaving Boaster watching from home while his old partner takes the London stage.

THESPIKE: Thank you so much for the interview, lovely talking to you, and good luck for the rest of the tournament.

Vitality return to the Copper Box Arena on 8 June, where a second win would book their spot in the playoffs. Catch all the action from London at THESPIKE.GG