Riot Games’ Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) has been a highly successful event in terms of providing players with exposure. It gives players from all regions the opportunity to compete and prove themselves on the global stage. Southeast Asia (SEA) in particular has proven that it is by no means weaker than the likes of North America (NA) or Europe (EU) when it comes to Valorant esports.
One such team that has consistently outperformed others in the SEA region is BOOM Esports, with multiple VCT Indonesia Challengers victories throughout the 2021 season. One of the team’s newest players, Rafi "frostmind" Diandra, who joined the team on 25th September as a replacement for Sheldon “NcSlasher” Andersen, spoke to AFK Gaming about how Valorant connected with him while other FPS games didn’t, how he still considers himself an esports fan despite competing professionally, and more.
Frostmind on joining BOOM Esports and moving his career forward
At the time of the interview, Frostmind was the newest member of the BOOM Esports roster and he was very excited about the new opportunity. He previously competed at an international event back in 2020 and the Valorant APAC (Asia Pacific) Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) was his first global event in over a year. He has a sense of pride for his country and he repeatedly spoke about how much he wants to represent Indonesia and Southeast Asia as a whole. Heading into the event, BOOM Esports was preparing itself to take on Team FENNEL and NUTURN Gaming. His intuition that NUTURN would be the toughest opponent in their bracket turned out to be true, with the Korean Valorant team knocking BOOM Esports into the lower bracket.
Frostmind has a desire to compete at the highest level and this is a fresh start for him. He has a strong desire to be among the best in Southeast Asian Valorant. “I was a part of Alter Ego during Stage One and eventually moved to Indonesian organization XcN Gaming. My experience so far in the Valorant Champions Tour has had its ups and downs. It was a toss up between coming second and third and I have never been to the Southeast Asian playoffs before. This is going to be my first time coming back to face the top teams in Asia and I couldn’t be more excited!”
