Evil Geniuses' Boostio Looks to Finally Beat Cloud9
- Evil Geniuses’ VCT Americas League playoff run a true underdog story.
- Did Boostio expect to be in the VCT Americas League playoffs?
- How excited is Boostio to play Cloud9 for a spot at VCT Masters Tokyo?
- When will the Evil Geniuses vs Cloud9 VALORANT match take place?
A few weeks ago, many VALORANT viewers had written Evil Geniuses out of the VCT Americas playoff picture. They began their season 0-3 and were toward the bottom of the VCT Americas League standings.
Yet, despite all of these initial setbacks, Evil Geniuses In-Game Leader Kelden “Boostio” Pupello always knew the team was good enough to compete in playoffs. The only question was if they would get that opportunity to show it.
“Truthfully, we knew we were good enough to reach this position, but we didn't think we would be here because of our record,” Boostio said. “We messed up so much during the season that I felt our mistakes early would cost us a spot in the playoffs.”
He remembered being at his apartment watching the match between 100 Thieves and MIBR unfold. There, he revealed the result of that match dictated how the next two days would look for Evil Geniuses.
“We had practice later that day, but if we didn’t make playoffs, we were just going to cancel our scrims, “ Boostio said. “But if we somehow made it, then we would practice nonstop until our playoff series.”
Boostio revealed that his optimism towards having a shot in the VCT Americas postseason was low because of the circumstances surrounding the 100 Thieves vs MIBR VALORANT match.
“I was watching the match with my friends back home, and I just kept telling them that there was no way that we were going to make it to playoffs,” Boostio said. “We just felt 100 Thieves were a lot better than MIBR, who also played that series with a coach standing in. There was no way I could realistically see ourselves making playoffs under those circumstances.”
Round after round, the dream of postseason play became more and more real for Boostio before it was all solidified following MIBR’s 2-1 victory over 100 Thieves. That realization that he had qualified for playoffs was an amazing feeling that Boostio could only describe as “happiness” and motivation.
Two days later, he would experience something even sweeter than reaching the VCT Americas League playoffs.
Boostio’s longstanding rivalry against Cloud9
It was 8:32 pm when Evil Geniuses in-game leader Kelden “Boostio” Pupello walked into the media room with a jovial smile after their series against NRG. Everything had been a “blackout” blur to him shortly after the series because of the adrenaline and excitement that could be read through a neverending smile.
The only thing he could remember was that it was late at night and that he had a match with his longtime rival Cloud9 the following day. Immediately, he began to laugh as he outlined his goal — finally get that win.
“I've played them five or six times, and I have never beat them once,” Boostio shared. “So qualifying for Tokyo by taking down Cloud9 would be one of the most amazing feels ever.”
Evil Geniuses’ qualification match for VCT Masters Tokyo will take place later today on May 24, where Boostio will have an opportunity at revenge.
Sage got his start in esports as a volunteer writer in 2016 for esports organization, Dignitas. Since then, he has continued to work on his craft as a journalist and reporter for a number of established esports publications, such as esports.gg, Unikrn, Akshon Esports, Howla, The Player’s Lobby, Nerd Street Gamers, and most recently Dot Esports. Now, as a member of Esports Illustrated’s content team, Sage’s primary duties are centered around creating groundbreaking written and video content about the esports industry that impacts the community in a meaningful way. Sage graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology and Informatics. There, he was a member of the Rutgers Esports Executive Board, both as the head of the fighting game community and a videographer/photographer for the Content team.