All eyes were on Evil Geniuses’ star initiator Max “Demon1” Mazanov before VALORANT Masters Tokyo to see if he could translate his domestic form into a potent stage performance. We should have been looking at Kelden “Boostio” Pupello, it turns out.
Boostio was the key component for EG in the squad’s opening Tokyo Masters match on June 11 against FUT Esports in a match of the third seeds, with the American outfit sweeping their Turkish opponents 2-0.
Not only was Boostio crucial in defeating FUT Esports on one of their strongest maps in Lotus, but he also managed to land the first ace of the tournament. Giddy, laughing, and yelling on stage, Boostio was the positive and confident light that led EG to a great start in Japan.
Starting on Split, EG quickly built a lead and ran away with it, with only two players on FUT Esports managing double-digit kills. C0M led the way with his Viper, collecting 17 kills with only seven deaths with smart smokes and good game sense to capitalize from. Boostio was at the bottom of the scoreboard on his team, but little did everyone know he was just saving it for Lotus.
Going from Astra on Split to Killyjoy on Lotus, not even FUT Esports expected Boostio to push aggressively as the Sentinel agent and stomp all over their plans. While EG did it tougher on Lotus, needing overtime to defeat FUT, Boostio finished with a whopping 35 kills and an average of 245 damage per round, and—most eyebrow-raising of all—five entry kills.
To put the cherry on top, the first game of Masters Tokyo also had the first ace, thanks to Boostio swinging out of the door on B to collect four kills at A long, ending it off with a Killjoy Nanoswarm kill on the bombsite.
Even with the speed and aggression from agents like Neon and Jett in the lobby, Boostio’s out-dueled the likes of Ata “AtaKaptan” Tan and Konuralp “qw1” Şahin on the way to the win.
Demon1 was the focus heading into the match, especially given his journey to EG, helping the squad secure a spot at Tokyo, and not even thinking he could get there due to travel issues. In the end, he got there, albeit a bit close to his international debut.
“We figured out about three days ago that [Demon1] was coming, so we only had about three days of practice with him,” Boostio said on stage following EG’s win. “Him being here is amazing, as it did change a lot of our plans the last week or two, but it worked out perfectly.”
Even though Demon1 didn’t have an outstanding series we’re used to from VCT Americas, he was crucial to their series win and played a hand in EG’s comeback from 9-12 down in the second map.
This win puts EG in a prime position to qualify for the playoffs of Masters Tokyo, facing the winner of DRX and Attacking Soul Esports to see who makes it to the later stage. As for FUT, they’ll have to win two games in a row to progress in the tournament.