Having been an active competitor since the beta, Yannick " KOLER " Blanchette has been one of the players to follow on the North American scene. He began his journey in Valorant with Way 2 French Way 2 French Inactive INCRED Mathieu Bergeron YuZ Brandon Cyr miLLe Michael St-Pierre Melio Cedric Perrault , a Canadian mix, before being scouted by Immortals Immortals Inactive in May. KOLER played with the organization throughout the Ignition Series, leading the squad through multiple playoffs runs.

In early October, KOLER was sold by Immortals to NRG Esports NRG Esports North America Rank #1 FiNESSE Pujan Mehta s0m Sam Oh Verno Andrew Maust mada Adam Pampuch Ethan Ethan Arnold , joining former Gen.G CS:GO players Damian " daps " Steele and Sam " s0m " Oh, alongside Chet " Chet " Singh.

Before the new-look team made their first attempts at qualifying for First Strike: North America, KOLER sat down to discuss his journey in Valorant, his signing by NRG, and his thoughts on the game's meta going forward.

What got you hooked on Valorant?

I went with Valorant because compared to CS:GO, this game has a lot more to it. Like, all these abilities that you can play with and different agents, it adds more to the strategy side of the game. Riot Games is an amazing company and, so far, I've been amazed by how much they listen to us compared to Counter-Strike, so it pushes me more to continue playing this game and love it.

You joined Immortals almost immediately after your venture with Way 2 French. Did you expect it to go so quickly? We know that many North American organizations have moved very quickly in terms of recruiting.

I was not expecting joining a Tier 1 organisation that fast. I will be honest, I knew I had some chance since all my friends at Gen.G got picked up and I knew a lot of orgs would have been searching for some players or lineups, so I tried my best, but didn't think about it.

I just tried to play my best and improve and it went really fast. I got picked up and approached by Immortals and this is where my journey started. It's kinda crazy to think about. I still don't realise it fully.

You struggled to finish your tournaments with Immortals despite having correct places each time, how do you analyze that?

We were a young team with new players and no experienced players in the lineup. We did really good, considering what we had, but with more time I think we could have done some good things and gotten better placements. We were placing in the top 3 and people didn't think we would have made it out of groups with the name we had so yeah we did good considering what we had.

You just joined NRG, how did you come into contact with them and what do you expect from this new project?

I got really surprised by that news, but since we placed well in those tournaments with Immortals, it got my name out there. They approached me and some players vouched for me, but I didn't know anyone in the lineup. They just saw I had this talent and they wanted me in the team.

We will be really strong. We have those experienced players I didn't have in Immortals and they are getting me insanely better already, it's scary. I improve really fast and so does the rest of my team. I've done more in the past 1-2 weeks than I've ever done, I think. So yeah, watch us, we are grinding out there and we are here to win.

Which players do you follow closely?

Of course, I really look forward to my good friend Subroza on Team SoloMid. He's always been a source of motivation to me, even in the Counter-Strike days. I really like his playstyle. I think he's really smart and has this raw talent, so for me it's him I respect a lot.

What is your opinion on Icebox?

I didn't get into it that much, so I can't really say much but it looks good! I love new maps and can't wait to grind it out for real. There seems to be a lot of things to do and it will be played differently for sure compared to the other maps. There are a lot of angles you can play with a Jett or Omen. I can't wait to see what players will come up with in terms of ideas and strategy.

In Europe, you hardly see Reyna, yet she is prevalent in the North American scene, almost at the same level as Jett. Do you see an explanation?

I haven't watched a lot of European games so far but Reyna is being seen more and more since she can take aggressive positions like Jett and run away with her ghost form like with Jett's Tailwind. Also, some players like playing with a rifle more than the Operator ever since it was nerfed, and Reyna can be used better for rifling and OPing since she can do both. Some players or teams prefer playing with a Reyna, but it's just preference. I don't think there's an explanation in this game. Everything can be played if you do it well.

For many months at the start of the game, Sage was one of the mainstays of any composition, but now she's almost disappeared from the radar now, is that justified for you?

With the number of nerfs Sage received, it's normal. She legit got nerfed patch after patch non-stop. She's really not good anymore in my opinion or has become very situational now. We see her rarely and I think it's expected.

Do you like Riot's involvement in esports right now?

They are so involved in the scene, it's actually crazy. I've never seen it before. They really put a lot of time into esports, it's incredible. I'm more than happy and I know the future of Valorant esports will be bright. I don't even think when I type, I just know they are amazing. Shoutout to Riot Games, we love you guys, continue the good work.

Any last words?

Make sure to check me out. I will be playing a different role and we love you all. Make sure to support us in NRG because we are here to win and we thank you for your time.

You can find Yannick " KOLER " Blanchette on his social media, including Twitter and on Twitch.