This is the story of how a shared love for competition brought Nina and Vader together as a fierce Fortnite duo for The Milk Cup.
As the Gonna Need Milk and Raidiant teams set up the stage for The Milk Cup 2025 Finals, esports.gg sat down with duo Nina and Vader for an interview. We went into how they got started in competitive gaming plus the real impact of the women's competitive Fortnite community.
Nina and Vader enter The Milk Cup 2025 Finals
In an interview with esports.gg, Nina shared that she got her start in competitive Fortnite thanks to encouragement from friends and now fellow competitors like Moxie, Daya, Regs, Fraanticc, and Yazmin. She clicked with the competitive experience upon being introduced to it, and even when the results weren’t immediate, she kept pursuing esports.
"People at the table like Moxie, Daya, Regs, and Fran -- they all got me into the first women's tournament I ever played," Nina said. "I played with Yazmin, and that was my first ever competitive experience ever. And I loved it. I kept wanting to do it, so I kept pursuing what I wanted to do, even though I didn't do as great at first."
Despite such a start, Nina soon achieved many notable victories. For example, Nina and Vader both won The Milk Cup Series 1 this year. And even prior to that, the duo took home the gold in The Milk Cup Winter Split!
The power of The Milk Cup's welcoming community
Vader, meanwhile, has always been very competitive when it comes to video games. She recalled her Minecraft days, where she would take modes like SkyWars and Bed Wars very seriously. She then got into Fortnite.
"I tried to find some groups where I could try to be more competitive, but a lot of the times it would be toxic or people would have preconceived notions and opinions. So after that, that was when I found the WOTE events," Vader said, referring to Women of the eRena and adding that she competed in The Milk Cup last year in a trio. This year is all about Fortnite duos, and it's great to duke it out against others with Nina by her side.
"It's been great," Vader continued. "It's just having that kind of space where I know there's people like like-minded to compete without that toxicity."
Nina remembered fighting alongside Vader last year, too, and both of their competitiveness appear to complement each other well going into The Milk Cup 2025 Finals.
"After The Milk Cup got announced, I met Vader, and we played together last year. And honestly, I just love competing. Bad or not -- even if I was a bad player, I think I still would love competing no matter what because it's just such a great experience and to get to do stuff like this -- like compete on a stage against other people."
The Fortnite esports action begins on Oct. 18 at 11:30 a.m. PT. Fans and supporters can tune in at TwitchCon San Diego itself or via Gonna Need Milk's official Twitch channel.
That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Fortnite news, interviews, and updates!
