FNC Boaster: “The only thing that will stop you from playing is yourself.”

FNC Jake "Boaster" Howlett is one of the most popular and beloved VALORANT players in the world. After a challenging season, where Fnatic faced a "second-place curse," there are several areas to improve on ahead of the 2026 season.

In an off-season interview with esports.gg, Fnatic Boaster discussed the team’s newest roster addition and his potential, what the team needs to focus on in 2026, and whether age has been affecting his performance or not. He also touched on Game Changers and even talked about the latest K-pop hits.

If you take a look at Fnatic's results during the season, you will notice too many second places. It is like some kind of curse was brought to the team, as they managed to end second on three international events. The VCT 2025: EMEA Kickoff was not the best, but Fnatic quickly came back to the domestic victories by taking home the Stage 1 trophy.

However, things started to get complicated. After not qualifying for Masters Bangkok, they finally had the opportunity to show their strength internationally in the VALORANT Masters Toronto 2025. They were very close to winning the title when a strong and exceptional Paper Rex claimed it, taking away their chance.

The second time was at the Esports World Cup. Winning by 2-0 against a familiar face, Fnatic had everything in their power to win. But Team Heretics provided us with an amazing reverse sweep and brought the title to Europe.

After a disappointing performance in Stage 2, Fnatic entered the VALORANT Champions 2025 determined to win. This trophy was one of the few missing from their collection. However, they were not prepared for the strength of NRG, a team of three rookies and two veterans, one of whom is a previous Champion. In the Grand Final, after losing the first two maps, Fnatic had to change their strategy. It was a do-or-die match. Despite winning two maps, NRG came out on top and Fnatic lost, once again, in a grand final.

Ahead of the 2026 season, Fnatic had a roster change that left many fans heartbroken. Timofey "Chronicle" Khromov, who has been part of the Fnatic team since 2022, has left the organization and will now be playing for Team Vitality. Wearing black and orange, Chronicle won three domestic titles, the VCT 2023: LOCK//IN São Paulo, and the VALORANT Masters Tokyo 2023.

In the 2026 season, Fnatic welcomes Sylvain "Veqaj" Pattyn. The French player was previously playing for Gentle Mates. "I think you won't see grandiose performances at the start. You might actually see glimpses of what he can do. He will be very similar to kaajak when he first joined. It took him a while, but we saw the potential. I think this will be the same for Veqaj," Fnatic Boaster commented. "We are striving to put him in the best position possible so that he can perform to the best of his capabilities. There is a big potential, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do, but there is no pressure."

The IGL guarantees that Veqaj will have a team full of talented people ready to support him. "We have capable enough players already on the team that can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but I'm sure Veqaj will want to join us in that run as soon as possible, and I think he can."

In the last months, Boaster's age has been a hot topic on social media. Jake Howlett was born on May 25, 1995, which means he will be 31 years old in the next year. Some people have been questioning whether Boaster is starting to be "too old" for the game and even accusing him of not being good enough now. But does FNC Boaster actually feel less capable due to his age?

"Scientifically, from the age of 25, your brain starts to change. But, honestly, the only thing that will stop you from playing is yourself. What happens is that the older you get, the more anxiety you will have, more doubts, more real-life concerns. Do you want to start a family? Do you want kids? Or do you want to move on with your life? There are so many factors into it that, when you are 18, you don't really care about, and you're just playing for the sake of it," Boaster added. "Managing those factors is the key. I think you can play as long as you want, as long as you're putting in the same amount of effort and grind as you did when you were younger. And that is the hardest part."

"We've got to stay on top of the map pools, making sure that we're always improving and making sure those maps are not letting us down. Abyss was a good one for us this year, considering the start of the year. I was a little bit worried that it wouldn't go amazingly well, but we managed to pull through on the map, so I'm happy," Boaster stated.

"We need to improve our Peal and Sunset because those maps let us down a lot, and if we can get them down, we might be really scary, no matter what map pool changes Riot does to curse us because that's all they did this year — was curse us." Fnatic lost VALORANT Champions 2025 on Sunset.

As for the Harbor's rework, FNC Boaster believes it might be interesting for the next season. "It's looking juicy, and maybe I'll finally get to play a new agent," he said. "I've been playing Omen the whole year, and I'm so bored. I was trying to play Astra, and I like her, but I was forced to play Omen. I thought 'Maybe I can play Astra on these maps because she is a little bit more fun than Omen for me.' But then my teammates start saying Omen was fun, and now I'm like, 'just get me off this agent.' I'm in an Omen jail. Maybe now with Harbor's rework out, I might have some more opportunities to cook a little bit."

"We will have to wait and see more of the 2026 Boaster. I don't even know what to expect, but I'm hoping it's going to be good. I'm hoping to become a god gamer," he laughed. "Did you see my 300 ACS? I looked amazing!"

FNC Boaster is coming back in an orange and black jersey as he re-signed for the 2026 season. If you're a Boaster fan, you'll be able to see him play on the stage once more!

If you're unfamiliar with Boaster's game, he loves K-pop. You'll probably find him entering the stage dancing to ATEEZ or even doing TikToks reacting to the newest Twice music video. When Boaster got the news that the VALORANT Game Changers Championship 2025 would be getting a feature with KATSEYE, he was thrilled. "They're getting KATSEYE. It's crazy! Our Champions song was great, but having KATSEYE is so crazy. I'm so happy that Game Changers is getting a big representation in terms of media. I am a bit jealous, I'm not going to lie," he laughed.

As new experimental and "weird" songs like Gnarly from KATSEYE have been popping off lately, we were interested to know which one is the weirdest for FNC Boaster: Gnarly or Spaghetti by LE SSERAFIM. "I'm actually starting to like Spaghetti. The dance is so cool. I saw an edit on TikTok, and I was like, 'Oh, this is sick!' We might be seeing Boaster hit the stage and dance to Spaghetti soon.

That's all for now. Stick around for more VALORANT news, guides, and updates on esports.gg.