21-year-old player Ilya “something” Petrov isn’t a household name in Western VALORANT. It’s likely that many of you reading this article may not have heard of him before, but soon, you will.
Something, who was born in Russia and moved to Japan a few months ago, has built up a reputation in Japan as the best player in the Challengers division. The Russian told Dot Esports that he dreams of playing in North America but he understands that it’s a difficult path.
Something has accrued a 305.0 average combat score and found the most kills in the first Split of Challengers in Japan, according to VLR.gg. Arguably the most impressive stat, something has amassed 807 kills, while SCARZ player Maksim “Jemkin” Batorov is in second place with 608. Talk about a slight gap.
During his most recent match against FENNEL, which ended in a defeat for his team Sengoku Gaming, something amassed 136 kills in one match with almost 200 average damage per round and 29 first bloods.
Something told Dot Esports that he wants to continue to improve, however, to keep his ego in check.
While he said he dreams of playing in North America, his favorite player is from a different region. Former Natus Vincere player Kirill “Cloud” Nehozhin, who joined Giants to compete in the EMEA international league, is one of the Russian players that he looks up to, he said.
North America doesn’t have many Russian players, but one name does stick out. Former Version1 player Maxim “wippie” Shepelev joined G2 Esports to compete in Challengers. He’s not doing too bad, either, with G2 at the top of Group A with a 2-0 record.
