Why fearlessness is the key for OpTic Gaming’s Marved

“Respect all, fear none.”

For Jimmy “Marved” Nguyen, this is a mentality that he carries into his everyday life both in his professional VALORANT career and his own personal life.

When Marved joined Envy (now branded as OpTic Gaming) in 2021, he helped the team break their fourth-place curse in the North American VALORANT Champions Tour to help the team qualify for their first LAN event, Masters: Berlin, and then eventually Champions. For Marved, these two tournaments were his first real experiences playing VALORANT under stage pressure. He looks back on them as critical to his team’s growth.

“We got different perspectives on the game playing against European teams,” Marved said. That whole experience overall was a good experience for us because we learned a lot about different playstyles that we may not have learned about.”

Envy enjoyed a breakout tournament at Masters: Berlin where they usurped their North American counterparts, Sentinels and 100 Thieves, to reach the grand final and secure a spot at Champions.

Despite losing the Masters: Berlin final to Gambit Esports, they entered Champions as one of the favorites to win the tournament. Their dreams of holding that championship trophy, however, were dashed in an unexpected way when they lost to X10 Esports 2-1 in overtime during the group stage.

“It was really tough at the moment, because I felt like we should have beat them.” Marved said.

Despite this unexpected end, it is an experience that helped Marved double down on a mentality that had gotten him to where he is now.

“It was a humbling experience, and it is still one that drives me to respect all, but fear none.” Marved said.

How Marved developed fearlessness

Photo credit: Riot Games

A naturally sociable person who can easily switch between serious talks about past matches to chatting about that one time he got smashed by New York Knicks player RJ Barrett in high school in Toronto, Marved enters new situations ready to take on whatever is in front of him.

“For me, I just want to be confident as a person in whatever I do,” Marved said. “Even if I fail and make a mistake, I don’t care what anyone thinks about me because I am going to learn from it and become better.”

For many, gaming stems from a place of passion. But when it becomes your livelihood, fear begins to set in, especially when one mistake can mark the end of your playing career.

Yet, for Marved, those fears and anxious thoughts get mitigated by his perspective on life. Taking a step back, he realizes that his problems are small in the grand scheme of things.

“So many people are going through a lot worse things than me, so even though my losses feel terrible at the moment and can affect my career, it is so much smaller than issues other people face around the world,” Marved said. “Really understanding that perspective of others and what they are going through helped me realize that at the end of the day, it is just a game and that has helped me develop a fearless mentality.”

Marved recognizes that beyond every agent in the server there’s a person behind a monitor not unlike himself.

“Everyone is a normal person with their own set of weaknesses, which is why I am not really scared of anybody anymore,” Marved said. “Even if a team or player is viewed better than me, at the end of the day, we are equal.”

Finding success in VALORANT being himself

Photo credit: Riot Games

Marved is the primary Controller player for OpTic’s VALORANT team, and while he does not garner the same attention that some of his teammates do, his role is just as important to the successes of the team.

For him, his value comes from his understanding where people are coming from.

“I understand how people think to an extent and I know how to speak to them and make them feel heard,” Marved shared when talking about his biggest success factors. “That enables my teammates to be the best version of themselves.”

A fitting talent for a role centered around setting up his teammates for success, Marved is now just one series away from qualifying for his third LAN event in a row, Masters: Reykjavík.

OpTic are set to face VALORANT’s newest powerhouse, The Guard, on Friday at 4 p.m. ET for NA’s first spot at Masters. The winner will move on to the NA playoffs grand final, while the loser will still have an opportunity to qualify for Reykjavík through the lower bracket final.

“Definitely gonna be close, in my opinion,” Marved said. “They're a good team, but we're a good team. So we're just hoping to play that game, play our game and have fun. Hopefully, it’s us who comes out on top.”

Lead photo credit: Riot Games