Before reaching world finals, Nikita spent years competing in battles. Offline: the V1 Festival Scratch Battle (including a face-off with DJ Gagarin), the Roland Scratch DJ battle representing the Scratchburg crew, and a duel with DJ Chinmachine, who later became his Wax Tribe teammate. Online: the international Skratcher Wild Cuts 2017 and 2018, Skratch Society Best of the Best 2017 and 2018 (where he made the final), Pioneer DJ online battles, and the DMC Russia 2018 and IDA Russia 2019 qualifiers.

He posted every round on his YouTube channel, which now reads like a live record of how his style took shape: technique, musicality and the skill of fitting an idea into a minute or two. In the video: the classic DJ Chinmachine vs DJ Worm battle.

Source: DJ Worm on YouTube