NtroP’s pick for ESL Impact

We’re not experts on women’s Counter-Strike; much to our chagrin, it’s a blindspot for us. There’s only so much we can consume.

Fortunately, we’ve asked the lovely Charlotte ‘NtroP’ Poracchia for her take on who to watch in ESL’s new women’s league, Impact; show her some love if you enjoyed her analysis:

If you know JasonR, make sure to keep him away from CS:GO Twitch channels on Thursdays and Fridays; it appears the unimaginable has happened and women – yes you heard that right, women are going to be playing and casting games over the next seven weeks.

However, only half of the matches will be casted on the main channel, so which teams should you look out for? I’m afraid we’re talking about gameplay, so simps looking for an egirl may want to skip this one.

EU will undoubtedly be the most contested region, and although the big names of GODSENT and Nigma Galaxy may be your first go-to favourites, there are quite a few teams with upset potential.

Ambush FE have managed to qualify, dropping only one map 23-25 in the process. Although they will be missing their 16 year old rising talent Xia, they are poised to threaten all the teams in their group with their raw firepower.

In the other group, equipa are looking like potential champions too: having won the third cash cup, their perpetual cries of ‘VAMOS CHICA’ seem to instill fear in the opponents.

However, gribs’ Potya and her ability to handle the AWP cannot go unmentioned – I have rarely seen a woman handle an expensive object with such expertise.

The Nigma and GODSENT girls must not be overlooked nonetheless – they were invited for a reason (don’t tell Semmler), and every single player on those teams has the potential to pop off.

If you want to follow the event, jump into ESL’s Twitch channel on Thursday and Friday evenings!

Across the Atlantic

Over in NA, we’re expecting CLG Red to boss it as they’re one of the teams who have been together for a while and traditionally dominate, while we asked another expert for some notes in South America.

The player he was most hyped to watch, bizinha, has of about ten minutes before we started writing this, moved to VALORANT. Sadly, this is a common occurrence in female CS, especially as the salaries in VALORANT are... well, existent.

According to our good friend, bizinha was being touted for the male MIBR team by a bunch of their fans, and there’s some real disappointment about her switch.

He did recommend a few other names; Regiane, yungher and fly among the big ones, with Gabiii from FURIA a notable one. FURIA themselves have been uber dominant, and have been ‘crushing everyone’ in the last year.

Having watched a little of FURIA ourselves, we can safely say they’ll be a ton of fun to watch. OLGA and Gabiii look a cut above some of the poor souls forced to try and stop them - it’s only fitting that FURIA are the most fun team in Brazil twice.