European squad Nigma Galaxy lifted the ESL Impact season one trophy in Dallas, Texas yesterday after a reverse-sweep against Brazilian team FURIA in the grand finals of the inaugural season of ESL’s all-women CS:GO circuit.
The team, which was comprised of Ana “ANa” Dumbravă, Alexandra “twenty3” Timonina, Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova, Viktoria “tory” Kazieva, and KatarÃna “Kat” VaÅ¡ková beat BIG EQUIPA, ATK, and FURIA twice on their run to the title. They showed immense composure in the playoffs, having been 0-1 down in the best-of-three series against BIG EQUIPA in the semifinals and against FURIA in the grand finals.
Everyone on Nigma Galaxy’s side contributed throughout the campaign, but the AWPer ANa stood out the most. She was by far the MVP of the tournament, having averaged an impressive 1.36 rating after eight maps played. The Romanian was followed by FURIA’s Olga Rodrigues (1.29 rating), and her teammate vilga (1.24 rating).
The inaugural season of ESL Impact welcomed eight teams to Dallas for the finals after organizing divisions in Europe, North America, and South America, plus qualifiers in South Africa and Oceania. ESL offered $123,000 in the prize pool and Nigma Galaxy took $50,000 home for winning the event.
The next ESL Impact event will take place in Valencia, Spain, and will once again feature eight teams. Nigma Galaxy, BIG EQUIPA, FURIA, and CLG Red received direct invites for making the playoffs of ESL Impact season one, while Natus Vincere Javelins, GODSENT, Mindfreak, and MIBR won their slots through their respective region’s qualifiers.
