From November 15 to 20, the Valorant Game Changers Championship took place in Berlin. In the end, the team G2 Gozen was able to prevail against the American team Shopify Rebellion and win the first women’s majors in Valorant. The special thing about it is that 3 members of G2 Gozen already have successful careers in CS:GO.
What tournament is it? The Valorant Game Changers Championship was the first majors for women in Valorant. From November 15 to 20, 8 teams from North America, Brazil, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, and Asia-Pacific competed against each other.
The venue for the Game Changers was the LEC Studio in Berlin. There, the European Championships in LoL usually take place.
Who are the winners? G2 Gozen is the women’s team of the European organization G2 Esports. It consists of Julia “juliano” Kiran, Petra “Petra” Stoker, Michaela “mimi” Lintrup, “Anastasiya “Glance” Anisimova and Mayam “Mary” Maher.
Winning the first women’s majors in Valorant at all was something special for all team members. For the younger members Mary and Glance, it was the biggest success of their careers so far.
But 3 players from G2 Gozen already had successful careers in CS:GO before they switched to Valorant. Thus, juliano, Petra, and mimi are now the first women to have won international tournaments in both games.
Julia “juliano” Kiran
Who is juliano? The 29-year-old Swede Julia “juliano” Kiran is the most experienced member of G2 Gozen. She had played CS:GO since 2010 before she ended her career in September 2021 and switched to Valorant.
juliano’s career in CS:GO had already been very successful. When asked about her biggest success, she joked that she had won so much that she couldn’t remember some of her bigger tournaments.
However, there was probably no event bigger than her victory at DreamHack Showdown Valencia 2019. The tournament had one of the largest prize pools ever for a women’s tournament in CS:GO at $100,000 – for comparison: the Valorant Game Changers had a prize pool of $500,000.
It means a lot to me. It’s the second time I’ve cried when I’ve won, so it obviously means a lot to me. And I’ve only cried once before, and that was the Valencia victory, so yes, definitely a big moment.
juliano via nerdstreet
In 2019, juliano won the victory at Dreamhack Valencia together with her long-time colleague Zainab “zAAz” Turkie and her current teammate Petra.
Petra “Petra” Stoker
Who is Petra? The 29-year-old Dutchwoman Petra Stoker won DreamHack Valencia alongside juliano in 2019.
For me personally, it’s one of the biggest victories next to the Valencia victory.
Petra via nerdstreet
But besides her victories in Valencia and at the Game Changers, Petra had also had a successful career in CS:GO since 2015 before she switched to Valorant in 2021.
Michaela “mimi” Lintrup
Who is mimi? The 25-year-old Dane Michaela “mimi” Lintrup previously also competed as “mimimicheater” and “mimimimichaela”. The latter is also the name of her Twitch channel, where she regularly streams Valorant for her 223,000 followers.
While mimi was also present at DreamHack Valencia 2019, she was not in the winning team with juliano and Petra. Instead, from 2016 to 2017, she won the Intel Challenge Katowice and the Copenhagen Games together with juliano and zAAz.
In 2021, mimi switched to Valorant. Winning a World Championship now, she described as “surreal” after some thought.
I have spent 12 years of my life in CS. And moving to Valorant, with the knowledge of how big the competition is, winning a World Championship in two games is… surreal.
mimi via nerdstreet
Many Valorant players have transitioned from CS:GO since Riot’s FPS was released in 2020. However, not many can claim to have won international LAN tournaments in both games. This achievement also caught the attention of journalist Jake Lucky, who congratulated juliano, Petra, and mimi on Twitter:
G2 Gozen will have the chance to add more titles to their collection next year. As confirmed by the global head of Riot Esports, there will be a version of the international Valorant Championships for women and non-binary individuals in 2023 (via fragster).
With increasingly larger events and growing prize pools, e-sports seems to be slowly entering the mainstream. But while nowadays many think of games like League of Legends, CS:GO, or Valorant, the origins of esports go back much further. However, what exactly is considered the first e-sport match in history is contested.
What was the first e-sport tournament, and who is considered the first professional player?
