ESL Impact Valencia begins today

The second big event in the ESL women's circuit begins in Valencia with $100,000 on the line.

ESL Impact Valencia kicks off today, with eight teams competing across three days of LAN play for the lion’s share of a $100,000 prize pool.

The tournament begins with a GSL group stage, where the opening and winners’ matches are best-of-one and the elimination and decider matches are best-of-three. Four teams will then qualify for a single elimination best-of-three bracket, with the grand final taking place on Sunday 3 July at 18:00 .

Nigma Galaxy arrive in Valencia as favourites

This is the second big ESL Impact event, the first taking place at IEM Dallas which saw Nigma Galaxy take first place, FURIA fe come in second with BIG EQUIPA and CLG Red rounding out the top four. Joining those four favourites are Mindfreak who also competed in Dallas, as well as three new teams in the form of NAVI Javelins, MIBR fe and GODSENT fe.

The players to watch for Impact Valencia will be Ana "⁠ANa⁠" Dumbravă and Ksenia "⁠vilga⁠" Kluenkova from Nigma Galaxy, who posted 1.36 and 1.24 ratings over 8 maps in Dallas, and Olga "⁠Olga⁠" Rodrigues of FURIA fe, who racked up a 1.29 rating over 10 maps.

Read more ESL Challenger and Impact Valencia Fantasy games now live

It is hard to see past Nigma Galaxy when it comes to predicting a winner in Valencia, with the team’s only close call in Dallas coming against FURIA fe in a tight 19-17 win in the group stage. They later comfortably defeated FURIA fe in the final however, narrowly losing Mirage 14-16 only to run over their Brazilian counterparts on Vertigo and Overpass, 16-5 and 16-7.

The talent for the event is as follows:

Sam "⁠Tech Girl⁠" Wright - Host

Hege "⁠Hedje⁠" Botnen - Analyst
Stephanie "⁠missharvey⁠" Harvey - Analyst

Anders "⁠Anders⁠" Blume - Commentator
Sudhen "⁠Bleh⁠" Wahengbam - Commentator
Lucy "LucyLuce"Eastwood - Commentator
Veronique "Vearless"Zonneveld - Commentator

Anastasija "⁠Heccu⁠" Tolmačeva - Sideline Reporter

The groups for the event are:

Group A
Nigma Galaxy
Mindfreak
NAVI Javelins
BIG EQUIPA Group B
FURIA fe
MIBR fe
GODSENT fe
CLG Red

The schedule for the first day of play can be found below:

Friday, July 1

10:30 Nigma Galaxy vs. Mindfreak (Bo1)
12:10 NAVI Javelins vs. BIG EQUIPA (Bo1)

13:50 FURIA fe vs. MIBR fe (Bo1)
15:30 GODSENT fe vs. CLG Red (Bo1)

17:10 Group A Winners' Match (Bo1)
18:50 Group B Winner's Match (Bo1)

20:30 Group A Elimination Match (Bo3)

Sam 'Tech Girl' Wright Age: - Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 Anastasija 'Heccu' Tolmačeva Age: 29 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 Ksenia 'vilga' Kluenkova Age: 30 Team: Nigma Galaxy Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 249 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.67 Sudhen 'Bleh' Wahengbam Age: 35 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.00 Maps played: 0 KPR: 0.00 DPR: 0.00 CLG Red #175 Diane 'di^' TranMounira 'GooseBreeder' DobieEmma 'Emy' ChoeJuliana 'Juli' TosicKelsie 'uhKelsie' Click Nigma Galaxy #141 Ksenia 'vilga' KluenkovaAna 'ANa' DumbravăVictoria 'tory' KazievaAlexandra 'twenty3' TimoninaKatarína 'Kat' Vašková Anders 'Anders' Blume Age: 36 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.53 Maps played: 1 KPR: 0.19 DPR: 0.58 Olga 'Olga' Rodrigues Age: 28 Team: FURIA fe Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 50 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Mindfreak #212 Vivienne 'BiBiAhn' QuachLaura 'Viscose' TaylorEmily 'Emiinent' ReaAnn 'mish' FuentesEmily 'Emi' Lauw Hege 'Hedje' Botnen Age: 35 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.96 Maps played: 76 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.72 GODSENT fe Aurora 'aurora' LyngdalMarita 'Minnie' Siljan SørensenThea 'pullox' EvensenMayline-Joy 'ASTRA' ChampliaudAnna 'Ann4' Laurinoviča Ana 'ANa' Dumbravă Age: 23 Team: Nigma Galaxy Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 103 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.63 BIG EQUIPA #179 Aida 'Aidy' GarciaMarta 'D7' AsensioAna 'Zana' QueirozJennifer 'JennyR' Irina Brea RodriguezAida 'Aida' Simão Time is adjusted to your selected timezone FURIA fe #174 Olga 'Olga' RodriguesGabriela 'GaBi' MaldonadoIzabella 'izaa' GalleKarina 'kaahSENSEI' TakahashiMariana 'mari' Preste MIBR fe #222 Julieta 'khizha' GrilliaMariana 'LyttleZ' SabiaLuana 'Arkynha' ArchanjoJosiane 'josi' IzidorioBeatriz 'hera' Silva Stephanie 'missharvey' Harvey Age: 36 Team: No team Rating 1.0: 0.99 Maps played: 133 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.67 NAVI Javelins #208 Karolina 'Liina' KasprzykWiktoria 'vicu' JanickaHania 'Hanka' PudlisDanuta 'Danuu' GrajkowskaAngelika 'Angelka' Kozłowska