Nigma Galaxy continue dominance to take home ESL Impact Katowice 2023 trophy

Nigma Galaxy continued their dominance in the women’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) circuit as they took home their fourth ESL Impact trophy, taking down Navi Javelins 2-0 in the Grand Finals. It was Nigma Galaxy’s ANa who took home the MVP Award after a phenomenal tournament.

The eight-team all-female CS:GO tournament, including the likes of Nigma Galaxy, B4, HSG, Saints, Natus Vincere (Navi) Javelins, 9 Pandas Fearless, FURIA and CLG Red, got underway on February 10, 2023, with the group stages. The semi-finals and the Grand Final were held on February 12, 2023. 

Group Stages

The Group Stages had a best-of-one format, with favourites Nigma Galaxy taking on Saints in the opening match. Nigma Galaxy made short work of the North American team as ANa and tory ran through the Saints team, helping Nigma secure Inferno 16-5.

Brazilian side B4 were up against HSG in the second game of the day. The action on Vertigo was neck-and-neck, with both teams trading rounds. Eventually, B4 managed to take the map 22-20 in second overtime, with yungher, nani and goddess all dropping 30-bombs. 

Navi Javelins faced CLG Red in their opening game, and the action was on Ancient. CLG took a 9-6 lead in the opening half, but Navi fought back through Angelka and Hanka to secure the map 16-11.

FURIA faced 9 Pandas Fearless in the first game and were pushed to double overtime on Mirage, but the Brazilian side managed to wrap it up 22-19, with Olga and kaah putting in strong performances for FURIA.

Navi faced B4 in the Group A winners’ match and didn’t take long to put down the B4 challenge on Vertigo, securing the map 16-8, with tory putting in a strong performance. 

CLG Red faced 9 Pandas Fearless in the Group B elimination game in a best-of-three. 9 Pandas Fearless won the opening map on Mirage 16-13, but CLG took their pick of Overpass 16-10 to send the series to a decider on Vertigo. 9 Pandas Fearless proved to be too strong for CLG, however, as Elizabeth and t4tty made sure their team stayed alive in the tournament by taking Vertigo 16-10, knocking CLG out.

Group A’s elimination match got things underway on Day 2, with Saints fighting for survival against HSG. The action kicked off on Overpass, and the Saints were no match for HSG as they took the opening map 16-2, showing utter dominance, with the likes of gfi, Hffo and Argent all stepping up. On HSG’s pick of Inferno, Saints did try to put up a fight, but HSG were just too strong as Hazel, Argent and gfi were at it again to knock Saints out after a 16-2 win on Inferno. 

Group B’s decider match saw FURIA take on 9 Pandas Fearless. First up was 9 Pandas’ pick of Anubis, which went all 30 rounds as neither team looked to concede, but izaa, Olga and bokor helped FURIA pip the map 16-14. FURIA were absolutely dominating on their own pick of Nuke, as GaBi, izaa and Olga ran through 9 Pandas, beating them 16-8 to set up a semi-final clash against Nigma Galaxy.

The final Group Stage match to decide the final semi-finalist saw B4 take on HSG. The action kicked off on B4’s pick of Ancient. HSG took an early 9-6 lead on their CT half, but B4 produced a stellar comeback on their own CT half, with the likes of poppins, julih and yungher putting in strong performances to help B4 secure the map 16-11. HSG bounced back strongly on their pick of Vertigo, however, as they cleaned up B4 16-6, with Argent and Hffo stepping up for the squad. The series decider was played on Overpass, and even though HSG tried, poppins and nani were too strong for HSG, as B4 secured the map 16-11 to set up a semi-final clash with Navi Javelins. 

Playoffs

The first semi-final saw Navi take on B4. Angelka and vicu led from the front for Navi on the opening map of Anubis, and the Polish roster took the opening map 16-7 without any discomfort. Navi booked their place in the final as they took Nuke 16-9, dominating B4 with Angelka, vicu and Hanka all dropping strong performances to make sure Navi cleaned the series 2-0.

Nigma Galaxy faced FURIA in the second semi-final. The action kicked off on Nuke, which Nigma took 16-11 thanks to stellar showings from tory and twenty3. However, Olga, izaa and GaBi made sure FURIA bounced back and took the second map on Inferno 16-10 to send the series to a decider. The third map was played on Ancient, and although Nigma took an early 10-5 lead, FURIA fought back and managed to take the game to overtime. ANa made sure Nigma didn’t falter any further, though, to secure the map and series in first overtime 19-16. Nigma’s win set the defending champions up for a clash against Navi in the final. 

The Grand Final got underway on Navi’s pick of Nuke, but it was Nigma Galaxy who seemed more comfortable on the map. Nigma went 12-3 up in the opening half and wrapped up the opening map 16-9, as twenty3, vilga and ANa outskilled Navi. The second map was Nigma’s pick of Vertigo, but Navi were the ones who took a commendable 10-5 lead heading into their CT half. Nigma fought back through ANa and tory, though, who helped their side take the map to overtime. Nigma ultimately managed to pip Navi in second overtime, taking the map 22-19 to win the 2023 ESL Impact Katowice.