Nigma Galaxy Female defend ESL Impact title

Nigma Galaxy Female retained their ESL Impact title after sweeping FURIA Female at DreamHack Valencia.

The Grand Final in Valencia was a rematch of the Grand Final at DreamHack Dallas, with a repeat of that match’s result also.

Nigma Galaxy Female dominate in Valencia

Very few people would challenge you if you said that Nigma Galaxy Female was the best women’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team in the world. The Eastern European squad have been practically unbeaten on the women’s circuit in 2022, winning nine of the 12 tournaments they have entered.

DreamHack Valencia was no different. They entered as heavy favorites after winning ESL Impact Season 1, the women’s circuit that had concluded at DreamHack Dallas. And they wasted no time in backing up their favorable odds.

In the group stage, they recorded back-to-back 16-6 victories over Mindfreak and BIG EQ, barely breaking a sweat as they moved onto the playoffs. MIBR Female proved to be a little more of a challenger, but Nigma Galaxy Female was still able to find the 2-0 sweep (16-10, 16-5) and move on to the Grand Final.

On the other side of the bracket, FURIA Female was also continuing their 2022 dominance. FURIA are the best women’s team in the world not named Nigma Galaxy and they showed it with big group stage wins over MIBR (16-11) and CLG.Red (16-8). They also swept their semifinal, suffering a comeback attempt against NAVI Javelins (16-6, 16-13).

This set up a Grand Final that mirrored the one from Dallas. But Nigma Galaxy definitively showed FURIA who was the better women’s CS:GO with a 16-8, 16-11 sweep over the Brazilians to claim the $50,000 prize.

What’s next for Nigma?

The teams will head into a downtime period after arriving home from Valencia, with rosters likely tweaked and strategies amended. Nigma Galaxy will likely return to major competitive action in August when Season 2 of the ESL Impact League kicks off. FURIA will likely return in September, given the later start date for the South American regionals of ESL Impact.

All this culminates at the Season 2 ESL Impact Finals in late November. The eight teams that qualify out of their respective regional tournaments will face off in Jönköping, Sweden for another $50,000 cash prize.

The question remains — does anyone have what it takes to dethrone Nigma Galaxy? From what we’ve seen so far this year, they are in a league of their own, even when compared to their nearest rivals.

All eyes will eagerly be on the next round of ESL Impact action to see if anyone can take down this giant of women’s CS:GO.

Header: DreamHack