G2 Gozen’s zAAz retires from competitive play

After almost two decades in competitive gaming, G2’s zAAz is saying her goodbye to pro play. The famed CS:GO and VALORANT player announced yesterday she’s moving on to another milestone in her career, which will include educating young people and gamers on esports. Meanwhile, her spot at the G2 Gozen VALORANT roster was filled with Maryam “Mary” Maher. 

The 30-years-old Swedish player Zainab “zAAz” Turkie, who is considered a legend in the CS:GO community, has been in esports since the early 2000s when she started playing competitively in Counter-Strike 1.5. 

Career 

During her career in CS, zAAz saw a number of accomplishments, most notably the victory at the Intel Challenger Katowice in 2015, 2016 and 2017, as well as a first-place finish at the DreamHack Summer 2007 – Female, Copenhagen Games 2017 – Female and DreamHack Showdown Valencia 2019. 

Her most recent achievements include winning the DreamHack Showdown Summer 2020: Europe with Team Originem and the DreamHack Showdown Winter 2020: Europe with XSET.

She played for numerous esports organizations including Fnatic and Team Secret before switching to VALORANT with XSET in 2021. After competing in both titles for a couple of months, the former XSET Female roster was signed by G2 Esports and renamed to G2 Gozen. 

The team under the G2’s flag is seeing nothing but success, undefeated in 2022 and ranking first in the current global VCT Game Changers standings. 

G2 Gozen welcomes Mary 

With zAAz retiring, G2 Gozen announced her replacement by Mary. At just 16, the Bahraini player makes her tier-1 debut with the full support of zAAz and the organization. 

Prior to joining G2, Mary has been competing in the European VALORANT scene with team Chat Banned, however, without any notable accomplishments. 

“We have strong confidence in Maryam’s abilities to conquer the international VALORANT stage as a part of G2 GOZEN, and to contribute to the team’s unrivalled heritage, making the championships even easier to secure.” — G2 Esports

Despite G2 Gozen going through a roster change, playing with a newcomer shouldn’t be a setback for the squad’s strong core consisting of Julia “juliano” Kiran, Petra “Petra” Stoker, Michaela “mimi” Lintrup and Anastasia “Glance” Anisimova — all experienced players who will be undoubtedly looking to the next EMEA Game Changers.

Header: G2 Esports