Natus Vincere signs female Valorant roster

Natus Vincere, one of the top-tier organizations in esports, has revealed the signing of a female roster to compete in Valorant esports. Based on the interest of popular esports clubs like Cloud9, G2 Esports, TSM, and Gen.G, it seems like the competitive Valorant scene is set for further growth. 

The Ukrainian organization recently presented the new female Valorant team under the tag NAVI Celestials, which consists of four Turkish players from the former FUT Female roster, namely Aslıhan “proxima” Uslu, Süreyya “Gia” Bayel, Zeynep “Ritha” Sualp and Reyhan “Sephia” Şimşek. Neslişah “Ness” Demir, the captain of FUT Female, also left the Turkish club, however, she wasn’t signed by Natus Vincere and is supposedly a free agent now. 

Prior to joining FUT, Gia, proxima and Ritha competed together under the Oxygen tag for the whole 2021. The team participated in every Game Changers season, which is Riot Games’ official female tournament series for Valorant. Sephia joined later when the squad switched to FUT Female. The team won three Turkish female competitions in REBELS series and finished fourth in EMEA VCT Game Changers Two, so it seems that they already have the teamwork chemistry. 

NAVI showed its new squad in a trailer, where girls were cosplaying different Valorant heroes such as Chamber and Omen. However, the team lacks one player to make the team compelte, so the organization will be reportedly trying different stand-ins to find a perfect match for Celestials. 

Following the signing of FUT Female roster, Celestials automatically obtained 40 EMEA VCT Game Changers points that they gained this year, and now they will obtain the third spot in EMEA Standings according to Liquipedia. As a matter of fact, they can enter the first major Game Changers World Championship in two ways. The first one is to win Game Changers Series 3, and the second one is to finish first by points on EMEA competitive ladder. 

It seems that Natus Vincere relishes in competing in Valorant, as their male roster was signed only a year ago. Back then, Aleksey “xaoc” Kucherov, Chief Operating Officer at Natus Vincere expressed his excitement about this discipline: 

“VALORANT has developed greatly in the world since its launch. Although the discipline is still at an early stage in the CIS, things are looking promising. Therefore we want to develop the game in our region. Our goal is to bring as many top-ranked players to the world championships as possible”.

NAVI Celestials roster: 

• Aslıhan “proxima” Uslu
• Süreyya “Gia” Bayel
• Zeynep “Ritha” Sualp
• Reyhan “Sephia” Şimşek
• Mert “KEY” Çelebi (coach)
• Valeriia “Lera_X” Khegai (manager)

Header credit: Riot Games