Amy & Vania of G2 Gozen discuss women in competitive valorants

Before Red Bull Installock this week, a show match tournament with some of the best teams in the valorants of women, I had the opportunity to talk to Amy “Amy” Lai and Aleyna “Vania” Keskin from G2 Gozen about playing in a team.

G2 Gozen has been one of the best female teams in Valorant Esports since the scene was founded a few years ago. In fact, the first Game Changers championship, the leading Valorant competition for women, was won by G2 Gozen, with the team captain Michaela “Mimi” Lintrup stayed on the squad three years after this first triumph.

G2 Gozen took third place in the consecutive Game Changers championships and fell on Team Liquid and MiBR in 2023 in 2024. The list has experienced various changes over the years. Since the long -time player Petra “Petra” Stroker recently takes a step back, Red Bull Installock will be the first time that this iteration of Gozen will take part in an official tournament.

In addition to Amy, Vania and Mimi, Gozen’s current roster “Nelo” Beltoise and Esllene “Akita” Xu offers, of which the latter does not yet have to compete with the squad.

The value of Game Changers

Game Changers and other tournaments Only for women are a question of Faux controversy for some in the eSports community. These people rightly claim that there are no physical restrictions that prevent women from playing in eSports with mixed sexes, but not to take into account or ignore that other restrictions are involved, such as women’s hostility and prejudices in competitive environments.

“It is really difficult for girls to play ranking lists,” Amy begins. “Most people catch improving here. When I just started being a team, I remember a big fight for me, and I think it is communication for many girls. In ranking, people don’t really listen to us or don’t want to listen to us, or they will be shy to speak.

“If you have a safe space like game changing, girls are able to do well and learn these things, it can help you improve,” Amy continues. “If you compare Game Changer from two years ago with Game Changers, the players have improved so much, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

Game Changers was introduced in 2021, and since then the women’s group has grown. Last year’s Game Changers championship took place in Berlin. Ten teams qualified, and Shopify Rebellion appeared after the entire event as the later champions.

Prejudices against non-male players in competitive multiplayer games are nothing new. If you asked a woman who plays a rank Valorant, whether they had negative interactions after unveiling their voice, they all had the same answer. This culture also not only disappears when the players get better.

“Even in general, I think that many VCL (Tier 2) and VCT (Tier 1) teams do not want to penetrate us or even level 3 because they believe that we are not good enough. I think we have often proven them, so yes,” says Amy.

A goal you can strive

Another frequent disposal of the women’s scene is the idea that the players are complacent. In other words, professionals are satisfied with gathering a salary while they compete against weaker competition and will therefore not exhaust their full potential.

This argument is the fact that professional players are naturally competitive people and have proven players like Florecent that Game Changers is a legitimate way to a professional valorant.

“You have to start somewhere and Game Changers is a really good step for it,” explains Vania. “Of course you shouldn’t play in Game Changers forever, but I don’t think it’s dangerous (for development).”

Amy adds that Game Changers is an inspiration for young girls who make themselves in Valorant. The existence of a scene for girls could motivate girls who are interested in a competition game to continue to improve in order to finally play in Game Changers.

“I remember playing when I was starting to play, I thought … ‘Imagine there was a tournament for girls,” says Amy.

Vania adds some advice for young girls who get involved in competitive valorists. “Play more and concentrate on improving yourself. Playing and believing in yourself and no longer reaching for your dreams.”

A growing ecosystem

Riot Games supports the women’s scene and builds shortly after the publication of Valorant Game Changer. Likewise, several top shooting organizations in field teams were in just women’s competitions.

“I think you are doing well, really well, but you can still do more,” says Vania, referring to the support of the eSports ecosystem of women through turmoil, teams and sponsors.

“We have more Lans, we had Game Changers Lan last separation, we have tournaments like Installock, we didn’t have that years ago. I think it could always be better, but I think we are going the right way,” added Amy.

I was curious about whom the two were for the best not male, valorant players in the world, except themselves and their teammates. Florescent, Julia “Jelly” Iris (MiBR), Nicolas “SRN” Nesteaer (MiBR), Nicole “Noia” Tierce (Shopify Rebellion Gold) and Bob “Bob” Tran (Flyquest Red) were their answers.

Red Bull Installock begins on May 2 and will contain Falcons Vega, Flyquest Red, Giantx GC and of course G2 Gozen. The tournament uses a “triple duelist” rule, which means that each team has to select three duelist figures per game.

“I think we have the best players. We have players with experience with duelists, so it will be a lot of fun,” says Amy, confident that Gozen’s chances of winning the event.

Talorant

4.0/5

Released

June 2, 2020

ESRB

T for teenagers: blood, language, violence