Ahead of Red Bull Instalock this week, a showmatch tournament featuring some of the best teams in women’s Valorant esports, I had the opportunity to speak to Amy “Amy” Lai and Aleyna “Vania” Keskin of G2 Gozen about how it feels to play on the team.
G2 Gozen is G2 Esports’ women’s Valorant team, with the organisation fielding women’s teams in both Valorant (Gozen) and League of Legends (Hel).
G2 Gozen has been among the best female teams in Valorant esports since the scene’s inception several years ago. In fact, the first-ever Game Changers Championship, the premier women’s Valorant competition, was won by G2 Gozen, with team captain Michaela “Mimi” Lintrup remaining on the roster three years after that first triumph.
Valorant’s Game Changers scene is open to women and non-binary players.
G2 Gozen finished third at successive Game Changers Championships, falling to Team Liquid in 2023 and MIBR in 2024. The roster has undergone various changes through the years. With long-time player Petra “Petra” Stroker recently taking a step back, Red Bull Instalock will be the first time this iteration of Gozen competes in an official tournament.
In addition to Amy, Vania and Mimi, Gozen’s current roster features Mathilde “Nelo” Beltoise and Esllene “Akita” Xu, the latter of whom has yet to compete with the roster.
The Value of Game Changers
Game Changers and other women-only tournaments are a matter of faux controversy to some in the esports community. These people rightly assert that there are no physical limitations preventing women from playing in mixed-gender esports, but fail to consider, or ignore, that there are other constraints at play, such as misogyny and prejudice within competitive environments.
“Girls have a really hard time playing ranked,” Amy begins. “That’s where most people start to improve. I remember when I just started joining a team, a big struggle for me, and I think for a lot of girls, is communication. In ranked, people don’t really listen to us, or want to listen to us, or they get too shy to speak. So, our comms are really not that good, and we’re not good at commanding things because, if you do that in ranked, people will just laugh at you, or they don’t listen.
“Having a safe space like Game Changers, having girls be able to get comfortable, and learn these things, it can help them improve,” Amy continues. “If you compare Game Changers from two years ago to Game Changers now, the players have improved so much, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”
Game Changers was introduced in 2021, and the women’s circuit has been growing since. Last year’s Game Changers Championship was held in Berlin. Ten teams qualified, with Shopify Rebellion emerging as the eventual champions after going undefeated for the entirety of the event.
Shopify’s Ava “Florescent” Eugene went on to distinguish herself as a world-class player on Apeks, a tier one team. However, she recently announced she’d be taking the rest of the year off due to a combination of factors.
Prejudice against non-male players in competitive multiplayer games is nothing new. If one were to ask any woman who plays ranked Valorant if they’ve had negative interactions after revealing their voice, they’d all have the same answer. This culture doesn’t just disappear as players get better, either.
“Even in general, I think a lot of VCL [Tier 2] and VCT [Tier 1] teams don’t want to scrim us, or even Tier 3, because they think we’re not good enough. I think we’ve proved them wrong many times, so yeah,” Amy says.
A Goal to Strive Towards
Another common denigration of the women’s scene is the notion that it makes players complacent. In other words, professionals become satisfied with collecting a salary while competing against weaker competition, and thus won’t reach their full potential.
This argument discounts the fact that professional players are inherently competitive people, and players like Florescent have proven that Game Changers is a legitimate pathway to professional Valorant.
“You need to start somewhere, and Game Changers is a really good step for it,” Vania explains. “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 getting into Valorant. The existence of a scene for girls could motivate girls interested in competitive play to continue improving to eventually play in Game Changers.
“I remember when I just started gaming, I was like… ‘Imagine there was a tournament for girls,’ Amy says. “I think these things can motivate girls and can be an inspiration for girls, so they also think they can play there one day.”
Vania adds some advice for young girls getting into competitive Valorant, saying, “Play more and focus on improving yourself. Play and believe in yourself, and don’t stop reaching for your dreams.”
A Growing Ecosystem
Riot Games is supportive of the women’s scene, establishing Game Changers shortly after the release of Valorant. Likewise, several top esports organisations have been diligent in fielding teams in women-only competitions.
Sheep Esports reported Riot was launching a similar initiative for League of Legends, and there does appear to be teams recruiting players for this purpose, but Riot has yet to announce anything concrete.
“I think they’re doing good, really good, but they can do more still,” Vania says, referring to the support of the women’s esports ecosystem by Riot, teams and sponsors.
“We’re having more LANs, we had Game Changers LAN last split, we have tournaments like Instalock, we didn’t have that [years ago]. I think it could always be better, but I think we’re going the right way,” adds Amy.
I was curious who the pair thought were the best non-male Valorant players in the world besides themselves and their teammates. Florescent, Julia “Jelly” Iris (MIBR), Nicolas “srN” Niederaeuer (MIBR), Nicole “Noia” Tierce (Shopify Rebellion Gold) and Bob “Bob” Tran (FlyQuest Red) were their answers.
Red Bull Instalock kicks off on May 2 and will feature Falcons Vega, FlyQuest RED, GIANTX GC and, of course, G2 Gozen. The tournament employs a “triple duelist” rule, meaning each team must select three duelist characters per match.
“I think we have the best players. We have players with experience on duelists, so it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Amy says, confident of Gozen’s chances of winning the event.
