Nigma Galaxy Female opens up on women’s CSGO, online era

The online era hit women’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive even harder than men’s, according to the world’s best female team.

WIN.gg had the opportunity to speak with Nigma Galaxy Female, the highest-level women’s CSGO team in the world. Nigma Galaxy recently qualified for ESEA Main in Europe, becoming only the second female team in history to qualify for the prestigious circuit.

The team’s players answered questions about the tournament grinding experience, women’s CSGO, and what tournament organizers can do to help promote this important but often overlooked side of the industry.

Nigma Galaxy on success in ESEA Cash Cups

When speaking to WIN, Nigma Galaxy Female was fresh off an exciting qualification for ESEA Main. The journey comes after three ESEA Cash Cup championships in 2022 alone. When asked about the team’s emotions during those championship series, Katarína “Kat” Vašková emphasized excitement above all else.

“Everyone is always very excited to play each game. We are always focused on the end goal, but we enjoy the process where we hype each other up. Overall, everyone is always having positive emotions,” Kat said.

Nigma Galaxy Female thinks marketing is key for women’s CSGO

The next set of questions was about the state of women’s Counter-Strike. When asked what tournament organizers could do to help promote the scene, the team generally agreed that marketing was a major factor. 

“The organizers do an alright job providing opportunities and stuff, but I really think that marketing needs to be improved. There are a lot more things on social media about men’s tournaments to get people to watch. More of that would be helpful, I think,” Viktoria “tory” Kazieva told WIN.

As for tournaments themselves, Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova thinks that more tournaments and opportunities would go a long way to help develop talent.

“What ESL and ESEA are doing right now is exactly what we need for a female scene to become bigger and get a healthier attitude in general. Hopefully in the future, more organizers will come and support our scene. More tournaments or leagues will give more exposure and show how good female CS can look like,” vilga explained.

• Related: CLG’s missharvey talks women in esports and sexism in CSGO

The CSGO tournament grinding experience and the online era

To close the interview, WIN asked about the team’s unique experience during the online era. Nigma Galaxy Female’s response highlighted how women’s CSGO was affected by travel restrictions. The sudden drop in tournaments particularly affected women’s CSGO. In response, the squad began competing in the men’s divisions. NGF scored a solid fifth place at Dell Gaming League, showing that the team can take any competition.

ESEA Main represents a brand new chapter for women’s CSGO thanks to the efforts of Nigma Galaxy Female. The $200,000 event starts on April 25th, 2022.

If successful, Nigma Galaxy Female will either remain in ESEA Main or potentially advance to ESEA Advanced for the 42nd season. It would be the first women’s team to ever reach such an accomplishment.