UK-based organisation Guild Esports has announced the signing of an all-women Valorant team.
The new team, Guild X, comprises Vivian Mae Schilling ‘Roxi’ (DE), Yağmur Gündüz ‘Smurfette’ (TUR), Anastasiya Rival’evna ‘Glance’ (RUS), Benfakir Sophia ‘Kim’ (FRA) and team captain Klaudia Beczkiewicz ‘Cinnamon’ (USA).
All five players, who previously competed as Project X, have signed one-year contracts with an option to renew for another year. They will receive an annual salary and performance incentives.
The team recently won the Women in Games Valorant Community Cup.
“We are incredibly proud to welcome our first all-women team to Guild. Ensuring that women have a route to inclusion and progression in the industry is important for the future of the esports ecosystem.”
Kal Hourd, Guild Esports
They will kick off their career under the Guild banner by competing in women’s Valorant tournament, the VTC Game Changers EMEA. The tournament, which runs from September 27th to October 3rd 2021 has been launched to help create more competitive opportunities for women in esports.
The first two VCT Game Changers EMEA events will be open qualifier tournaments, featuring up to 64 teams competing for a share of the €20,000 (£17,219) prize pool per tournament.
The final event of the series takes place from November 15th to November 21st, and will feature a total prize pool of €50,000 (£43,055).
Guild X has become the company’s fifth roster of pro players, and they take the total number of active players on Guild’s roster across all games to 18.
The company fields teams in Fortnite, Rocket League, FIFA and Valorant. Guild has achieved top results in several tournaments, including the Fortnite Championship Series (FNCS) and Rocket League Championship Series (RLCS).
Kal Hourd, chief executive at Guild Esports, said: “We are incredibly proud to welcome our first all-women team to Guild. Ensuring that women have a route to inclusion and progression in the industry is important for the future of the esports ecosystem as its mainstream appeal grows and global brands seek to reach its growing and diverse audiences.
“Fostering inclusion in esports is part of Guild’s founding vision and our academy approach is a key part of making that happen, we look forward to working with partners that share our vision for esports as an inclusive haven.”
Guild X player Cinnamon added: “When we started looking for an organisation to join we wanted somewhere that took us and our development as competitors seriously. Guild gave us total reassurance on that, and that we would be able to create a legacy here.
“We are so excited about Guild’s commitment not just to us but to the future of the Valorant esports universe and plans to inspire more and more gamers to join it through the Guild Academy.”
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
