UK-based esports organisation Excel have today announced the launch of their women’s Valorant team, who will play in the VCT Game Changers.
Excel have signed former N1MP line-up Cornelia ‘Neli’ Johansson, India ‘cataLina’ Dubourg, Safaa ‘Purii’ Baydi and Camille ‘Luzia’ Millet to its female esports Valorant team along with previous teammate Samantha ‘Samsi’ Caddell and Daniela ‘Jupi’ Gradl, who will round out the roster.
The announcement marks the beginning of Excel’s journey into women’s Valorant tournament VCT Game Changers with ‘the hope to empower and inspire the next generation of women in esports’.
This is not Excel’s first women’s esports team. Excel won FemaleLegends DreamHack in 2017 with a women’s League of Legends team, and Excel later said they wanted to build a team around their former streamer, Vicksy.
“We hope that this will encourage more female gamers to get into esports and our success will come from our dedication to developing the scene.”
Tim Reichert, Excel Esports
Excel say their women’s Valorant team are already a strong competitive unit, with the players of N1MP close friends in real life ‘which will allow for a higher level of teamwork and communication’.
The former N1MP roster has experience in the VCT Game Changers EMEA Series 3 and came top five in the Medusa Series which new teammate Samsi won. The team will be supported by Excel team manager Kevin ‘Noizeeh’ Jaskiewicz.
The roster is as follows (nationalities according to thespike.gg):
- Cornelia ‘Neli’ Johansson – IGL/Initiator (Sweden)
- India ‘cataLina’ Dubourg – Smokes (France)
- Safaa ‘Purii’ Baydi – Flashes (France)
- Camille ‘Luzia’ Millet – Sentinel (France)
- Samantha ‘Samsi’ Caddell – Duelist (German)
- Daniela ‘Jupi’ Gradl – Initiator / Sentinel (Austria)
- Kevin ‘Noizeeh’ Jaskiewicz – Team Manager (Sweden)
Excel have not seen great success at the top level of Valorant. Excel won Polaris, Northern Europe’s Valorant Regional League, earlier this year, but have missed out on success at bigger LANs. Excel also recently announced their departure from the Valorant Polaris league as they focus on tier-one leagues.
And back in September, they were not accepted into the 2023 Valorant International Leagues. So Excel will of course be hoping to find success with their new women’s team.
VCT Game Changers was launched in 2021. The recent VCT Game Changers Championship finals LAN in Berlin was the most viewed female Valorant tournament ever with a peak viewership of over 230,000, and was won by G2 Gozen, who placed their logos on Berlin buildings and outside rival team hotels.
Riot Games recently announced the format for VCT Game Changers EMEA for 2023 which includes academy, amateur and Contenders competitions:
Tim Reichert, chief operating officer at Excel Esports, commented: “Over the course of the Game Changers Championships, we have seen so many inspiring stories that female players across the world could identify with.
“At Excel, we want to offer something new to show young female players a path into esports and believe through signing an existing squad who work well together competitively and socially, we could help and support them to being the best they could be. We hope that this will encourage more female gamers to get into esports and our success will come from our dedication to developing the scene.”
Excel Esports Valorant team manager, Kevin ‘Noizeeh’ Jaskiewicz, added: “This is an amazing opportunity for Excel and the players involved. We have dedicated a lot of time to work on a roster that could bring Excel’s values to female Valorant esports. We’re investing heavily in our players and are forming the infrastructure around what works best for them because we’re confident in their potential to dominate the competition.”
Pete Jeavons, marketing communications director at EE, which sponsors Excel, said: “EE is proud to be the lead partner of Excel’s Game Changers team. This is the first step in working towards our partnership ambitions with Excel, enhancing opportunities and access for female gamers across the industry.”
Excel recently signed a 12-month deal with Sony after extending their partnership with EE.
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.
