FURIA's women's CS2 roster moves to VALORANT

A few days after Mayline "ASTRA" Champliaud, it is now the turn of FURIA's five players to announce their move together from Counter-Strike 2 to VALORANT on August 17, 2026, in order to continue their journey together. Weakened since the end of the ESL Impact circuit, the women's CS2 scene no longer has major competitions for players to compete in, pushing more and more of them toward the game closest to VALVE's FPS in terms of gameplay, in an attempt to build a new professional career there.

Present on the Brazilian women's scene since 2020, FURIA has continued to invest, particularly in ESL Impact, a series of tournaments held throughout the year that were by far the most competitive and prestigious competitions reserved for women. Eventually, in October 2025, Saudi organizer ESL made “the incredibly difficult decision to suspend the ESL Impact Circuit at the end of season 8”. In its closing statement, the tournament organizer said that “despite significant investment, the current economic model is simply not sustainable”.

It was French player ASTRA who recently reignited the debate by announcing her move to VALORANT. Named Women's Player of the Year by leading media outlet HLTV in 2025, she had won the final edition of ESL Impact with BIG while also dominating the European scene that season.

A few days later, Brazilian organization FURIA, well known in CS2, revealed that “with a love for competition and an insatiable desire to win, the Panther will take on yet another stage with the same determination as always!”. Thus, all five players from the project have moved to VALORANT, presumably with the goal of being ready for the 2027 season of the Game Changers circuit, which is reserved for women and marginalized genders.

The announcement was picked up by numerous Brazilian personalities, including Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo, a legend of the game, who expressed his dismay on X over the state of the women's scene: “The girls from FURIA and others moving to VALORANT to play a game with a more fast-paced setting is a sad reflection of the failure—or lack of interest—on the part of both us viewers and Valve/tournament organizers to make a point of finding alternatives that would allow the ecosystem to function.” The Brazilian AWPer and leader continued by saying that “on the other hand, it's great that there's another game where they can keep competing at a higher level,” adding that he would follow with interest what the players can do against players who have been competing in the game for longer.

FalleN raises a good question here, especially since the Game Changers scene has also been established for some time now and has a highly competitive Brazilian regional scene. In addition to its own circuit, the Brazilian league provides direct access to the GC Championship, the world championship, and includes Team Liquid, the 2025 world champions, and MIBR, who finished third at the same global finals.