Team MAJKL wins the first all-women Valorant tournament sponsored by Riot Games and Nerd Street Gamers. The FTW Summer Showdown started Friday, September 11, and featured 12 all-female professional teams competing for a $50,000 prize pool. Valorant has exploded in the esports scene with multiple third-party tournaments across multiple regions.
However, the esports scene has been male-dominated for years and hasn’t given female gamers the chance to shine. This tournament was the perfect example that high-level gaming knows no gender. Each group featured six teams with the top four teams moving forward into the playoffs stage.
Team MAJKL and GX3 dominated the group stage, both going undefeated against the other teams. While going undefeated is still impressive, the round count between GX3 and MAJKL foreshadows the eventual final match-up. GX3 went 67-40 across five matches, while Team MAJKL went an astonishing 65-8 against the teams in their group.
Final play of the FTW Valorant Summer Showdown ends with a cleanup from @teamMAJKL! Congratulations on your first FTW Tournament win AND YOUR FIRST #IgnitionSeries win🤑 pic.twitter.com/H1MJ0QS718
— FTW For The Women (@FTW_us) September 14, 2020
Team MAJKL open the door for female gamers
Team MAJKL is the perfect example that women from all walks of life can follow their competitive gaming dreams. The team features women of color, sexuality, and gender identity which allows women everywhere to know that nothing can stop them. MAJKL also features Radiant/Immortal players, which also shows that there are females in high Elo regardless of what some might believe. These women absolutely crushed the entire competition at this tournament. It makes you think what all-women Valorant teams like MAJKL could do at a larger sponsored event.
Additionally, Annie Dro, one of the professional players for Team MAJKL took to Twitter after their win to say a thing or two about their performance. In the Tweet, she takes a small jab a bigger organization about not wanting to pick up their squad after their performance. Organizations like Dignitas and GODSENT are just two of the organizations that have expanded into the female competitive scene.
Won a $50,000 Ignition series and didn't drop a single fucking map!
We have grinded months for this and hard work really does pay off. Love all my girls, cracked af @teamMAJKL
Imagine being an Org and not looking into us 🥸
— C9 Annie (@Annie_Dro) September 14, 2020
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