Imperial Fe – The Best Women’s Team in CS History. Who Are They and Why Are They Competing in Tier-1 Tournaments Like BLAST Bounty and IEM Katowice 2025?
In 2025, the VALVE ranking system fully came into effect, bringing significant changes to tournament organizers. The developers banned individual deals with organizations, meaning no one can receive direct invitations anymore. This change was announced back in the summer of 2023, but if someone had suggested then that it would lead to the unification of men’s and women’s esports, few would have believed it. Yet, the reality is here, and we’ll see a women’s roster competing at least at BLAST Bounty and IEM Katowice 2025. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the legendary roster members and explain why they deserve a shot at tier-1 tournaments
Roster Formation: The Nigma Galaxy Era
Many have only recently heard about Imperial Fe due to current events, but this roster was formed back in 2021 and spent over three years playing under the Nigma Galaxy (formerly Galaxy Racer) organization. For a long time, the roster consisted of:
- Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova
- Ana “ANa” Dumbravă
- Katarína “Kat” Vašková
- Victoria “tory” Kazieva
- Aleksandra “twenty3” Timinina
From day one, Nigma Galaxy dominated the women’s pro scene, winning 8 world and European championships and earning over $335,000 in prize money. Most tier-2 men’s teams can’t boast such earnings, let alone that half of this sum was won on LAN events across the globe. This success was largely thanks to ESL, which in 2022 launched a separate division, ESL Impact, giving a strong push to the development of women’s esports.
ESL Impact – The Engine of Women’s CS
ESL Impact League is a tournament series launched by ESL in 2022 as part of the #GGFORALL campaign to promote women’s Counter-Strike. The league features two seasons per year with divisions in Europe, North America, and South America. Open qualifiers in each region allow any team to register, followed by closed online qualifiers. The top eight teams then compete at LAN finals, held in cities like Dallas, Valencia, Jönköping, Stockholm, and the legendary Katowice.
After several successful seasons, many major organizations started forming women’s teams to compete in ESL Impact. By 2022, organizations like NAVI, G2, Astralis, NIP, BIG, Team Spirit, Virtus.pro, and FURIA had created women’s rosters, seeing great potential in this area. However, by the end of 2024, most of these organizations disbanded their women’s teams, citing financial losses and business impracticality.
While this reasoning holds some truth, another significant factor was the dominance of the main subjects of this article. No team managed to match their level of play or offer serious competition.
Who Are Imperial Fe?
It’s time to meet the “mafia” roster that overshadowed investments from top esports organizations, forcing them to leave the scene.
In early 2024, Nigma Galaxy announced its exit from CS, and the championship roster was signed by the Brazilian organization Imperial. Shortly after, captain Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova retired, bringing her storied career to an end. She had played professionally since the CS 1.6 era. Her replacement was the even more experienced Zainab “zAAz” Turkie.
Zainab "zAAz" Turkie (33 years old)
- Role: Rifler
- Rating 2.1: 1.26
- Prize Earnings: $77,866
The Swedish esports athlete of Lebanese descent, born on June 7, 1991, started her career in 2007. She played for teams such as Fnatic, Team Secret, G2 Oya, Copenhagen Flames, Beşiktaş, and Sweden’s national team. In February 2024, she joined Imperial Female, seamlessly fitting into the championship roster.
Ana "ANa" Dumbravă (25 years old)
- Role: AWPer
- Rating 2.1: 1.34
- Prize Earnings: $96,171
The Romanian AWPer began her career in 2017. Born on June 20, 1999, Nigma Galaxy Female was her breakthrough team. Starting in 2022, HLTV introduced the Best Female Esports Player award, and ANa won it for three consecutive years. She’s considered the “s1mple” of women’s CS, holding the title of the greatest female player in history.
Katarína "Kat" Vašková (27 years old)
- Role: Rifler
- Rating 2.1: 1.16
- Prize Earnings: $94,991
Born on August 18, 1997, in Slovakia, Katarína started her career in 2021 and quickly joined Nigma Galaxy Female.
Victoria "tory" Kazieva (26 years old)
- Role: Captain
- Rating 2.1: 1.23
- Prize Earnings: $96,157
The Russian esports athlete was born on June 5, 1998. Before joining Nigma Galaxy Female, she played in various mixes from 2017. Her biggest achievement was second place at the 2018 World Electronic Sports Games Female, earning $30,000. After vilga’s departure, tory took on the role of captain.
Aleksandra "twenty3" Timinina (23 years old)
- Role: Rifler
- Rating 2.1: 1.26
- Prize Earnings: $96,022
The youngest roster member, born on May 31, 2001, in Russia. She began her career at 16 and joined Nigma Galaxy’s championship roster in 2019.
Imperial Fe’s Achievements: A Dynasty Longer Than NiP and Astralis
When we discuss eras in Counter-Strike, we often recall NiP’s 87-match winning streak or Astralis’ four Major victories. But neither lasted more than two years, while Imperial Fe has been dominating for over four. Comparisons between these results may spark debates about the level of competition, but it only reinforces the belief that these women deserve to compete at the next level—against men.
Imperial Fe’s LAN Victories (Over $100,000 Prize Pools):
- ESL Impact League Season 1 Dallas 2022
- ESL Impact Valencia 2022
- ESL Impact League Season 2 Jönköping 2022
- ESL Impact Katowice 2023
- ESL Impact League Season 3 Dallas 2023
- ESL Impact League Season 4 Valencia 2023
- ESL Impact League Season 5 Dallas 2024
- ESL Impact League Season 6 Stockholm 2024
Can Imperial Fe Compete With Men’s Teams?
This is the key question, and we’ll soon have an answer. One thing is clear: they’ve made a clever start. At BLAST Bounty, the women chose NAVI as their opponent, which will be a serious test for Imperial Fe. Some may view this as overconfidence, but it’s likely a calculated decision. This move minimizes their VALVE ranking point losses even in defeat. Moreover, losing to the best men’s team of 2024 won’t be seen as a failure. Regardless, their debut is generating massive interest, and all eyes will be on them.
