G2 Gozen’s VALORANT star Michaela “mimi” Lintrup said today she’s not switching back to her old FPS title, not even with all the hype around Counter-Strike 2’s limited test launch yesterday.
“[I] got asked a lot if I will be going back to CS after the release of CS2,” mimi said on Twitter. “VALORANT has changed my life completely for the better and given me opportunities I used to dream of. I have never enjoyed gaming this much as right now, so switching won’t be happening. Enjoy the game, though.”
Mimi made the switch from CS:GO to VALORANT in May 2021 after a long tenure in Valve’s FPS. She started competing in 2013 and played for a number of organizations such as LDLC, Team Secret, Copenhagen Flames, and XSET. The Dane was one of the most dominant players in the female scene and lifted several trophies during her career, including Intel Challenge Katowice in 2016 and 2017 and Copenhagen Games in 2017.
Mimi has also become one of the household names in VALORANT and her brand should only grow if Riot Games keeps expanding Game Changers, a circuit for women and marginalized genders. She won VCT Game Changers Championship in November 2022, the biggest Game Changers tournament to date.
While mimi has made it clear that she won’t switch to CS2, Julia “juliano” Kiran—mimi’s old teammate and an iconic name in both CS:GO and VALORANT esports—switched back to Counter-Strike earlier this month to play for G2 Oya, the organization’s first female team in Valve’s FPS.
The female competitions are getting bigger in Counter-Strike as well after ESL launched the Impact circuit in 2022, which hosts several tournaments for women across the year, and Valve has the opportunity to start sponsoring these tournaments and contribute to the growth of the scene after CS2 launches worldwide this summer.
