ESL Impact League Season 5 Finals groups announced

Imperial and NAVI Javelins headline the two groups.

ESL has announced the two groups for the ESL Impact Season 5 Finals, which will be running on May 31-June 2 at DreamHack Dallas.

Imperial Valkyries, the former Nigma Galaxy core, will defend their title as the champions of every previous ESL Impact League. This time, however, it is with Zainab "⁠zAAz⁠" Turkie making her LAN debut in place of former leader Ksenia "⁠vilga⁠" Kluenkova.

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Pigeons join Imperial ahead of ESL Impact Finals

Imperial Valkyries's title defense has never appeared as threatened as it is now. NAVI Javelins, the Group B top seed, have shown their teeth online after beating them (while they were under the Pigeons tag) in their two most recent grand final matchups.

Populating the rest of Group A alongside Imperial Valkyries are FlyQuest RED, HSG fe, and BIG EQUIPA. Joining NAVI Javelins in Group B are TSM Impact, Fluxo Demons, and Let Her Cook.

For those interested in some of the lore in the scene ahead of the biggest women's LAN so far this year, ESL recently released the documentary Making an Impact 2023.

The groups are:

Below you can find the opening matchups:

Group A:

Imperial Valkyries vs HSG fe
FlyQuest RED vs BIG EQUIPA

Group B:

NAVI Javelins vs Let Her Cook
TSM Impact vs Fluxo Demons