Mayline-Joy "ASTRA" Champliaud has announced that she is leaving Counter-Strike for Valorant, citing what she described as female Counter-Strike falling apart and the lack of tournaments on the calendar. HLTV reported the move.
The French rifler is the most decorated player in that scene as of last year. She led BIG EQUIPA to the ESL Impact League Season 8 title at the end of 2025, a run that earned her HLTV’s Women’s Player of the Year award while BIG EQUIPA took Women’s Team of the Year. Both awards were handed out for a season that turned out to be the circuit’s last for the time being.
A circuit that stopped running
The competitive context is the reason she gave for the switch. The ESL Impact circuit was put on hold at the end of 2025, and in the months that followed a number of organisations released their women’s teams. BIG EQUIPA paused its own project in May, leaving its roster without a competitive programme to play in.
I find myself missing practice and competition. Therefore, I made the decision to transition to Valorant and to put my focus into a growing scene.
Writing on X, ASTRA said her ambitions have not changed with the game. She said her goals are the same as they were in Counter-Strike and that she only wants to compete for the top, describing the decision as a difficult one made from what she called a happy place, and the move itself as a challenge she wants to take on.
She framed the switch as a move toward a growing scene rather than away from a game, and said she is passionate about and committed to what she has set out to do.
HLTV’s report does not name a team for her in Valorant, and gives no date for a debut. Her departure removes the reigning Women’s Player of the Year from Counter-Strike at a point when the circuit that produced that award is not running, and follows a wave of organisations stepping back from the discipline over the first half of the year.
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