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ANa: "S1mple has inspired a lot of young talent, including the girls I play with. He should come back and shut up all the haters"

We spoke to professional female CS2 player Ana "ANa" Dumbravă after the show match at IEM Cologne 2024. She shared her feelings about the game and discussed the female pro scene and its issues. ANa also gave her a take on top AWPers. She compared her style to ZywOo's and hoped for s1mple to come back to CS2, as he inspired some of the players she knows.

— What are your feelings about the show match?

— I feel amazing. Even though it was a show match, it was a dream come true. I never thought I would play in the biggest arena, but it was also super fun. I had no nerves, so it was perfect.

— Was it like a pre-match decision to play a draw and then make it a knife round?

— I mean, not pre-match, but when we were playing, we wanted to keep on going, so like, for example, we didn't defuse in some rounds, but it was good, it was perfect like this.

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— What are your thoughts on women's Counter-Strike right now? Is the scene thriving, or is it in bad shape?

— I've been in the scene for quite a while, six or five years. Compared to before, it was way, way better in the beginning. It's sad that some orgs recently left. But I hope they can come back or more orgs can enter CS because we need this support. The scene right now is way better than before [skill-wise]. A lot of female players are playing at the moment, everyone is improving, it's getting harder and harder [to compete] every day. So yeah, I think we just need more support from orgs, but besides that, it's perfect.

— What are your thoughts on mixed teams? Is it possible to have a mixed team where men and women play together? Will such a team get a spot in RMR, closed qualifiers, or maybe at a Major?

— I don't know how to explain, but I think tier-2 teams could try to have a female player on their roster and see how it would work. But we are still very far from that. Of course, we want to be seen as equal. I know every female is trying their best to do that. So I hope that in the future, there will be mixed teams. That's my goal, at least.

— What are your thoughts on the male pro scene right now? S1mple hasn't played professionally for about a year. Do you believe in his comeback? Recently, B1ad3 said that he should try to make a start from tier-3.

— Yeah, I would love to see him back because he s1mple has inspired so many players, including the girls I play with at the moment. He should come back and get the passion again for the game and shut up all the haters. He's the best, he's a legend, so I would love to see him back.

S1mple loses to KennyS in show match, assures he wants "to return one day to bring same emotions to fans"

— What about the m0NESY, ZywOo, and donk? Who will become the number-one player this year?

— I'm very divided between m0NESY and ZywOo. Since I'm an AWPer, I also look out for them both. I think my style is more from ZywOo, but they are just insane AWPers, and both of them follow their feelings a lot. But maybe ZywOo, yeah.

— There was a showmatch in 2015 when juliano beat cadiaN on an aim map. If you're gonna face m0NESY and ZywOo, are you capable of beating them like 16:0?

— [laughs] Oh no, we need to be realistic. It would be nice to do it just to see how it goes, but I don't think it would be that easy. I mean, I would give my best, but they are legends. there are no players to be compared to them.

— But overall, if we take any male AWPer from the pro scene on tier 1-3, who would you compare yourself to?

I think every AWPer is different. I cannot say I can go to tier 1 and kill everyone, no, because I have never played there. So I don't know how it would go, but of course, if I were there, I would give my best and learn every day with pro teams that are in tier 2 or 3. I know I would grow with them as a player. And I would work as hard as I do now.


ANa is a star CS2 player who plays for one of the best female teams, Imperial Female. So far, they have been dominating the scene, winning most of the events they attended in 2024, just like last year, as Nigma Galaxy. As a result, ANa was awarded as the best female player by HLTV.

The IEM Cologne 2024 show match took place before the grand final. Other female talent and players, including juliano, participated in it.

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Cover: twitter.com
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IEM Cologne 2024 IEM Cologne 2024

IMP FEM IMP FEM

s1mple s1mple

ZywOo ZywOo

ANa ANa

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