Meet the Invitees - ESL Impact Season 5 North America

With Season 5 of ESL Impact North America starting today, Dust2.us brings you a two-part guide where teams and players will be the focus, so the readers know who and what to look out for during the competition.

This is the second part, where the four teams that have been invited for Season 5 will be highlighted. These are the best four rosters from last season, except that Karma has replaced EG Gold, but more on that later. Other than Karma, here you will find information regarding FlyQuest RED, Shimmer, and Limitless Angels.

Karma - 5th place, Season 4

Karma appeared just before the start of last season's open qualifiers and comfortably secured a spot for ESL Impact Season 4 North America. During the group play, despite some inconsistencies, Karma was the only team other than FlyQuest RED to beat Shimmer, and they did so with a 2-0 scoreline. Now, how come this team has been invited after finishing 5th? Evil Geniuses Gold and Karma ended the season with the same record of four wins and three losses, and with EG Gold's disbandment, Karma inherited the spot.

Karma are comprised of three special names to the North American Counter-Strike scene and two exciting (fairly) new talents. Starting with the newer guns, Olga "olya" Kryvulych and Elena "Ellie" Garland, these two bring stability and new perspectives to the team, despite their very different paths. Ellie arrived on the scene from the Riot Games FPS, brought in by the veterans in the squad, while olya has been doing damage in ESL Impact since late 2022 when she joined Saints. The other three don't need introductions, Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido, Amanda "rain" Smith, and Carolyn "artStar" Noquez are trailblazers of the Women's CS scene, and despite having spent some time on VALORANT, nothing erases their feats as five times world champions in CS:GO. Exciting team with experience and talent, pushing for their return to LANs since their Dignitas time.

• Emmalee "EMUHLEET" Garrido

• Amanda "rain" Smith

• Olga "olya" Kryvulych

• Elena "Ellie" Garland

• Carolyn "artStar" Noquez

• David "Xp3" Garrido (Coach)

Limitless Angels - 3rd place, Season 4

Limitless Angels, previously Lotus, previously Tsunami Sirens, previously FLUFFY AIMERS White, arrived last season just like Karma but only managed to qualify for Season 4 in the second Open Qualifier. That didn't stop the team from fighting for a spot in the ESL Impact Season 4 LAN Finals until the very last match, which ultimately escaped them. Since then, this squad has made some changes, some were forced, others by choice, but the core kept being the same, thus the maintenance of the spot.

Mira "mira" Luna, Daria "daria" Anokhina, and Lydia "Fawx" Dalton are the three that remain from the FA White squad that qualified for last season, and are hoping to one-up their result from Season 4 and, finally, reach the elusive LAN Final. Joining them are Kiki "PiggyKiki" Long, former EG Gold AWPer, and Robin "rbn" Bondari, former Totsugeki rifler. After a period of a lot of things happening at the same time, changing organizations, and roster changes, the Limitless Angels are now set to put their heads down and grind to a top two finish in the group play, in order to get to Dallas.

• Mira "mira" Luna

• Lydia "Fawx" Dalton

• Daria "daria" Anokhina

• Robin "rbn" Bondari

• Kiki "PiggyKiki" Long

• Austin "ducky" Dardar (Coach)

Shimmer - 2nd place, Season 4

Last season was tough for Shimmer. During the dying stages of the group play, the team's IGL Lisa "lisa" Nguyen announced she was retiring from the game to focus on her studies, which resulted in the team going through a rough patch of figuring out a new IGL, while importing Tanzanian talent Phoebe "phoebe" Winter, whose debut came against FlyQuest RED. Despite two straight losses against Karma and RED, Shimmer rallied back and were able to secure another LAN Final spot, making this roster the only one to reach two ESL Impact League LAN Finals without organizational support.

After a troublesome LAN Final, unfortunately, tainted by a last-minute injury, Shimmer are returning to Season 5 with a new face that promises to take the team to the next level and fight for the first place in the group play. Marissa "madss" Dasta has joined Shimmer after being kicked from FlyQuest RED, and revenge is on the cards for her. Alongside madss and phoebe are the household names of Lynn "Lx" Clarke, Abigail "abby" Deters, and Lucy "empathy" Verkaik, the highest-rated player from all the regions during last season. It's time for Shimmer to fight for the first place and for wins on the international stage.

• Lucy "empathy" Verkaik

• Abigail "abby" Deters

• Lynn "Lx" Clarke

• Phoebe "phoebe" Winter

• Marissa "madss" Dasta

FlyQuest RED - 1st place, Season 4

This team is the undisputed best team in North America, or should we say "was"? FlyQuest RED had an amazing run last season, just like the three seasons prior to that, further cementing them atop the NA region, something that hasn't translated to the international stage, yet. The Season 4 LAN Fiasco Finals prompted the team to make some changes, parting ways with madss and Kelsie "uhKelsie" Click, and adding Vanessa "vanessa" Gideon and Emma "Emy" Choe, who has returned to Counter-Strike.

The changes prove to have been very successful, as since the return to competition, FlyQuest RED seems to be unstoppable, winning three ESL Impact Cash Cups in a row, all against Shimmer and all with clean 2-0 victories. Of course, Mounira "GooseBreeder" Dobie, Vivienne "BiBiAhn" Quach, and Coline "Kaoday" Le Floc'h are still part of the squad, leading from the front, but vanessa has brought in a lot of firepower, joining BiBiAhn as the two main riflers to look out for on this team. FlyQuest RED are expected to keep on winning the group stage, but can they finally make a deep run in the LAN Finals?

• Mounira "GooseBreeder" Dobie

• Coline "Kaoday" Le Floc'h

• Vivienne "BiBiAhn" Quach

• Vanessa "vanessa" Gideon

• Emma "Emy" Choe

• Luca "munstur" Ioanitiu (Coach)

ESL Impact Season 5 North America kicks off later tonight!