Valkenn becomes first woman to coach ECL squad

Carpe Diem have brought in one of the first female head coaches in North American ECL history with Ashlynn "Valkenn" Brady as of February 27th. After spending so long behind the scenes, the former Nouns, Wildcard, and Limitless analyst join the orgless squad in the tactician's role.

Valkenn is one of the few women's coaches within the men's esports scene. In VALORANT, former Counter-Strike pro Christine "potter" Chi has made a name for herself as the head coach of the World Champion Evil Geniuses squad. The coach was previously a pillar of the North American Women's Counter-Strike scene as a player, analyst, and even as a one-time coach of Muffin Lightning in the 2017 ELEAGUE Atlanta Major North American Minor.

Valkenn's experience is not limited to just North America, having spent time with both Bad News Eagles and Alternate aTTax.

As a mind for the game, Valkenn comes recommended my several within the scene, including current NRG coach Joshua "m1cks" Micks calling her "better than him" and Guild Eagles Assistant Coach Kieran "KayJay" Playfair describing her as "one of the best in the business."

The move to Carpe Diem will also see Valkenn reunite with Jack "micro" Ryan, who explained that his new coach is "One of the biggest reasons why we as that detonate/wildcard team got better so quickly".

Carpe Diem are currently 3-1 in ESL Challenger League S47 thanks to their two matches against Rocket being voided due to Damian "EMIYA" Boulware's cheating ban earlier this month.

Carpe Diem are now:

• Sebastian "Seb" Dietrich
• Mason "Lake" Sanderson
• Jerric "wiz" Jiang
• Jack "micro" Ryan
• John "arcade" Rogel (ECL stand-in)
• Ashlynn "Valkenn" Brady (Coach)

Carpe Diem's next match is scheduled for March 6th against Limitless.