Professional VALORANT Player Katsumi Announces Shift in Career Focus
Katja “katsumi” Pfahnl, a highly accomplished player from the North American VALORANT Game Changers circuit, recently shared her decision to step away from competing in the scene. Instead, she plans to focus on qualifying for Challengers in 2024 with a currently unnamed, mixed-gender roster.
In a Twitter post, katsumi stated, “It’s not something I want to make a big deal of, but I’m not going to be playing in Game Changers moving forward, and I have no plans to return at this time. I am going to continue competing, but I am changing course away from GC. I’ve always seen Game Changers as a temporary step and not an end goal.”
Katsumi expressed gratitude for her time in Game Changers, where she won seven regional championships with Cloud9 White and participated in the first GC World Championship. However, she believes that achieving her goals as a competitor may require a more challenging path, pushing her beyond the comfort of Game Changers.
An Exciting New Journey
Katsumi is taking a different route by teaming up with her former Cloud9 White coach Reid “x0tek” Johnson, Jason “JSUNG” Sung, Danny Huynh, and PapiCantaloupe to compete for Challengers 2024 qualification. She aims to step out of her comfort zone and embrace new challenges in order to further develop her skills as a player.
Former Cloud9 White Player Explores New Opportunities
After the disbandment of Cloud9’s Game Changers roster, katsumi joined XSET Purple, where she took on the in-game leader role. While the team achieved third place in the first NA Game Changers series, they faced challenges in subsequent series. With many players leaving the team in September, XSET and katsumi did not compete in series three.
Now, katsumi is excited to embark on this new chapter in her esports career, determined to qualify for Challengers in 2024 while embracing the lessons and experiences gained from her time in Game Changers.
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