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Commentator Bio: Kat “Mystik” Gunn
By Bryan Dawson on August 18, 2012
The Dead or Alive competitive scene hasn’t seen much action over the last few years. The seven year gap between the release of Dead or Alive 4 and the upcoming Dead or Alive 5 hasn’t helped the competitive scene grow, but Tecmo Koei is determined to see the new game off on the right foot. Part of this plan allowed Tecmo Koei to join forces with the IGN Pro League to produce the “I’m a Fighter” World Championships, but that’s only the beginning. Part of the collaboration between the two gaming powerhouses includes live broadcasts of the “I’m a Fighter” tournaments, and part of a live broadcast is having experienced commentators to educate the masses.
Unfortunately, Dead or Alive has never had experienced commentators. Even back in the days of the Championship Gaming Series, the commentators were not primarily DOA players. Now, as Dead or Alive 5 begins to gain competitive momentum, it is becoming more and more important for the commentators to inform the fighting game community and casual players of the competitive depth of DOA5. At the forefront of this venture are Katherine “Mystik” Gunn and Erik “Rikuto” Argetsinger.
We’ll be taking a look at Rikuto in the coming weeks, but for now our focus is Mystik. She was one of the featured female DOA4 players in the short-lived Championship Gaming Series, but that wasn’t the beginning of her DOA career, or even her competitive gaming career. Her entire family (mother, father, brother and sister) plays games, and with a last name like “Gunn” it’s not surprising to hear that her competitive gaming life began with Rainbow Six 3 on the original Xbox.
She had an early career with the all female PMS Clan, but it didn’t last long due to creative differences. Kat made her own way to the 2006 World Cyber Games National Finals in Las Vegas, NV. Unfortunately, she received a tough seed in DOA4, facing off against the eventual US champion, Emmanuel “Master” Rodriguez (sponsored by Team 3D at the time), and the author of the Dead or Alive 4 strategy guide, Bryan “DrDogg” Dawson.
Despite the difficult pool, Mystik (then called OptiMystik) took the opportunity to network with the WCG execs and slowly work her way into the competitive DOA scene. The following year, she would find herself in Los Angeles, CA for the inaugural Championship Gaming Series Region 1 Combine. Shortly after, she was drafted in the third round by the Carolina Core as the 18th selection. Her team would go on to take second place at the World Finals, losing only to the Chicago Chimera.
Gunn continued her professional gaming career in 2008 by staying with the Carolina Core for a second season. The team lost to the Birmingham Salvo in the semi-final round of the World Finals, but Kat’s two years with the CGS gave her the experience she needed to perform well under the pressure of the cameras and live audience.
In 2010, Kat auditioned for the second and final season of the WCG Ultimate Gamer reality TV show. She was targeted early by the other contestants due to her abnormally high gamer score. Luckily, Kat managed to avoid elimination in the first round Tekken 6 isolation challenge against Mike Labelle, a three-time WCG national finalist. She would go on to win the season and take home $100,000, and has gone down in gaming history as the final winner of the show.
After winning Ultimate Gamer, Kat wanted to take her professional gaming career in a new direction, beyond being just a player. She made an appearance at the IPL 4 tournament in Las Vegas and made a few contacts, which led to an opportunity to commentate on the initial round of the “I’m a Fighter” World Championship at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo. While most enjoyed Kat’s commentary, she was not pleased with her overall knowledge of the unreleased DOA5 and has been studying the game ever since. She’ll be commentating Round 2 of the tournament this weekend with high hopes of far surpassing her performance at E3.
In the future, Kat would like to create a league for female gamers and possibly a non-professional league so that everyone can enjoy the rush of being in a tournament and winning cash and prizes, without being the best of the best. At the young age of 24, Kat has lofty goals and high expectations of herself, as she continues to commentate for IPL and pursue her career goals.
http://www.ign.com/ipl/all/news/commentator-bio-kat-mystik-gunn/
By Bryan Dawson on August 18, 2012
The Dead or Alive competitive scene hasn’t seen much action over the last few years. The seven year gap between the release of Dead or Alive 4 and the upcoming Dead or Alive 5 hasn’t helped the competitive scene grow, but Tecmo Koei is determined to see the new game off on the right foot. Part of this plan allowed Tecmo Koei to join forces with the IGN Pro League to produce the “I’m a Fighter” World Championships, but that’s only the beginning. Part of the collaboration between the two gaming powerhouses includes live broadcasts of the “I’m a Fighter” tournaments, and part of a live broadcast is having experienced commentators to educate the masses.
Unfortunately, Dead or Alive has never had experienced commentators. Even back in the days of the Championship Gaming Series, the commentators were not primarily DOA players. Now, as Dead or Alive 5 begins to gain competitive momentum, it is becoming more and more important for the commentators to inform the fighting game community and casual players of the competitive depth of DOA5. At the forefront of this venture are Katherine “Mystik” Gunn and Erik “Rikuto” Argetsinger.
We’ll be taking a look at Rikuto in the coming weeks, but for now our focus is Mystik. She was one of the featured female DOA4 players in the short-lived Championship Gaming Series, but that wasn’t the beginning of her DOA career, or even her competitive gaming career. Her entire family (mother, father, brother and sister) plays games, and with a last name like “Gunn” it’s not surprising to hear that her competitive gaming life began with Rainbow Six 3 on the original Xbox.
She had an early career with the all female PMS Clan, but it didn’t last long due to creative differences. Kat made her own way to the 2006 World Cyber Games National Finals in Las Vegas, NV. Unfortunately, she received a tough seed in DOA4, facing off against the eventual US champion, Emmanuel “Master” Rodriguez (sponsored by Team 3D at the time), and the author of the Dead or Alive 4 strategy guide, Bryan “DrDogg” Dawson.
Despite the difficult pool, Mystik (then called OptiMystik) took the opportunity to network with the WCG execs and slowly work her way into the competitive DOA scene. The following year, she would find herself in Los Angeles, CA for the inaugural Championship Gaming Series Region 1 Combine. Shortly after, she was drafted in the third round by the Carolina Core as the 18th selection. Her team would go on to take second place at the World Finals, losing only to the Chicago Chimera.
Gunn continued her professional gaming career in 2008 by staying with the Carolina Core for a second season. The team lost to the Birmingham Salvo in the semi-final round of the World Finals, but Kat’s two years with the CGS gave her the experience she needed to perform well under the pressure of the cameras and live audience.
In 2010, Kat auditioned for the second and final season of the WCG Ultimate Gamer reality TV show. She was targeted early by the other contestants due to her abnormally high gamer score. Luckily, Kat managed to avoid elimination in the first round Tekken 6 isolation challenge against Mike Labelle, a three-time WCG national finalist. She would go on to win the season and take home $100,000, and has gone down in gaming history as the final winner of the show.
After winning Ultimate Gamer, Kat wanted to take her professional gaming career in a new direction, beyond being just a player. She made an appearance at the IPL 4 tournament in Las Vegas and made a few contacts, which led to an opportunity to commentate on the initial round of the “I’m a Fighter” World Championship at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo. While most enjoyed Kat’s commentary, she was not pleased with her overall knowledge of the unreleased DOA5 and has been studying the game ever since. She’ll be commentating Round 2 of the tournament this weekend with high hopes of far surpassing her performance at E3.
In the future, Kat would like to create a league for female gamers and possibly a non-professional league so that everyone can enjoy the rush of being in a tournament and winning cash and prizes, without being the best of the best. At the young age of 24, Kat has lofty goals and high expectations of herself, as she continues to commentate for IPL and pursue her career goals.
http://www.ign.com/ipl/all/news/commentator-bio-kat-mystik-gunn/
