VALORANT player Petra ‘Petra’ Stoker has returned to G2 Gozen’s active roster after being benched in April this year.
Petra has reclaimed the initiator role to support the VCT Game Changers team during EMEA Stage 3, starting in September.
G2 Gozen was formed in 2021 following the launch of VCT Game Changers, Riot Games’ VALORANT esports circuit for women and other marginalised genders. Former Counter-Strike athlete Petra, alongside current in-game leader (IGL) Michaela ‘mimi’ Lintrup, was part of Gozen’s founding roster.
The team emerged as a dominant force in the nascent Game Changers scene, winning most regional competitions, as well as the inaugural Game Changers Championship in 2022. While Gozen only reached third place in the two following Championships, the roster continued to excel on a regional level.
This year, however, G2 Gozen was bested by EMEA’s increasingly stronger competitors for the first time, leading to a third-place finish in Stage 1.
Disappointed by the underwhelming result, the roster underwent a series of role swaps. Petra was left to trial for the duelist position but declined and moved to the bench instead. Young gun Esllene ‘Akita’ Xu was then signed ahead of Game Changers Stage 2.
This time, G2 only reached fourth place, prompting more introspection regarding the roster’s future.
“It will come as no surprise that the recent results are far from what we, and you, expect from us. We’ve been paying the price of our role swap experiments in a league that is much more competitive than before,” commented Team Manager Thibault ‘Tibalt’ Pulcini.
G2 Gozen Changes Ahead of Game Changers Stage 3
With Petra’s return, her fellow Gozen players will pick up their former roles as well. Amy ‘amy’ Lai and Aleyna ‘Vania’ Keskin will return to the sentinel and smokes position, respectively. Akita will stay with the team as a duelist. Finally, IGL mimi will be the roster’s flex player.
However, G2’s major roster moves leave Mathilde ‘Nelo’ Beltoise, who has joined the team in January, in an active position.
“We struggled significantly with consistency in Stage 2. Although we had a 9-0 group run, it was clear that our baseline was lower than it should have been,” admitted Head Coach Drew ‘DrewSpark’ Spark-Whitworth.
“This move allows us to stabilise the in-game roles, which will go a long way towards resolving our consistency issues, while allowing us to push our ceiling even higher.”
Game Changers EMEA Stage 3 will take place from September 30th until November 2nd. Its winner will directly qualify for the season-ending Championship in Seoul, South Korea.
