Nova Esports GC’s shirazi spoke about her move from APAC to CN and making history in Game Changers Championship 2025.
NOVA Esports GC's Kelly "shirazi" Jaudian spoke about her experiences in the CN region after playing in the Pacific. NOVA made history against APAC's second seed, Ninetails, in the opening match of VALORANT Game Changers Championship 2025.
shirazi: "Their aim is so clean."
shirazi was imported by the Chinese org earlier this year. Before this season, she played for Xipto GC. This isn't her first foray into the international stage, since she had two 4th place finishes in the previous two GCCs: with Team SMG in 2023 and Xipto in 2024. shirazi and Nova won four series in a row in China Stage 2 to be the sole representatives of the region in GCC 2025.
"For me, the difference is very huge, especially the language. I don't know how to speak Chinese, first of all." shirazi said when asked about her transfer. "It was a very big step for me to move to China."
Speaking about the gameplay differences between the regions, she said, "[CN] is similar to APAC, but at the same time, [they are] more disciplined. I noticed that their aim is so clean. Everyone is so sharp. They're focused on aim and slow playstyles."
NOVA makes GCC history against NTZ
NOVA went up against Pacific GC's second seed, Ninetails.
Map 1 was a solid game for NOVA. Even though Bind was NTZ's pick, NOVA took control of the map and did not give their South Korean adversaries any room to get ahead. The first half was a close 7-5 in NOVA's favor, but the second half was undeniably the Chinese team's as they closed out the game 13-6. NOVA looked unstoppable with Wang "Clem" Ke-ching leading the charge for the squad. This win also marks the first map win of a Chinese squad at any GCC event.
NTZ swung back in map 2, though, taking the first five rounds. Unfortunately for them, Nova's efforts evaporated this lead by the second half. Clutch plays, snowballing, and heroics from shirazi and the rest of Nova meant that they made history by handing Ninetails a loss in front of the Korean crowd. Nova became the first CN team to win a series in Game Changers Championship history.
After the win, shirazi expressed her joy at the historical achievement and being a part of Nova GC. "I'm very happy with this team. I'm grateful that they picked me up and gave me another chance to compete - I didn't expect a Chinese team to pick me as an import," she said. "I'm very happy with our result, too."
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