About
Katherine “Kat” Gunn, better known online as Mystik, is an American esports pioneer, cosplayer, and full‑time Twitch personality. Born on April 20, 1988, in Van Nuys, California, she exploded onto the competitive scene by winning $100,000 on Syfy’s reality series WCG Ultimate Gamer in 2010. That victory, combined with two seasons in DirecTV’s Championship Gaming Series, pushed her lifetime tournament earnings past $160k and landed her in the Guinness World Records 2016 Gamer’s Edition as the highest‑earning female gamer of the time. Today, she streams a blend of shooters, fighting games, and cozy “Just Chatting” sessions for more than 250 thousand followers, all while championing positivity and fair play.
Before Fame
Gaming caught on early for Kat. Her father—everyone refers to him as Wolf—had a comic-and-card store, so consoles, arcade machines, and trading cards were ubiquitous sights in the home. As the youngest of three kids (brother Peter and sister Samantha), Kat worked hard to keep up, igniting a competitive nature that would extend to adulthood. By the time Xbox Live was released in 2002, she was dominating online leaderboards, and in no time, Wolf was taking her to Halo and Street Fighter tournaments locally where she consistently ranked near the top.
Those humble gatherings brought her to the 2006 World Cyber Games National Finals in Las Vegas, where she forged connections with the professional Dead or Alive community. Picked 18th overall by the Carolina Core in the first CGS draft, she appeared on national television, contributed to the team taking runner‑up at the World Finals, and received a minimum player salary—essentially unheard‑of among women in esports during those early days.
Trivia
- Record‑setter: Guinness listed her first because she combined prize money with salaried league contracts, topping $122k in winnings by 2015, long before brand deals became the norm.
- Reality‑show dominance: On WCG Ultimate Gamer season 2, other contestants tried to “resolve” her early because her Xbox Gamerscore dwarfed theirs, yet she still swept the finale.
- Game credits cameo: After commentating an IGN Pro League exhibition, Kat studied Dead or Alive 5 so intensely that Team Ninja thanked her in the game’s official credits.
- Cosplay creator: She founded Less Than 3 (LT3), a pro cosplay‑and‑gaming squad sponsored by Mad Catz, featuring talent such as Jessica Nigri and Mikaela “Mikamunster” Castellanos.
- Media maker: Beyond streaming, she produced and hosted BluePrint, Team Envy’s weekly behind‑the‑scenes web series, showcasing everything from Overwatch scrims to lifestyle content.
Family Life
Family is woven into Kat’s brand. Wolf still pops onto her Monday subscriber shows for informal Q&As, while Samantha joins “Workout Wednesday” dance‑game sessions—both segments that longtime viewers love. That inclusive approach, along with mod‑curated chat rules, helps foster what Kat calls a “nerd‑positive living room” vibe. Even when she relocated to Texas to work with Envy and later moved back to California, weekend phone streams with her family remained a fixture, underscoring how central they are to her on‑camera identity.
Associated With
- Carolina Core (CGS): The TV‑broadcasted franchise that jump‑started her pro résumé in 2007–08.
- Team Dignitas: Kat joined Dignitas’s streamer program and often cross‑promotes their esports rosters during her broadcasts.
- Team Envy/OpTic Envy: She spent two years as Envy’s video‑content manager, bridging competitive insight with storytelling.
- Jessica Nigri: Cosplay superstar and fellow LT3 alum; the duo has shared panels, skits, and countless convention photo ops.
- Guinness World Records & WCG: Milestones that continue to frame interviews and keynote speeches, illustrating her influence on the broader esports landscape.
