Gentle Mates Sign safiaa and Bench tokameite Ahead of Game Changers Championship

Gentle Mates have signed Safia "safiaa" Leghzal from Karmine Corp and moved Anastasia "tokameite" Pozharskaya to the bench ahead of the 2026 VALORANT Game Changers Championship.

The change comes four weeks before the Game Changers Championship begins in São Paulo. Gentle Mates qualified for their first Championship through EMEA circuit points after reaching all three regional finals in their debut Game Changers season, winning Stage 1 before finishing runner-up in Stages 2 and 3. They will enter the event as EMEA's second seed behind G2 Gozen.

Gentle Mates coach Kévin "Ex6TenZ" Droolans said the staff had been discussing a roster change for some time and acknowledged that making it this close to the Championship was not their preferred timing.

According to Ex6TenZ, the decision came down to team dynamics. He also credited tokameite for her part in Gentle Mates' first Game Changers season, which included the Stage 1 title and two more appearances in EMEA grand finals.

tokameite joined the project when Gentle Mates entered Game Changers at the start of 2026. She remained in the starting lineup through the Stage 3 final on August 30, when Gentle Mates lost 3-2 to G2 Gozen.

The organization has benched tokameite rather than announcing that she has left Gentle Mates.

safiaa joins from a Karmine Corp roster that did not qualify for this year's world championship.

She already has experience at the event after representing Karmine Corp at the 2025 Game Changers Championship in Seoul. KC finished 5th-6th after reaching the international tournament on the back of a season that included EMEA Stage 1 and Stage 2 titles.

Their 2026 campaign was less successful. Karmine Corp finished fourth in Stage 1, seventh in Stage 2 and 9th-10th in Stage 3, missing the playoffs in the final two stages. Moving to Gentle Mates gives safiaa another opportunity to compete internationally, this time with a team that remained near the top of EMEA throughout 2026.

The move is not a direct replacement in terms of the agents both players have regularly used.

tokameite has largely played Initiators for Gentle Mates, with Sova among her most-used agents during the season. safiaa has spent more time on Sentinel and Duelist picks, roles already commonly occupied within Gentle Mates by wens and berryx. Gentle Mates have not announced how those responsibilities will change once safiaa enters the starting lineup.

The Game Changers Championship runs from October 22 to November 1 at the Riot Games Arena in São Paulo, with ten teams competing for the 2026 title.