viz rejoins Party Astronauts; ptr set to stand-in for EPL

Party Astronauts have refilled their ranks with the addition of former teammate Wesley "viz" Harris. His addition follows the sudden and fractious departure of David "cynic" Polster from the lineup on February 18th in the wake of the cancelation of the team's European bootcamp.

However, due to viz not having a passport, and the start of ESL Pro League Season 15 being right around the corner, Party Astronauts have called on the services of Peter "ptr" Gurney to stand-in for the event.

The addition of viz comes as little surprise as he recently helped Party Astronauts win Mythic Cup Winter 2 over oNe on Sunday. During that event, the 20-year-old posted a strong 1.18 rating over five maps. He also previously played for Party Astronauts for a period of six months in 2021 before stepping down from the roster in August due to personal circumstances.

viz later returned to activity with Triumph/Third Impact before once again stepping down from the team due to personal issues. Hopefully his return to activity marks the resolution of his personal issues.

viz's EPL stand-in, ptr, will have a fair amount of work to put in as he retired in July 2021 to pursue a career as a professional poker player. Despite this, he will likely relish the chance to play ESL Pro League again, having last played Pro League eight seasons ago with compLexity.

While in Europe, ptr will reunite with Jonathan "Jonji" Carey with whom he played for a number of years on Riot Squad and two iterations of Bad News Bears.

Regarding the decision to field ptr over other North American or European options, Party Astronaut's coach, Joseph "Muenster" Lima, told Dust2.us:

It was coming down to the wire. Roster lock is tonight for EPL and none of the other players we were considering panned out. There were some European options but we felt that Pete would be the better fit because of his history with Jonji, his experience, and we wouldn't need to worry about a potential language barrier. Since he's in North America with us we'll also be able to get some practice time before the event which would've been very difficult with someone from Europe.

Muenster also confirmed that Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue will stay the team's primary AWPer for the event, with ptr taking on a hybrid role with the team.

Party Astronauts are now:

• Ben "ben1337" Smith

• Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue

• Jonathan "djay" Dallal

• Jonathan "Jonji" Carey (Stand-in)

• Wesley "viz" Harris

• Joseph "Muenster" Lima (Coach)

• Peter "ptr" Gurney (EPL Stand-in)

viz will make his debut with Party Astronauts on February 23rd when the team take on oNe in ESL Challenger League Season 40 at 08:00PM.