Party Astronauts confirm brief bootcamp ahead of ESL Pro League S15

Party Astronauts confirmed on Twitter yesterday that ESL will allow the orgless team to head to Europe nearly a week before the start of ESL Pro League Season 15 to get a five-day bootcamp in, as well as to get settled in their living space. They will use the salvaged $3,400 from the canceled crowdfunded bootcamp back in February to help accommodate for the travel, with ESL offering to pay any financial costs that are leftover.

The money in question is what is left from the original crowdfunded pool of $6,000, donated to Party Astronauts so they could have an extended bootcamp in anticipation of EPL. Confusion regarding Germany's evolving COVID-19 restrictions by coach Joseph "Muenster" Lima spurred by a possible lack of proper vaccination status from ex-Astronaut David "cynic" Polster led to a massive loss of the crowdfunded money and left the travel hopes in the air.

Within a week of cynic's departure, Party Astronauts were able to fill the void with former teammate Wesley "viz" Harris, who rejoined the starting lineup following a brief stint that ended last August. viz is expected to stick with the team for the PGL North American RMR Open Qualifiers and beyond. However, he will not be joining the Astronauts in their adventure to Europe for ESL Pro League, as the 20-year-old's lack of a passport prevents him from taking the flight to Germany. Taking his place for Party Astronauts' Group C matches at EPL is North American veteran AWPer, Peter "ptr" Gurney.

ptr's tenured career spans over a seven-plus year window, representing some of the biggest organizations in North American Counter-Strike like CLG, NRG, and Complexity. He spent the majority of his final two and a half years playing on the Bad News Bears (BNB) lineup before announcing his retirement from competitive Counter-Strike. After enjoying nearly five months away from officials, ptr reappeared as a stand-in for the BNB lineup in the first ESEA Cash Cup of the new year. The team was near perfect with a 6-1 map record en route to first place and the $4,000 grand prize.

The series of fortunate events has the Party Astronaut bootcamp feeling positive heading into their biggest opportunity together. When asked about the recent news, Muenster said, "With the way things had been going for us up until now our expectations were very low when I went to ESL with the idea of letting us get set up early. But luckily they were able to accommodate us and even support us financially. Everyone on the team is extremely happy and excited that we're able to get extra time in Europe even if it is only five days and with a substitute. We're going to try and be sponges and absorb as much as possible while we're there."

Party Astronauts' lineup for ESL Pro League Season 15 will be:

• Ben "ben1337" Smith

• Jonathan "djay" Dallal

• Jonathan "Jonji" Carey

• Peter "ptr" Gurney

• Josh "PwnAlone" Pigue

• Joseph "Muenster" Lima (coach)

The uplifting news comes at a perfect time for Party Astronauts, as the core is gearing up for the two biggest events of their year back-to-back, with the first PGL North American RMR Open Qualifiers on March 10th at 04:00PM and their ESL Pro League Season 15 group matches beginning March 23rd.