ATK claim fourth Cash Cup victory
Now back from their time in Stockholm, Sweden for the IEM Rio Americas RMR, ATK have come out on top in their first outing back in North America, moving past fellow ECL sides Iron Blood and Vendetta in the second ESEA Autumn Cash Cup with ease to claim the $9,000 grand prize.
ATK tussled with Iron Blood in their semifinal matchup and hardly broke a sweat throughout the two maps played. Iron Blood's pick of Mirage was dominated by ATK in the first half, as the international side garnered an 11-4 lead on the defense, before quickly shutting out Iron Blood with a 16-6 scoreline. Early into ATK's pick of Overpass, Iron Blood looked as though they would be able to contest ATK, building an early 4-2 lead, but this quickly collapsed as ATK won fourteen of the next fifteen rounds thanks to a mind-boggling 2.20 rating from Michael "Swisher" Schmid, seeing ATK secure their pick 16-5.
Vendetta, who bested Billionaires, a squad featuring the former ChocoCheck core, would be ATK's opponents in the grand finals. This match ultimately ended up requiring more effort from ATK than the semifinal stomp that had just played out. Vendetta's map pick took ATK right back to Overpass, where the international squad were not able to run away with the game on the defense, being kept honest by bursts of rounds from Vendetta on the T-side, securing only a 9-6 lead at the half. In the end though, a 9-6 lead was all ATK seemed to need as Ian "motm" Hardy's 2.38 T-side rating led to the squad stamping out Vendetta in the second half, stealing away Overpass with a 16-9 scoreline.
Despite Mirage being their pick, ATK looked the most uncomfortable here out of the maps played so far. The first half of this map was filled with the two sides trading streaks of rounds, with Vendetta ultimately coming out on top with an 8-7 score at the half. ATK claimed the second pistol round and the following round to reclaim the lead, but Vendetta kept pace on the offense, eventually overtaking ATK to take a 14-12 lead. Backs to the wall, ATK rallied together the final four rounds to prevent overtime or a third map, locking down Mirage 16-14 to secure the Cash Cup victory.
ATKVendetta| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ian 'motm' Hardy |
56 - 25 | +31 | 99.9 | 78.2% | 1.58 |
 Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
49 - 30 | +19 | 90.6 | 78.2% | 1.32 |
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
36 - 32 | +4 | 69.9 | 69.1% | 1.11 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
34 - 37 | -3 | 68.3 | 70.9% | 0.97 |
| Rhys 'Fadey' Armstrong |
29 - 37 | -8 | 63.9 | 61.8% | 0.88 |
| Vendetta |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony 'CLASIA' Kearney |
41 - 39 | +2 | 74.9 | 67.3% | 1.00 |
 Khizar 'Momo' Rehman |
34 - 41 | -7 | 71.2 | 67.3% | 0.91 |
| Andrew 'Tender' Cote |
29 - 40 | -11 | 57.7 | 52.7% | 0.80 |
| Saad 'Pluto' Siraj |
28 - 43 | -15 | 62.5 | 54.5% | 0.75 |
| Kevin 'consti' Yi |
29 - 42 | -13 | 61.9 | 58.2% | 0.75 |
The final standings for the second ESEA Autumn Cash Cup are:
1. 
ATK - $9,000
2. Vendetta - $4,000
3. Billionaires - $2,000
4. Iron Blood
ATK's next outing will be their match against Brazen in the quarterfinals of ECL Season 43 playoffs, set to begin tomorrow at 08:00PM. Meanwhile, the next Cash Cup is slated for October 29th, with interested squads being able to sign up for the event here.
