ATK field Ukranian stand-in following travel issues
The revolving door of international players continued to spin today for ATK today. The North American-based lineup was forced to field Ukranian player Evgeniy 'j3kie' Sergachev for their BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic matchup against Bad News Eagles in place of Jonathan "djay" Dallal. The 29-year-old Canadian detailed his difficult travel day which resulted in him not arriving in Malta on time. These issues have now been resolved as ATK's coach Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan has told Dust2.us that djay is now with the team in Europe and will be available for their next game.
The substitution of j3kie for djay while temporary is far from the only change in personnel that ATK has experienced lately. Long-time member Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong announced that he would be taking a temporary leave of absence to undergo surgery back in January, before deciding that his departure would be permanent at the beginning of February.
Fadey's replacement Saad "Pluto" Siraj did not last long, as the team decided to go another direction after their failure to qualify for the BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR. ATK is employing North Macedonian player Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski for their European trip, with the length of the 22-year-old's tenure in the roster uncertain as of now.
On the server, ATK would have probably wished for an easier opponent considering their unfortunate circumstances. Posting just 10 rounds across the bo3 against the highest-ranked team at the tournament, their Kossovan opponents capitalized on the NA side's misfortune. The number 21 ranked team in the world wrapped up the series swiftly, winning 16-6 on Mirage and 16-4 on Inferno. With djay back, there will be more chances for ATK at BetBoom Playlist Urbanistic, as they fall to the 0-1 column of the Swiss system.
ATKBad News Eagles| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
24 - 34 | -10 | 72.0 | 59.5% | 0.82 |
 Yevhen 'j3kie' Serhachov |
23 - 36 | -13 | 56.4 | 59.5% | 0.63 |
 Aleksandar 'CacaNito' Kjulukoski |
17 - 38 | -21 | 66.5 | 52.4% | 0.57 |
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
23 - 39 | -16 | 51.0 | 57.1% | 0.57 |
 Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
15 - 38 | -23 | 43.2 | 45.2% | 0.40 |
| Bad News Eagles |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dionis 'sinnopsyy' Budeci |
40 - 21 | +19 | 108.1 | 92.9% | 1.77 |
| Genc 'gxx-' Kolgeci |
42 - 12 | +30 | 87.3 | 92.9% | 1.73 |
| Flatron 'juanflatroo' Halimi |
41 - 21 | +20 | 100.1 | 78.6% | 1.54 |
 Rigon 'rigoN' Gashi |
37 - 25 | +12 | 90.5 | 85.7% | 1.48 |
| Sener 'SENER1' Mahmuti |
25 - 23 | +2 | 63.8 | 78.6% | 1.06 |
