b0denmaster exits ATK's starting lineup as contractual impasse wears on

ATK's primary AWPer, Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm, announced today that he has stepped down from the team's starting lineup. The decision by the Swede comes after multiple difficult months of playing from Europe in the middle of the night with high ping due to being unable to return to North America.

As elaborated in his TwitLonger, b0denmaster stated that his health and enjoyment of the game have suffered in the past two months due to being unable to return to North America to compete under normal circumstances. The reason behind this situation and many of ATK's roster woes in recent months is the lapsing of their contracts with the South African organization.

Dust2.us understands that ATK have been free agents since February 28th and have been playing for ATK on an ad-hoc basis since then. This period of contractual uncertainty has coincided with instability in the roster, with a rotating cast of players filling the fifth spot in the team while negotiations are ongoing. Additionally, in late March, Michael "Swisher" Schmid made it known that he is open to offers from team in NA and Europe, highlighting the fragile state of one of NA's best teams.

Dust2.us reached out to ATK's coach, Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan, and ATK's owner, Warren "Flea" Barkhuizen, to comment on the current state of contractual negotiations. sprayxd declined to comment due to the status of negotiations while Barkuizhen did not respond to the request by the time of publication.

sprayxd did tell Dust2.us, however, that the team have found a stand-in for b0denmaster in the form of another Swedish AWPer. In b0denmaster's place, ATK are set to field fellow Swede and former Fnatic Academy player, Adam "WolfY" Andersson, who has recently returned to the United States after nearly two years in Sweden.

As such, ATK will play with:

• Gareth "MisteM" Ries

• Michael "Swisher" Schmid

• Jonathan "djay" Dallal

• Ethan "reck" Serrano (Stand-in)

• Adam "WolfY" Andersson (Stand-in)

• Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan (Coach)

• Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm (Inactive)

WolfY will likely make his debut with ATK in their next ESL Challenger League Season 45 match against MIBR on May 9th.