ATK plan move to North America
In a podcast with South African commentator Matthew "Haze" Stott, ATK's coach Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan and player Gareth "MisteM" Ries announced their team's intentions to move to North America in 2021, with ATK's goal being to qualify to Premier and become a top five team in the region. This would be ATK's second roster to compete in North America, following in the footsteps of the American-South African lineup that went on to be signed by Cloud9.
Of the players on the lineup, Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong is by far the most recognizable name to North American fans, having spent one and a half years in the region as part of the South African lineup that represented Bravado, Denial, and ATK. During their stay in North America, Fadey and co. became one of North America's top tier two sides, winning ESEA MDL Season 28, upsetting the likes of OpTic and G2 to claim a second-place finish at DreamHack Winter 2018, and winning DreamHack Invitational Mumbai.
While the rest of the team is relatively unknown to an international audience, ATK have been raising eyebrows at home, having won eight events in a row in South Africa; a perfect since the team formed in May.
Dust2.us reached out to sprayxd for more details about the team's move to North America, with the Israeli coach saying that the team will either try to arrive in the region in April for Season 37 or in July for Season 38. They are currently considering acquiring a team house in Canada, and are looking at the possibility of having a month long bootcamp in Europe prior to any move to prepare for the heightened level of competition.
sprayxd told Dust2.us that he hopes to join his players in Canada as soon as possible, but he noted that he is currently fulfilling his service obligation in the Israeli military. His conscription will last until late November unless he is released early.
ATK's lineup consists of:
Josh "bLazE" Saunders- Gareth "MisteM" Ries
- Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong
- Aaron "SloWye" van der Walt
- Wiljahne "mango" Smith
Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan (Coach)
ATK are the latest team to plan on moving to North America, with Argentinian squad 9z also announcing their intentions to head north on December 31st.
