We are pleased to announce that we have agreed with global esports giant, Cloud9, to the transfer of our highly successful ATK Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team comprising of Johnny “JT” Theodosiou, Ian “motm” Hardy, Aran “Sonic” Groesbeek, Joshua “oSee” Ohm, Ricky “floppy” Kemery, and Dr Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen.
Despite a turbulent journey with as many as 5 roster changes over 9 months, the tenacity of the team shone through and things really started coming together towards the latter half of 2019.
Successes include a 1st-place finish at Esports Championship Series Season 8 - North America: Series 2, 1st-place finish at the WESG 2019 North America: United States Qualifier, and a strong 7th/8th showing at the ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals, seeing the team ending 2019 ranked 17th on HLTV and 19th in the ESL.
While we feel that we are yet to see the best of the relatively new yet formidable team, we are certain that their new home and support base will see them move on to far greater things.
“Massive thanks to ATKArena and specifically, Warren Barkhuizen for an amazing 10 month journey. Warren stepped in to help us out of a very tight spot towards the beginning of 2019. He had a lot of faith in myself and the team and gave us the platform we needed to get to where we are today. We had some great times while working together and I wish them nothing but the best for their future endeavors.” – Dr Tiaan “T.c” Coertzen
A major motivating factor in our agreement to transfer the team was the commitment by Cloud9 CEO and owner, Jack Etienne, to the continued collaboration between ATK and Cloud9 beyond this transaction. At ATK we believe that Africa represents a vast, untapped resource of esports talent and have entered into the agreement with the specific intention of providing international opportunities to local players.
We wish the team all the very best on the new leg of their journey with Cloud9 and look forward to great things from them in 2020 and beyond.
Locally, we and our sponsors Omen by HP, Logitech and AMD will continue to invest heavily into teams, facilities and tournaments across various titles in search of the next African superstars.
Play Seriously
Warren Barkhuizen - Managing Director
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