ATK CS:GO roster change: One South African remains

South Africans Gareth “⁠MisteM⁠” Ries and Rhys “⁠Fadey⁠” Armstrong have been a staple of the ATK Arena’s CS:GO squad. We’ve been following them closely since they moved overseas to compete in the North American region. Recently, ATK managed to qualify for ESL Pro League Season 17, arguably one of the team’s biggest accomplishments overseas to date.

Before ESL Pro League Season 17 kicks off, however, the organization and Rhys “⁠Fadey⁠” Armstrong mutually parted ways. In Fadey’s place comes a player from Pakistan, Saad “Pluto” Siraj. We will see Pluto compete with ATK Arena’s CS:GO squad at ESL Pro League Season 17 starting on 22 February 2023.

Fadey on Leaving ATK

On Twitter, Fadey shared a Twitlonger post, saying goodbye and thanking his fans and ATK, and talked a bit out life and CS:GO. Check it out in full below:

“I’ve had to make a big decision in my life to step down from ATK for a multitude of reasons, all of which I will not explain, but I will be giving a few reasons for my decision in this post.

I’ve recently had a lot of stress with competing, trying to perform my best, keeping personal relationships strong with my friends and family as well as my university studies. It’s been hard to balance all of these things with different timezones and being across the world – it felt as if to be performing well I’d be neglecting my studies or family, and vice versa the other ways too.

This decision has been on my mind for a long time and it has not been an easy one at all, I do miss competing and do miss my teammates, there is only love for those gents and I will show my support for all of them always, I believe they can get somebody who can commit and work 100% hand in hand with them and their goals and not have divided attention as I did. I wish them the best for 2023 and I KNOW they will do amazing.

A big shout out to Mistem, he has always been in my life, and in the year in Mexico he has always been there for me and helping me through any problems I encountered and he most of all knew the stress I was going through. He is a beast of a player and my support for him will be everlasting. He was such a kind person to me always and motivated me a lot when I was in my slumps.

I don’t know what 2023 will hold for me, this is a new chapter in my life and I am excited to continue my life outside of cs finally. Thanks to all my fans and friends for always supporting me <3″

We wish Fadey all the best of luck with his surgery and recovery. It will be interesting to see how ATK performs at EPL Season 17 without Fadey, we will follow them closely! Stay tuned as we will bring you all the ESL Pro League Season 17 info you need.

Header image via Valve.