ATK barrels through DreamHack Open September open qualifier

In mid-August, ATK Arena’s CS:GO squad finally travelled to Mexico to embark on their international journey. Despite several setbacks, the team is now competing out of Mexico, and just before leaving, ATK Arena announced that Ian “motm” Hardy has joined on a trial basis to compete with them in ESEA S38 NA Advanced following Aaron “SloWye” Van Der Walt’s departure.

Anyone who’s ever watched a big local CS:GO esports tournament would know ATK has dominated the scene. While they did suffer some losses in ESEA S38 NA Advanced, the squad continues to train, and the training has already paid off.

ATK claims a spot in DHO Closed Qualifier

Early in September, ATK joined the DreamHack Open September’s open qualifier. It is the first step to getting into DreamHack Open September, a tournament that Extra Salt has been invited to.

ATK Arena joined 35 other teams to fight for just two spots in the DreamHack Open September Closed Qualifier. With a single-elimination bracket where all matches except for the final, qualifying ones being best-of-one, there was no room for error.

ATK’s CS:GO squad took down 727 Esports 16-10 in their opening match, followed by a dominating 16-3 performance against Synergy. In the qualifying finals match, their opponents went one map up. ATK’s CS:GO squad showed their big match temperament and pulled off a reverse sweep. They managed to beat Northern Forces 2-1 with a 16-8 score on Nuke, followed by a 16-3 win on Dust II.

With the win, ATK has qualified for the DreamHack Open September Closed Qualifier. This tournament will take place in mid-September, and feature eight teams. The top two teams will earn a spot at DreamHack Open September. Here, teams will fight for their share of the $70,000 prize pool, and a spot at an upcoming ESL Pro Tour event.

Well done ATK, well done! We are excited to follow their journey, just as we continue to do with Extra Salt. If ATK does make it to DreamHack Open September, they will be competing against Extra Salt. What an exciting prospect!

Header image via Valve.