ATK cut Pluto ahead of EPL

Despite proving to be one of the best teams in the region over the past year, ATK stumbled through the Closed qualifiers with losses to Strife and Detonate forcing them to face off against tough opponent Nouns for the all or nothing qualification match.

A 2-1 defeat meant that they would not be joining the region's best in Mexico, and instead sparked an immediate roster change with newest member Saad "Pluto" Siraj finding himself out of the team.

After our previous report revealing the team's decision to field Aleksandar "CacaNito" Kjulukoski for their ESL Pro League Season 17 run, sources have now told Dust2.us that Pluto's removal will be permanent. Something that the player took to Twitter to suggest, hinting that he feels he has been used as a scapegoat for the team's disappointing exit.

Pluto joined ATK at the start of February as a replacement for long-standing member Rhys "Fadey" Armstrong. During his stint on the team, Pluto failed to have a major impact, posting just a 0.97 rating across his time with the roster, and noticeably the rifler went missing in their all-important match against Nouns with the joint lowest rating on the team 0.92.

ATK's next match is scheduled to be their ECL clash against oNe, and with their stand-in for ESL Pro League being on a different continent it is currently unknown who's services they will employ for the matchup. Former player Ian "motm" Hardy has stood in for them previously and it would not be a surprise to see him temporarily return once again to help out his old team.

ATK's roster for the time being is reduced to:

• Gareth "MisteM" Ries

• Jonathan "b0denmaster" Bodenmalm

• Michael "Swisher" Schmid

• Jonathan "djay" Dallal

• Daniel "sprayxd" Kogan (Coach)