Party Astronauts blast off to LAN
Party Astronauts, just barely two weeks free from their contracts with Evil Geniuses as the EG White squad, have triumphed in their first together to qualify to ESL Challenger Katowice, where they will join paiN as the representatives from the Americas.
In a heated qualifier that saw Evil Geniuses go out early, the closed qualifier was even tougher for some teams. ATK and Party Astronauts faced off to open up the double-elimination qualifier while Nouns were gifted a slighter easier opponent in Detonate. The BLAST.tv Paris Major Americas RMR attendees were tested in their victory over Detonate, but would go through to the final with an additional win over Party Astronauts.
NounsDetonate| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 David 'cynic' Polster |
60 - 60 | +0 | 80.9 | 65.5% | 1.09 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
62 - 58 | +4 | 78.6 | 64.3% | 1.08 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
58 - 53 | +5 | 81.5 | 69.0% | 1.06 |
 Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
53 - 54 | -1 | 68.4 | 70.2% | 0.97 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
50 - 57 | -7 | 63.6 | 67.9% | 0.93 |
| Detonate |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keller 'SLIGHT' Nilan |
59 - 51 | +8 | 74.4 | 69.0% | 1.14 |
 Adam 'freshie' Paterson |
57 - 50 | +7 | 75.8 | 78.6% | 1.14 |
| Brett 'brett' Rhein |
58 - 63 | -5 | 80.0 | 61.9% | 1.03 |
| Matthew 'Cryptic' Whitmore |
53 - 54 | -1 | 67.4 | 65.5% | 1.02 |
| Jack 'micro' Ryan |
52 - 65 | -13 | 76.2 | 66.7% | 0.94 |
In defense of Party Astronauts, their first match against ATK was a brutal BO3 that would inevitably go the distance, which included a crucial double overtime on the final map, giving way to the recently released squad. However, the luck for PA would soon run out as their game against Nouns would not go their way as they once again went to a third map, but would fall in the Semi-Finals, setting themselves up for a rematch against ATK in the Consolidation Final.
NounsParty Astronauts| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'cynic' Polster |
63 - 43 | +20 | 87.0 | 76.4% | 1.37 |
| Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
61 - 41 | +20 | 88.8 | 76.4% | 1.32 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
48 - 49 | -1 | 75.3 | 69.4% | 1.04 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
46 - 55 | -9 | 69.5 | 68.1% | 0.93 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
33 - 41 | -8 | 58.1 | 76.4% | 0.92 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
58 - 53 | +5 | 96.1 | 83.3% | 1.28 |
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
48 - 42 | +6 | 68.7 | 72.2% | 1.07 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
42 - 51 | -9 | 67.5 | 58.3% | 0.89 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
39 - 53 | -14 | 60.2 | 69.4% | 0.85 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
41 - 52 | -11 | 58.2 | 68.1% | 0.80 |
For ATK, they had their backs against the wall thanks to an unfortunate loss against PA, but rebounded by eliminating Detonate. However, their second go at PA would turn out to be one they would regret. A 2-0 loss, but one that was extremely winnable. ATK would bring PA into double overtime in the first map, and then looked like they would go the distance after taking a commanding 13-5 lead on Ancient. The South African org would give up eleven rounds in a row to throw away the lead and give PA a finals appearance against Nouns to go to Katowice.
ATKParty Astronauts| ATK |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jonathan 'b0denmaster' Bodenmalm |
55 - 46 | +9 | 78.8 | 66.2% | 1.14 |
| Michael 'Swisher' Schmid |
48 - 50 | -2 | 92.0 | 73.2% | 1.12 |
| Ethan 'reck' Serrano |
51 - 47 | +4 | 75.2 | 73.2% | 1.11 |
| Jonathan 'djay' Dallal |
51 - 50 | +1 | 71.3 | 69.0% | 1.00 |
 Gareth 'MisteM' Ries |
45 - 50 | -5 | 69.6 | 70.4% | 0.94 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
62 - 41 | +21 | 87.2 | 83.1% | 1.30 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
57 - 52 | +5 | 94.9 | 64.8% | 1.22 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
40 - 49 | -9 | 68.4 | 60.6% | 0.86 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
42 - 53 | -11 | 62.0 | 62.0% | 0.83 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
40 - 56 | -16 | 68.5 | 64.8% | 0.80 |
The rematch against Nouns would be everything that Party Astronauts could ask for. This would become the third full-distance best-of-three the squad played in the qualifier and it would again be a match that included an overtime. Nouns and PA would each claim their own map pick, with PA picking Mirage and Nouns picking Overpass. The decider of Nuke would go back and forth, with both teams almost evenly trading halves, leading to a single overtime where PA pulled away to secure a 19-16 victory and a ticket to Poland.
NounsParty Astronauts| Nouns |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David 'cynic' Polster |
75 - 59 | +16 | 79.9 | 72.2% | 1.27 |
| Carson 'nosraC' O'Reilly |
60 - 59 | +1 | 81.8 | 74.4% | 1.08 |
| Brendan 'Bwills' Williams |
61 - 60 | +1 | 68.5 | 70.0% | 1.02 |
| Christopher 'cJ dA K1nG' Jones |
60 - 61 | -1 | 74.3 | 67.8% | 1.00 |
| Edgar 'MarKE' Maldonado |
42 - 64 | -22 | 61.3 | 65.6% | 0.85 |
| Party Astronauts |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh 'PwnAlone' Pigue |
78 - 58 | +20 | 93.5 | 82.2% | 1.35 |
| Danny 'cxzi' Strzelczyk |
59 - 65 | -6 | 83.4 | 68.9% | 1.06 |
| Connor 'chop' Sullivan |
57 - 58 | -1 | 67.9 | 67.8% | 0.99 |
| Wesley 'viz' Harris |
54 - 60 | -6 | 65.9 | 71.1% | 0.92 |
| Ben 'ben1337' Smith |
54 - 59 | -5 | 68.1 | 65.6% | 0.92 |
The former Evil Geniuses squad recently picked up Danny "cxzi" Strzelczyk and Connor "chop" Sullivan to fill out their team, immediately realizing the impact of the two players as they secured their first invitation to an international tournament. ESL Challenger Katowice is set to start on June 9th.
