NA-Talks: Party Astronauts at ESL Pro League
Topic: CS:GO Party Astronauts ESL Pro League
With EPL group C concluding over the weekend, we got to see two of the four North American representatives face off against some of Counter Strikes finest. With both Team Liquid and the orgless Party Astronauts in the group, friction was expected.
Party Astronauts, one of the underdogs from NA, showcased some poor CS. The roster came into this event from a first-place finish in the ESEA Season 38 Premier division and off the back of a recent first-place finish in the Antwerp American RMR, PA looked as if they could make some waves.
Jellin Andy ESL | Adela-Sznajder
The North Americans Prepare
Party Astronauts prepped for this event well, arriving in Europe 5 days early in order to book camp against teams from all over the region. This early arrival to Europe was supported by ESL themselves, allowing the team to set up in their practice rooms early. Although the team originally planned for a two-week boot camp, their plans were halted by travel restrictions and unexpected problems with their flights.
Along with problems regarding their boot camp the team was going into the event with a substitute player, Peter “ptr” Gurney, due to their new player Wesley "viz" Harris, not getting his passport in time for the event. Regardless of when the team arrived, and their new player, they were allowed some valuable practice time against the world's best in preparation for ESL Pro League.
Party Astronauts Fail To Make An Impact
Although well prepped, Party Astronauts looked anything but prepared in their opening match. In their opening series against Players (Gambit) PA looked deflated, dropping map one with a 16-4 defeat, promptly followed by a 16-6 loss on map two. The rest of their matches went by in the same way, their second series was against BIG, a much more realistic opponent for the NA side. This series was a good deal better than the one against Players, however, ended in a similar fashion, PA fell on map one 16-9, followed by a 16-10 loss on map two.
The Astronaut's third series was against a familiar opponent, GODSENT. GODSENT is a team they have played many times previously in their own region, most recently in the Mythic Spring cup #2, where they were bested in their series, and lost 2-0. With another feasible opponent to play, PA looked as if they could turn this event around for themselves, however, GODSENT was too strong. GODSENT, in the same fashion as players, easily dispatched Party Astronauts, with 16-9 and 16-8 wins on maps 1 and 2 respectively.
This was a floundering defeat and wiped out any chance of playoffs for the North Americans. The sides next two series followed the same trend. With losses against the other North American side, Liquid, and the top team in their group, Movistar Riders. The Series against Liquid ended 0-2, and against Movistar, they finished 1-2, finally netting their first map win, all be it in their last series. Party Astronauts, now officially eliminated from the event, finished with a depressing 0-5 record.
Hope Among Failure, Whats Next?
This event is a good experience for a team that has never played in Europe before, and the value of that cannot be understated. However, with embarrassing results, this can’t be considered a success for the squad. Overall EPL was a failure for PA, perhaps things would have been different if they were able to get their two-week boot camp, but that is just speculation, all we know is that they are not yet ready to compete with the best of the best.
Party Astronauts have another chance to prove themselves coming up, in the form of the Major Qualifier. The Antwerp North America Qualifiers are set to start on April 11th and along with Party Astronauts NAs best are all going to be there competing for top six and their spot at the major.
Conclusion
Although their performance at ESL Pro League was very mediocre the experience will hopefully help the squad to come back stronger in the upcoming challenges! We´re looking forward to their next games and wish them nothing but the best.
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