Astana Dragons parts way with its CS:GO division

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

There was only one goal in mind for the scaled monsters from Kazakhstan; to destroy NiP. With a lineup consiting of some of the most seasoned talents from the CIS region in the shape of Ioann 'Edward' Sukhariev, Yegor 'Markeloff' Markelov and Mihail 'Dosia' Stolyarov, this congregation amassed some of the most ridiculous expectations in CS history.

It is therefore, after struggling for the past two months, that the team has departed from it's organisation and are now looking to find a new home for their roster.

Counter Strike expert, and senior esports content creator here at ongamers, Duncan 'Thorin' Shields has been kind enough to contribute his own view on the break-up of one of the most talented CS rosters on paper, and their subsequent demise.

Context is everything when it comes to understanding Astana Dragon's problems. Their formation came from the frustration of the Na`Vi stars not being able to win and the Virtus.Pro players with their organisation. In forming Astana Dragons, apparently with heavy backing, it was expected that they would both win and have great organisational support. Clearly something has gone wrong in each respect.

In terms of results, it's a lot easier to identify their problems. They started off well, immediately coming in at a top four range, as expected. When they beat NiP at StarSeries VII it was easy to imagine they simply had a bad match-up vs. VeryGames in a final and now a new era of three elite teams was upon us, where if they got the right match-up they could win events, by NiP beating VeryGames and them beating NiP. That actually proved to be the height of their time together, though.

Losing to coL at Dreamhack Winter was beyond a disaster, the bracket had opened to give them a direct run to the final and a guaranteed $50,000, at least. Instead they failed to finish top four. Losing at StarSeries VIII, recently, was the final nail in the coffin, they didn't even lose to good teams here, they were beaten by a GamePub side it should have been impossible for them to lose to, on paper.

If the organisation truly does have heavy funding behind it, then these results simply don't cut it for what they are spending. If the team themselves truly care about winning tournaments, then something drastic needs to be done. What that means, in both regards, is what we will find out in each's next chapter.

- Duncan 'Thorin' Shields

Image Source: Alexander Petrik, Astana Dragon's VK.com