Tainted Minds, one of Australia's well-known esports organisation re-enters the Counter-Strike scene with the acquisition of the Athletico squad.

Throughout the year, Athletico have been making waves in the Oceanic region winning EB Expo Sydney LAN finals and the first two editions of the ESL Australia & NZ Championship.

The team made their first international debut at StarLadder i-League Season 2 China Finals in August, securing fourth place at the tournament. At the same event, they were able to take a map off the Korean team, MVP Project and the Chinese powerhouse, TYLOO.



The team had a successful year with Athletico

Stuart "⁠sonic⁠" Rayner and company continued securing more opportunities at several international events, including a 5th-8th placing at the IeSF World Championship, 7th-8th finish in the WESG Asia-Pacific Regional Finals and a 5th-6th position at the recent PGL Asian Minor in Malaysia.

The time has come for them to part ways with the Athletico banner, as they sign with Tainted Minds for 2017. Their new organisation houses some of the region's best from other titles such as Call of Duty and League of Legends. This news came two weeks later after Immunity signed two new players.

In the announcement, here is what their captain, sonic had to say on the change:

"As a team we're extremely excited to be playing under the Tainted Minds banner in 2017. Looking to continue building off of what was an incredible second half of 2016 for our team, which included both our first National and International events. We look forward to working in partnership with Tainted Minds, an organisation well regarded for their professionalism and support for players, as we continue on our development as a team."

The Australian team's first event under Tainted Minds will be at the Mountain Dew League Global Challenge LAN from Janurary 5-8 in 2017, after winning their region's Premier division recently.

Tainted Mind's lineup now have the following: