Astralis has dominated the professional CS:GO scene worldwide throughout 2018 – 2019 with a cohesive, disciplined, and scientific playstyle, along with an extremely effective use of grenades. In just 2 years, they have secured dozens of prestigious titles, the most notable being 3 Major championships and the Grand Slam Season 1 with a prize of $1 million. However, in the early months of 2020, Astralis struggled to maintain stable performance, as their results in LAN tournaments were poor (last place in Group B at the BLAST Premier Spring Series and 3rd-4th at IEM Katowice 2020). They even lost their #1 ranking on the hltv leaderboard to Na`vi, who eliminated them in the semifinals of IEM Katowice 2020.
Last night, Astralis unexpectedly announced the signing of 24-year-old player Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, confirming previous rumors with a contract effective from July 1st. This means that starting in July, Astralis will officially compete with a 6-member roster, a first in the history of professional CS:GO.
Explaining this move, Nikolaj Nyholm, CEO and co-founder of Astralis, shared his views on Twitter. Specifically, he stated, “The health of the players is always our top priority. Having a larger roster has been a goal of ours since device had to stop playing in 2017 due to health issues. We will provide detailed explanations about how the team will operate in future interviews.”
Regarding questions about the new lineup, Nyholm stated that coach Zonic will have the authority to make roster changes if necessary, not the players. According to the current rules of tournament organizers, teams can only substitute players during breaks between maps and cannot do so while a match is ongoing, which will certainly allow Astralis more flexibility in gameplay with contingency plans and unique strategies.
According to the official announcement, es3tag’s contract with Astralis will take effect from July 1, 2020, the day his previous contract with Heroic expires. However, Heroic immediately claimed that Astralis acted “in a shady manner” and affected their collaboration with FunPlus Phoenix. According to Erik Askered, CEO of Heroic, they are preparing legal procedures to confront Astralis.
Nyholm quickly defended his organization, asserting that Astralis had informed both Heroic and FunPlus Phoenix about the deal and had no ill intentions towards either organization.
“Last Wednesday, we contacted Erik Askerud and requested to release Patrick’s (es3tag) contract; however, Heroic quoted a price of $800,000 for the remaining 3 months of the contract. We politely declined but still wanted to secure es3tag’s signing soon. On Friday, Astralis officially signed an employment contract with es3tag effective from July 1. We fully informed Heroic and FunPlus Phoenix of this.”
In another development, FunPlus Phoenix forfeited their match against Orgless last night in the Flashpoint tournament due to “recent roster changes,” thus officially being eliminated from Phase 1 of the tournament. This decision further highlights the conflicts between FunPlus Phoenix and Heroic regarding es3tag’s departure. In a tweet, cadiaN, the captain of FunPlus Phoenix, shared that he and his teammates fully support es3tag’s decision.
“All members support es3tag’s decision – he is one of the best teammates I have ever had. We just want to compete, and we were all warmed up and ready in the studio, but they suddenly announced we were not allowed to play…”
With this signing, Astralis’ lineup starting July 1 will be:
Nicolai “device” Reedtz
Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth
Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen
Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
Emil “Magisk” Reif
Patrick “es3tag” Hansen
Danny “zonic” Sørensen (coach)