Astralis to split from RFRSH Entertainment

12/7/2019 - 21:15

Astralis will soon fully operate independently from RFRSH Entertainment, HLTV.org has learned.

The Danish team and Origen - the iconic League of Legends brand acquired by RFRSH Entertainment in November 2018 - are already operating under a new company called 'RFRSH Teams', a temporary name that will soon be changed.

RFRSH Entertainment CEO Nikolaj Nyholm told HLTV.org that the company will focus solely "on the BLAST Pro Series and other BLAST properties", stressing that the "truly important parts of the teams' and the tournaments' organisations have already been separated".

At this point, a limited number of key people still hold positions of influence within both companies, including Mr. Nyholm himself. However, in the near future, the few people with group responsibilities will not be able to be involved in both projects.

Astralis and Origen split from RFRSH Entertainment as company switches focus to BLAST Pro Series

The management behind RFRSH Teams is also expecting "extensive interest from outside investors" in the company, which houses not only one of the most decorated teams in the history of Counter-Strike but also a highly-successful League of Legends squad who finished in second place in the LEC 2019 Spring Playoffs.

Despite the recent criticism targeted at the potential conflict of interest between RFRSH Entertainment and Astralis, and at how BLAST Pro Series' heavy event schedule and business model have changed the landscape of competitive Counter-Strike in 2019, Mr. Nyholm insists that this move has long been in the pipeline.

"Two years ago we spoke about how, after a build-up phase of a model esports team, a tournament operator and a team should not have common ownership," he said, revealing that Astralis are now "a profitable business, unique to the esports ecosystem."

Honestly it was kinda expected. Really glad they made this decision.

2019-07-12 21:15

55 replies

OMG

12 replies

Wtf! Astralis back to #1?

2019-07-12 21:18

11 replies

It's a bit too late tho

2019-07-12 21:17

9 replies

Next year maybe

2019-07-12 21:19

8 replies

Nikolaj Nyholm AHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA

2019-07-12 21:20

3 replies

ni hao?

2019-07-12 21:27

2 replies

who?

2019-07-12 21:41

1 reply

nikolai hao

2019-07-12 21:49

Well, there is still a major soon. Not sure if that will get them back on #1 but it will definitely help them.

2019-07-12 21:44

Liquid vs good Astralis major?

2019-07-12 21:50

No mibr fnatic

2019-07-13 11:33

LUL

2019-07-13 21:54

lol no they still shit homeboy

2019-07-12 21:32

2019-07-12 21:16

Liquid still number one though

31 replies

Let's see for how long an NA team can last.

2019-07-12 21:21

They'll win Starladder Major then nitr0 will retire, Twistzz and Elige will quit the team and get back to Choquid and sign randoms to fix the team

2019-07-12 22:14

5 replies

u high?

2019-07-12 22:43

nitr0 is 23 years old and shows no signs of fatigue or lack of talent. If anything nitr0 might be better than he's ever been

2019-07-12 23:03

Did u just get baited

2019-07-13 01:42

Wtf nitro retire he is still Young

2019-07-12 23:40

2019-07-13 01:43

0/8

2019-07-13 02:06

months?

2019-07-13 09:24

Astralis still greater all time though. Liquid = puny Grand Slam Astralis = Grand Slam, 3x Major winners, 10 Tier one tournaments wins in a single calendar year.

2019-07-12 21:24

21 replies

blastralis in 2019 omegalul

check 2018 and now cuz chokeliquid won smth if they won major ok you can go

2019-07-12 22:12

Astralis_1_major_in_2k19_Liquid_0

2019-07-12 23:37

Major in 2019 .. liquid none

2019-07-13 07:59

mad cause flag

2019-07-13 18:08

No not at all but Astralis Even tho they play less good than last year still won biggest tournament in 2019

2019-07-13 19:39

Calm your tits down, its past

2019-07-12 21:31

i dont think many people are arguing astralis arent the goat. but right now theyve dropped to 3rd-4th in the world

Calling $1M in 63 days "puny". And one of their major wins was in 2017, with a different player.

2019-07-12 22:05

7 replies

Won 2 out of 2 majors with that line up tho

2019-07-12 22:13

Navi 0 major - astralis 3 major truth hurts

2019-07-13 01:31

4 replies

so cute that you have to roast a team which has nothing to do with this discussion to defend your favorite team, just cause you can't use their current level to defend them lol.

2019-07-13 15:13

do you play runescape?

2019-07-14 02:14

An even more irrelevant reply, but no I do not play runescape FYI.

2019-07-21 21:31

Do you think I care? I'm not Russian; I just support the team I like best in a matchup. No one is saying Astralis wasn't the greatest team of all time, but their era is definitely over. And Liquid is about to start one.

2019-07-14 01:29

Who made best roster move ever xD If we ask Magisk lmao

2019-07-13 08:00

NiP Still greatest all time though.. history of legends 87-0 , never forget Major winners Back to back Oakland Omg they were so Good back then

2019-07-12 23:15

xd nice baiterino

2019-07-13 07:33

well, by this logic sk is not far lmao. 2 majors and also 10 tier 1 tournaments

2019-07-13 01:39

omegalul imagine thinking blastralis is still relevant took them 18 months to get grand slam, liquid will win the major and easily win more premiere tourneys

2019-07-14 04:33

Yet still wont accomplish what Astralis has. Astralis won 3 Major. LULquid NONE. OMEGALUL Imagine thinking Liquid will even win one. Astralis the GOATs.

2019-07-14 12:39

Respect

Agreed, now they can actually go to decent events

LETS GOOO

2019-07-12 21:29

Cry _Blastralis

How much for cry?

2019-07-13 12:26

Good for the scene

2019-07-12 22:07

yeah

2019-07-12 22:38

its not like they arnt forced to do it if they want to keep attending top tier tournaments, if it was their choice they would keep going with this shit forever.

2019-07-13 02:54

-Xyp9x +valde Ez fix for Astralis

2019-07-13 07:34

Yeah RFRSH messed Astralis up. Perhaps they can get back to the top now.

2019-07-12 22:29

True, we may have tilted them in the past months since people started busting their balls for their association with us. But please do remember, that we also did take them to the top in the first place...

2019-07-12 23:43

Oh a fake user xD hello Mr. Nyholm

2019-07-13 08:02

All legit here :D

2019-07-13 08:49

Guess you wouldn't mind answering questions then? :D I read on TV2 that going forward you will focus on making Blast Pro Series the biggest and maybe the greatest E-sports tournament. But if you do not intend to make any chances to the tournament format I personally believe it will be hard. Most of the CS community doesn't think of Blast as a serious tournament, but more some kind of "just for fun" entertainment tournament.

2019-07-13 15:15

Wait how would this impact Astralis? Is it money prize or just daily business issues?

2019-07-13 09:17

they will not be as obligated to participate at blast pro and other blast events, so they won't fuck up their team again.

2019-07-13 11:29

that's not true. They were contractually bound to Blast to participate in 5 of 7 events. Likely will be contracted for next season as well, like all the other top teams

2019-07-13 14:35

LOL

Good

FUCKING POGGERS

nice

ezy for australia

Either this was too much backlash or they were getting used. Probably both.

makes sense

cool!

Nice no more blastralis

POG

LUL BLASTRALIS

They were getting bullied. Not surprised LOL

FINALLY

NICE!

Is this the downward spiral

My company just went viral BLAST Pro Series put Astralis in a spiral Its levels to it, you and I know, bitch, Astralis top1

2019-07-12 21:28

Cringe and gay

2019-07-13 01:34

do I least get a participation trophy for my forced joke

2019-07-13 01:38

Thats pretty nice, hope both parties will gain from the split :)

No more blastralis bois

Disband

??? why

2019-07-12 22:03

Is joke mens

2019-07-13 17:50

Not expected

uh huh!!

Too late cunts

finally

Blastralis over party

Blastralis is no more

Lol

unexpected KappaPride

noice

nt RFRSH

Lmao

Rip Blastralis rip Liquid top 1

25 replies

Vitality top 1*

24 replies

Yikes I hope you don’t actually believe that

2019-07-13 00:09

23 replies

I believe that Vita -have- the potential to be above liquid more then any other team.

2019-07-13 00:10

22 replies

with ZywOo being the only player with a positive rating at cologne? this team cant continue being a top 3 team with only 1 player carrying.

2019-07-13 01:15

Jesus youre not the brightest are you?

2019-07-13 01:21

19 replies

very good chance they can drop out of the top 3 by the end of the year unless one of the other players stands up.

2019-07-13 01:24

Ok lmao :P

we'll see

2019-07-13 01:25

Vitality in the top 3 is a major fluke. Teams will eventually learn how to play around zywoo to an extent which will force them to reinvent themselves slightly. That's impossible for the 3 core of gigantic washups. They know one way to play. They've already had leadership issues. As soon as they start losing in the quarter-finals, which will happen as teams begin to study them now and figure out how they play(don't forget Vitality is rather new as fuck, they haven't had good placings until recently and were an after thought amongst the top tier teams for months), they will have issues as they always do and begin to change players. there are 3 possibilites for this lineup over the next 6-12 months: -ALEX and NBK butt heads again, leading to the removal of ALEX and assumed full-time leadership of NBK. The team stays tier 2 until zywoo leaves or the core is kicked, yet again. -ALEX and NBK butt heads again, leading to the removal of NBK, rpk, and possibly apex. They rebuild around zywoo, potentially with international players. Become top 3. -the 3 guys who have been shit now for two years have all refound their game, have no internal issues, and remain a top 5 team. The chances of the 3rd option happening are about 1/10000000000000. No fuckin way these guys are still together and in the top 5 eight months from now. Lawl

2019-07-13 06:46

Tl;dr NA Silvertard gtfo

2019-07-13 06:52

Read, realized how short lived this will actually be, got mad, peaced out.

2019-07-13 06:53

Hahha i can see youre a silver because 1. You wrote an article of a reply on HLTV of all places. 2. Your analysis is complete horse s-t since you believe that teams never change their strategies and players dont develope and increase skill. The whole fucking reason this game is still at all relevant is because teams develope and innovate. Which vitality are critically acclaimed for doing. So as i said: Gtfo

2019-07-13 06:58

6 replies

They are? The only thing innovative about this lineup is zywoo carrying the fuck out of them. Otherwise these bots would be retiring when their contracts run out.

2019-07-13 07:00

LUL okay sure buddy, whatever you say :)

Where were NBK, rpk, and apex before zywoo? Their careers as tier 1 or 2 players were over before zywoo. That is factual knowledge. NBK and ALEX have already had issues. That is factual knowledge. NBK divides and kills teams faster than any single player in CS history. That is factual knowledge. Eventually NBK will fuck everything up or zywoo will leave when he realizes he's carrying a bunch of old washups who are hindering the growth of his career. Hard thing for a teenager away from home for the first time to see. Within a year, this lineup will be dead. NBK and crew will be back to tier 3 CS playing for some shit org or Envy again, until they retire.

2019-07-13 07:07

2019-07-13 07:08

Poor oeuf.

2019-07-13 07:09

2019-07-13 07:10

he seems to be much brighter than you lmao

2019-07-13 19:49

Flair checks out

? liquid is the team in the world and of all time. whats wrong with my flair?

2019-07-13 19:50

Its clear that youre self entitled and biased.

2019-07-13 19:52

yikes that sucks

Yup for you it does

2019-07-13 19:53

+1 At least Na'Vi had Electronic, Vitality needs 1 more good fragger, Kio would be a really good addition that would bring the extra firepower needed

2019-07-13 01:22

yeah sure

Now there is no smoke bug go learn real skills @astralis idiots

Astralis won katowice major after smoke bug got fixed Nt streetshitter

2019-07-12 21:22

Only the smoke radar bug was fixed prior to the major. There was still the command that let you cycle through smoke shapes which was fixed later.

2019-07-12 23:22

they totally used that bug under the major, while officials were behind them. No way anyone would ever notice smokes changing shapes all the time.

2019-07-13 00:46

I'm not saying they used it but it's not like it would be hard for an admin to miss it. The smoke shape change isnt very noticeable especially when youre 1 admin looking at 5 different screens from multiple feet away and it's something that you wouldn't even think to pay attention too anyways since it was largely unknown.

2019-07-13 01:59

Do you know what you are talking about?

2019-07-12 22:23

Niko fan crying lol

2019-07-12 23:16

Wow dude you have to have the most depressing life in india. How can one be so mad at a team that fully revolutionized the game and helped it grow to it's current state?

2019-07-12 23:19

Maarba, i sell carpets

2019-07-13 01:29

He's.... One of a kind... The exception, not the norm.

2019-07-13 06:33

Hope so.

2019-07-13 20:55

@ganeshcg4 This isn't twitter. Idiot.

2019-07-13 02:31

Once Astrslis become bad ofc expected lul

LMAO

Wtf LUL

Goodbye Blastralis, please don't come back.

Thank God! It totally screwed up their image.

Best decision in CS:GO history, RFRSH destroyed Astralis's era Potential second wind incoming Either that or Astralis drop to tier 2

I think the criticism has been valid, but please remember that we created Astralis in the first place... Back when we took over the management of Astralis, they were known as Chokestralis. 🤷‍♂️

The astralis era would've happened whether your made your business move or not

2019-07-13 01:45

Knowing and working with the players on a daily basis, I know they would wish to differ on this. What goes on behind the scenes can be hard to see from competition streams and HLTV articles. We took over an immensely talented team which had been unable to fully flourish before. We invested in an extremely strong organisation around the roster resulting in a second-to-none performance culture. It required and requires significant investment, dedication and resources from not only RFRSH, but most importantly from the six core individuals.

2019-07-13 08:38

poggers

lol byebye

OmegalUL

Noice

What a bunch of bullshit. RFRSH will still own the team in all but name.

10 replies

+1 people don't seem to read more than the title

2019-07-12 21:55

You read the article? If yes, then you just admitted you didn't understand it.

2019-07-12 22:28

or maybe you didn't

2019-07-12 22:31

Negotiations have already started with a view to "acquiring the majority shareholding of Astralis and RFRSH Teams currently held by those also involved in BLAST", according to Mr. Nyholm, who guaranteed that the teams "will be fully separated" from RFRSH Entertainment "by the StarLadder Major". Do you need help understanding this? They are in the process of buying out people that own shares in both? And later on they talk about investors buying majority. This will without a shadow of doubt make Astralis and their new owners 100% independent in any kind of decision making moving forward.

2019-07-12 23:05

but they will still be owned by a "different" company (probably ex-rfrsh people lul), that is the point, they aren't going for astralis of astralis it's just a move to make it officially more legit, but shit stays the same

well if there are new shareholders and "owners" of Astralis, how is shit going to stay the same? that doesn't make any sense at all m8

2019-07-13 00:48

Expected from Astralis fanboy. Dumb and gullible.

2019-07-13 04:37

No counterargument, cause it makes no sense. Idiot

2019-07-13 12:17

Because its a fkin clickbaity title.

2019-07-12 22:30

Yeah, you should retake your shareholding 101 class, stat.

2019-07-13 06:35

RIP BLASTRALIS - WELCUM ASTRALIS

Finally. The so-called "NA era" will soon be a thing of the past. I'll give astralis max. 2 months and their era will be back

LMFAO Delusional fangay

2 months is too less. I'd wager the StarLadder Major will be their second best performance of 2019 till then. After that, I dunno.

2019-07-13 06:36

Big if true

Cry is free. FINALLY!

Bye BLASTRALIS

Thats what they want us to believe

2019-07-12 21:23

ok kito

RIP BLASTRALIS =D=D (sucks dick)

RIP BLASTRALIS WELCOME ESLTRALIS

lul

2019-07-12 23:26

FINALLY!

hooooly fuck, thats great!

RIP BLASTralis

2019-07-12 21:25

Finally, greatest decision for them along with +magisk. Bye bye blast and rfrsh hopefully.

2019-07-12 21:26

I read astralis split up Lulw

blast ruined the scene lmfao

This image says the contrary. siteassets.pagecloud.com/contrary/images..

Nice try it only says *contrary* not *the contrary* :p.

2019-07-12 22:50

2019-07-12 22:57

RIP BLASTRALIS

fishy. i'll take this with a grain of salt. Like everything RFRSH related tbh.

Let Richard Lewis and Thorin break it down; then we'll see.

2019-07-13 06:37

Blast Major incoming unfortunately

2019-07-12 21:30

It will come

2019-07-13 00:15

finally they realised that BLAST was invented to kill their roster

They still can't regain the number one spot and they know it

Rip 8lastralis

Took too long to realise

2019-07-12 21:33

No more blastralis thank god. 😁😌🤣🤣🤣🤣

2019-07-12 21:35

no more blastralis memes unluko

Was dead anyway ;//

2019-07-12 23:18

too late

lmaoo RFRSH destroys Astralis "era" then dumps them ahahahha ggwp

2019-07-12 21:36

2019-07-12 21:38

BLASTRALIS

2019-07-12 21:39

Good news

2019-07-12 21:40

Astralis ruined for ever

about damn time

2019-07-12 21:42

can't believe them. still shady..

2019-07-12 21:43

Yeah, right...

2019-07-12 21:45

Damn Astralis not winning so they like we outta here

I have been waiting for this for a long time, and it happened. Thank you Astralis Blast goodbye

what's this all about? I didn't rly understood much from the article and i don't follow other social media sites, what's blastralis and what is all the stuff ppl talking about those guys? ty for taking ur time to explain incase you will do so

2019-07-12 21:58

Astralis is completely separated from RFRSH Entertainment and offered for sale. Because of the RFRSH, they participated in every Blast tournament, now it won't be

Blastralis = Astralis - because they skipped other events to attend Blast. Also "RFRESH entertainment" owns astralis and blast so people started talking stuff like "conflict of interest" or some shit like that. Apart from that there isnt much I think, just hate towards anything astralis is involved. This article is kinda clickbaity because all "RFRESH" splits from is the brand/name "Astralis" - they still OWN astralis boys.

I though Astralis is org made by the players and they were being paid from the prizes, sponsors and stuff?

2019-07-13 16:15

why should we care?

2019-07-12 21:51

lol

-REFRSH +REFRSH 10000 IQ

2019-07-12 21:56

+ex-refrsh*

2019-07-13 00:54

Blastralis will be no more. Happy for the players, RFRSH seems scummy.

2019-07-12 21:57

Loooool They can decide their own tournaments now.

wait what does that mean please explain to simple bad speaking londonish man

2019-07-12 22:00

Good for astralis!

2019-07-12 22:01

better late than never...

blast major incoming

Hahaha finally lmao

Im pregnant

2019-07-12 22:08

2019-07-12 22:09

RIP blastralis

2019-07-12 22:10

bye bye RFRSH, no one's gonna miss you, now for the greater good drop your shitty BLAST tournaments

Read more than just the title guys, the refresh guys still gonna have a lot of influence as well as shares

2019-07-12 22:16

2019-07-12 22:18

Nice try blastralis, nice try.

2019-07-12 22:25

Boycott BLAST, shitty events

2019-07-12 22:26

so They’re separating but their not really.

2019-07-12 22:27

"We'll split, we promise." - RFRSH

YESSSSS FINALLYYYYYY.

2019-07-12 22:32

Finallly, good job

People only read title the company that "now" owns them is called rfrsh teams who will soon get a mere name change.

2019-07-12 22:40

What? Hahahaha

Logang style title i like it.

2019-07-12 22:44

expected

2019-07-12 22:46

Unexpected

-blastralis Good for them!!!!!

2019-07-12 22:48

2019-07-12 22:49

so this still doesnt resolve conflict of interest... they can have different managements all they want but if same people own it who cares

2019-07-12 23:14

Finally!

2019-07-12 23:20

Doesnt surprice me considered astralis had like minus 4-6 million kroner the last 2 years, so no profit. :p

BLASTRALIS IS OVER

2019-07-12 23:38

#Make_Blastralis_Astralis_again

Astralis(2016)

2019-07-13 05:13

Read "Astralis to split..." then I stopped reading, went for my finest bottle of champagne and opened it. Imagine my disappointment when I read the full header. :(

2019-07-12 23:55

NT xizt

good luck

2019-07-13 00:25

The damage had already been done. They will forever be known as BLASTralis: the most dominant team in csgo history that threw away their own era for a shitty tournament

2019-07-13 00:26

Not their fault tbh, it's greedy blast

2019-07-13 00:39

2019-07-13 13:50

rip blastralis

2019-07-13 00:50

So the question is, were they telling the truth about missing all those events.

NiP goat<3

2019-07-13 01:17

15 million euro

I'm so happy about this, it was a smart move

2019-07-13 02:03

Sad news :(. But don't worry guys, even if you break up you will always be Blastralis to me <3

2019-07-13 02:15

Astralis splitting from RFRSH isn't suddenly going to make them the best team in the world again. A lot of people are seriously overreacting to this news. THAT SAID, while this is a bit expected, it's definitely the best move, especially for Astralis most of all. We'll see what the future holds for them, but I can only see this as good news for all parties involved.

2019-07-13 02:26

2019-07-13 13:49

No more blastralis?

2019-07-13 03:00

Remember they were a player owned organization , the bullshit rfrsh has been feeding to us is absurd .

2019-07-13 05:10

RFRSH Teams, doesn't inspire confidence that they're really separated.

2019-07-13 05:16

🦀 BLASTRALIS IS GONE 🦀

2019-07-13 05:34

Fake separation. New org and rfrsh will still be owned by the same ppl.

2019-07-13 09:19

Blastralis meme dead 🦀🦀🦀

2019-07-13 09:42

Blastralis

2019-07-13 09:52

nice try Blast Just faked a split with some rebranded subsidiary company

2019-07-13 10:02

Ok i hope this will stop the tl era

2019-07-13 10:04

Astralis back?

2019-07-13 10:18

For every reason Nikolaj Nyholm says he does something, think the exact opposite and you will be closer to the truth.

2019-07-13 10:44

thank you richard and thorin to put the finger constantly in the blastralis wound.

2019-07-13 11:08

Is it good that they split from them? They helped them to get there!!!

2019-07-13 13:24

What? Im just asking

2019-07-13 15:35

They helped them to get there!!! is that a question?

2019-07-13 16:04

I asked is that good!! And if they helped was added to same sentence. I am argumenting not telling that. U are from unknown place Macao and u might not understand that, sorry!!!

2019-07-13 17:37

so they're now under "RFRSH teams"? does that even change anything?

2019-07-13 14:44

Till they get sold then they not in it anymore

2019-07-13 19:40

INB4 Blasted out of the top 3 and cursed to never return

2019-07-13 15:16

FINALLY. goodbye blastralis, welcome back ASTRALIS

2019-07-13 16:39