Official: Astralis create six-man roster with es3tag signing

22/3/2020 - 12:44

Astralis have confirmed the signing of Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen for an unspecified period starting July 1, which will increase the roster to six players.

With the addition of the 24-year-old and the establishment of a six-man roster, Astralis are hoping to improve working conditions for their players and allow them to take a break for physical and mental recovery when needed.

In a thread of Tweets, the organization's CEO, Nikolaj Nyholm, explained that extending the roster had been their goal ever since Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz took medical leave for several weeks in late 2017, which caused the team to utilize stand-ins at the last two tournaments of the year, BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen and ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals.

Astralis will have a six-man roster from July

Although it has been a recurring point of discussion in the scene, a permanent six-man roster is unprecedented at the top tier in CS:GO, where teams who require a substitute normally opt for temporary stand-ins. The closest Astralis' move comes to is a recent development in AGO, who currently have a seven-man roster and strive to have two players for each position.

"Our work with Astralis and all our teams is focused around performance and health. It’s our responsibility as an organization to secure optimal conditions for our employees on all levels, and especially our players, who on a constant basis experience the highest pressure to perform. Increasing the roster size to six players is something we have worked on for a long time with relevant stakeholders in Counter-Strike," Astralis' Director of Sports, Kasper Hvidt, said in a statement.

"This approach is no different than in traditional sports, but it’s new to Counter-Strike, and a change like this will take time to optimize for full advantage. The players, coach and our performance team have been involved in this decision and everybody agrees it is the way to go."

es3tag will join the Danish organization after his current contract expires, which all but confirms rumors of negotiations between FunPlus Phoenix and Heroic being incomplete and in jeopardy due to Astralis' last-minute move.

The signing has caused a response from Heroic's CEO, Erik Askered, who revealed that the organization is making legal preparations after Astralis had allegedly acted in bad faith and affected the sale of the team to FunPlus Phoenix. Nyholm went on to defend his organization's actions, saying none of them were taken to the detriment of Heroic or FunPlus Phoenix, both of whom had according to him been notified of es3tag's signing to Astralis.

Astralis will have the following roster from July 1:

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth
Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen
Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander
Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif
Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen

Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen (coach)

LOL Sad to see this for FunPlus Phoenix!

2020-03-22 12:45

45 replies

probably drop their spot, they didn't have to pay buy in because flashpoint couldn't field enough teams

2020-03-22 12:46

29 replies

Maybe now they have a chance vs god MSL’s North in a Dreamhack masters Stockholm grand final

2020-03-22 12:54

17 replies

Rainbow 6 wannabe

2020-03-22 13:01

16 replies

6v5 ez

2020-03-22 13:08

14 replies

how good is this guy from 0 to 8 ?

2020-03-22 13:26

13 replies

5.5/8 there were much better options

2020-03-22 13:34

8 replies

nah he is really smart and consistent

2020-03-22 14:56

6 replies

I agree, great option for 5th man spot. He isnt a god, he can igl or awp and he isnt decent in every role.

2020-03-22 15:54

consistent? wouldve been better off with stavn from heroic or someone from mad lions

2020-03-22 22:42

4 replies

more fire power like sunny ha?

2020-03-23 10:24

3 replies

sunny was out of comp cs for like a year after mouz? try to make valid points next time guy

2020-03-24 00:26

2 replies

get baited

2020-03-24 04:26

1 reply

be relevant

2020-03-24 11:52

Yes there were. It looks like Astralis did this to hurt Flashpoint and another org at the same time. They were thinking about doing this for 3 years? Really guys? Three years huh, you just happened to never pull the trigger? lol Well played, but a seriously asshole move.

2020-03-25 23:30

Magisk too was dealing with issues untill he joined them so maybe zonic have something in mind

2020-03-22 13:37

Magisk was a beast when he joined Astralis. He was carrying Optic with his firepower before the transfer, but the team was hsit.

2020-03-22 15:46

I don’t think so, he was declining pretty quickly honestly and was benched before the xfer. He got a spark back when xfering to Astralis. Astralis saved that dude career

2020-03-23 03:54

7/8 He's a great player ho always play for his teammates, with Astralis xp could be a really good player

2020-03-22 13:39

Rainb omegalul w 6

2020-03-22 19:13

article says starting from july 1. maybe he will play for fpx until end of flashpoint 1?

2020-03-22 12:58

5 replies

no way fpx will buy out his 3 month contract, knowing that he will leave in 1st july

2020-03-22 14:40

Well fpx should of done their homework before buying a squad that didn’t have lock down contracts. They should of started negotiations with him before this.

2020-03-23 03:55

No, I think the current situation is more like the Heroic - Tricked situation back in 2017, hltv.org/news/19817/heroic-tricked-in-co.. , or maybe even the LG-SK in 2016. I don't think that players could sign up contracts with other orgs before the current contract expires. That's why Heroic is preparing a legal battle right now.

2020-03-23 07:05

Well it’s legal for him to sign something promising for him to play for another team as long as he doesn’t play for them until then, and also if he doesn’t accept payment until then

2020-03-23 11:35

"united states"

2020-03-23 12:02

Wtf man? FPX payed for their spot! They were the last team to become a partner organization of Flashpoint league! They payed 2 mln $!

2020-03-22 13:04

0/8

0/8? Go Play more MM bro,

2020-03-22 14:02

They haven't actually paid Flashpoint anything yet.

2020-03-22 13:28

They didn’t pay

LULPOINT rekt. Thorin hiding in his corner again.

From july and onwards though

2020-03-22 12:47

RIP Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen or Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth

2020-03-22 14:20

Probably dupreeh

2020-03-22 14:41

7 replies

LOOOOL dupree wil never be kicked from this roster. neither will xyp9x. Unless they're dealing with some personal stuff that need a time off. My guess is they're doing exactly what the news say, have a 6 man roster to give some off time to their players so they're ready and rested for big tournments. Pro cs is very hard, always travelling and always away from friends and family

2020-03-22 15:48

ah ah ah

2020-03-22 17:04

thats bs. play for big tournament? major? every major es3tag benched confirmed

2020-03-22 18:19

Ok so what? Maybe he will be benched every major if hes not the best option...i dont get ur point

2020-03-22 19:03

Agreed

2020-03-23 03:56

+1 they are looking further than other teams. All sports have players on the bench, just look at football, so why not CS teams? Perfectly legit

2020-03-23 11:33

2020-03-24 20:05

"starting July 1"

2020-03-22 14:22

I'm confused

2020-03-22 14:43

from first july. if u write something, then read all statement -_-

2020-03-22 15:41

Its not sad to see a team knowing that their "starplayer" is moving to another team in 3months?

2020-03-22 16:02

BIG still top 1

2020-03-22 12:44

ahaha +1

2020-03-22 13:51

GOD ES3TAG

I love him also 💪 Many pro players like him! For Example Qikert

2020-03-22 14:32

Lol ez 6 v 5

It was already unfair 5x5 imagine now kek

2020-03-22 20:10

wat

what

Sad for Heroic/Phoenix

xddd

this happens when you lose a map to ence XD

LOL

2020-03-22 12:56

AHAHA

2020-03-22 12:59

true xd

lol and nip

2020-03-22 14:36

Lol

2020-03-22 14:42

xaxaxa

2020-03-22 16:05

True xaxaxa

2020-03-22 18:16

A bahahahahahahahahaha

2020-03-23 03:57

Copying Ago

Ago has a 7men roster, wdym?

Yeah, really working for T4 team

2020-03-22 13:06

Awesome, GL

BTW 1st of April

Not here yet

cringe

POOOG

lol

No don't ruin the GOAT trio

Goar trio = Messi+Barca+Refs

2020-03-22 15:20

Harry potter the bestest

2020-03-22 16:34

July 1st?

it's when his contract with heroic expires. Heroic and astralis were negotiating and heroic said that they had to pay $800k to buy es3tag out of his contract (which has 3 months left in it), so i guess astralis decided to just wait until his contract expires and sign him for free lol edit: link to where i got the info from twitter.com/nikolaj/status/1241690585276..

2020-03-22 12:53

15 replies

Astralis poor xd

2020-03-22 12:52

Understandable since the Astralis Group is in debt right now

2020-03-22 13:19

Not poor, smart. Why buy someone out if they are willing to not resign for the team and can get him as a walk-on?

2020-03-23 03:58

800k? Omegalul NiKo has cost 500k coldzera 1mio and ES3TAG 800K?!?!??!

exactly lol 800k for a bench player pretty much

Bench? They will replace either dupreeh or xyp9x with him when his contract expires lol

2020-03-22 12:57

it's possible. idk tho, i just assumed he would be a rotational piece or something. ex: if dupreeh is tired and doesnt wanna play back to back tournaments, es3 will sub in.

Did you even read the article dumbass ?

2020-03-22 17:16

Well considering your flag your average countryman is dumber than average Russian, so i wouldn't talk like that to any european if i were a gypsy

2020-03-22 17:19

Rekt

2020-03-23 03:59

Worth it for es3GOAT

fl1t could have cost $1.5kk for NaVi, wdym

2020-03-22 13:03

Nice

Eh, 800k to get sub 3 months earlier? And Heroic CEO is butthurt when they decided to sit out the contract instead 😂

2020-03-22 13:33

Heroic management fucked this one up big time, all they would of had to do was offer him a decently big signing bonus and at least locked him down for a year or two them sold him for profit. This is what they get for being cheap and dumb

2020-03-23 04:00

Maybe they will be swaping players mid-game like Ago

this the future of cs swap in T sided player and CT sided player :D

2020-03-22 13:57

noob

Astralis are the biggest cancer of this scene

12 replies

The org and nyholm for sure. We don't know all the details about this one yet but this seems fishy all the way through. I still love the players but there's a limit of shady moves hurting the scene this org can do before I no longer support them.

2020-03-22 13:09

Which shady moves...? Also this will not hurt scene. It's evolution...

2020-03-22 13:15

#130 If you want more detail, there's plenty of information out there.

2020-03-22 13:24

"-shady deals and conflict of interest with Nyholm/Blast, hurting the scene for an entire year" RFRSH was majority owner of astralis that time. they(Astralis stuff) had pretty much no words in this so i would rather blame RFRSH than astralis as an org "-EPL/FP, abusing their ranking in the scene in questionable methods" no idea whats wrong with negotiationing about the best possible conditions? i would surely do the same "-now this, can't wait what dekay will find, should be juicy. What's clear though is that they fucked over 2 orgs with this move, the question is how exactly and if it was legal." they showed interest for certain player and that player decided to join them. he probably still hadnt signed his contract with new org and its surely legal. his contract with heroic will expire in july and then he will join astralis. everything is fine here

Sorry this is a little long, I'm neither an expert nor do I have insider info but I'm very curious about these things and like to read up on them. Your choice if you want to read it, tldr is: Nyholm has been proven to lie time and time again and hurts the scene actively. -well that's the problem, at that time Nyholm was involved in both RFRSH (+Blast) and Astralis. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about the players here, we don't know their involvements. I'm just saying Nyholm abused his position to strengthen Blast as a circuit and to push towards exclusivity. -I think there's still a lot we don't know yet, it might take more months, however it seems like they didn't cross the legal line, however there's also ethical lines in negotiations. -Without the timeline it's hard to say but how exactly do you think this could've transpired perfectly cleanly? FPX buys Heroic roster, parties agree to it, FPX starts already playing as such, (when were the contracts supposed to be signed?), es3tag gets signed by Astralis without any previous knowledge of FPX? All we know Heroic is preparing legal action, curious to see where it leads. They have now fucked over 2 orgs at the same time with one single move, that's pretty unprecedented I think.

2020-03-22 14:11

-about blast i do understand your point about Nyholm. i just wouldnt blame org itself as a whole and orgs staff. like i already said RFRSH was majority owner and i dont think that its fair to blame whole org for decision of pretty much 1 person. but i agree that this was shady -about fpx hard to judge but i dont see single reason why should i blame astralis. they clearly didnt have signed new contracts yet and astalis didnt sign him right now. they have to wait till his contract in heroic will expire. it was last minute change but still nothing wrong with it. they clearly gave him better offer and es3 accepted that deal. is it fair? probably not but its like that in every single collective sports. money talks. still nothing illegal, just bad timing "es3tag gets signed by Astralis without any previous knowledge of FPX?" no point to contact fpx if es3 hadnt valid contract with them...heroic can do whatever they want but its pointless. es3 is still part of heroic and he will just wait there till his contract will expire. nothing against a law

2020-03-22 14:24

I don't understand what they did wrong this time. Heroic is trying to cash out without having long term contracts. That's their problem.

Bingo!

2020-03-23 04:03

cry is free noscener

2020-03-22 16:21

Imagine thinking I’m actually from Laos

2020-03-22 17:05

+1 says a lot about the players too that they choose to stay in such a scummy org

2020-03-22 18:15

LUL

I hate astralis they are lame as fuck

Astralis with the 200iq moves! They're going to create a new 6-man team meta. Now GOAT (device) can just stay home 50% of the time with his health problems and Astralis will be able to attend (and win) many more events. Just wait, 1 year from now every tier1 team will have a 6-man roster as well.

2020-03-22 12:48

well if he stays home that much they wont win many tourneys

no idont think tey are going to do that. they are going to replace player on the mid of the game like football like when they are playing on ct side they will play with device and when they change to t side they will replace him with es3tag so device will be 100% ct player. i think is like that

2020-03-22 14:34

its allowed?

2020-03-22 14:37

maybe we dont know yet

2020-03-22 14:52

if thats allowed it would so confusing and it would be allowed only during timeouts and maybe ct t side switch like you said ,but it would just change the entire meta cause they can have 10 man roster and just keep exploiting this feature so most probably it wont be allowed or would be limited(like football)

2020-03-22 18:06

it's funny because space soldiers, ago and x6tence have done that in the past

2020-03-22 16:16

+1 astralis are the biggest chads in the pro cs scene. fucking over orgs for their own benefit and now will return to being top 1

2020-03-22 16:24

How is it fucking over other orgs? They should of resigned him and offered him more money, they didn’t do anything wrong here what so ever. They played it super smart, heroic fucked this all up.

2020-03-23 04:05

cant win 5x5 so they decided to play 6x5 XD

- magicboy..

"We don't want to cut anyone but we also need fresh blood"

astralisgroup.net/news/astralis-establis..

I wonder who's gonna get benched, magisk dupreeh and device is unlikely. That leaves glaive or xyp

18 replies

did you read the article ? no one is getting benched bro

2020-03-22 12:49

That is what everyone would say because they cant replace any player immediately, he still has a contract with his previous team.

2020-03-22 13:00

i don't see any reason they would kick any player , the core has been playing together for 7 years and they got a say in the administration of astralis as they started it , i don't see them kicking gla1ve or magisk because they both hold great role in astralis

2020-03-22 13:02

Dupreeh is massively underperforming, also es3tag used to 2nd AWP or even main(?) AWP. Dupreeh is 26(27 in a few days), so this is quite obvious.

2020-03-22 13:17

as i said i don't see them kicking anyone, why would they lie about it tho no point , if they start choosing different lineup for each game then you will understand

2020-03-22 13:23

Are you blind or you just didn't read the article? Es3tag will not replace anyone from main Astralis roster

2020-03-22 12:51

bla bla bla.. i'm pretty sure in the next tournaments you'll see a player getting benched or probably on loan to other team. this had happened for quite awhile now. i'm pretty sure the team will add on this new guy and someone gets benched. they have to restructure again and find a new playstyle. it's astralis we're talking about. so if my words are true, this is gonna be a MASSIVE change. this roster is undoubtedly legend and will be remembered in the counter strike scene.

dude why the fuck would they bench a player when this team has been top 1 for almost two years and are still #2 in the world? unless someone from astralis actually leaves it won't happen.

2020-03-22 14:33

Device has health issues as far as I have heard. If anyone's leaving it's most likely gonna be device. And estag can awp in his place.

2020-03-22 14:46

that makes no sense, es3tag is dogshit. there's plenty of better awpers in denmark.

2020-03-22 15:00

I think its device, he probably has enough and is struggling with his health...

Get ready for these morons to say "read the article" thinking 6 man roster will work LOL fml kids these days. its impossible to work.. the reason you just play with 5 is because you practice with that 5 lol.. You cant play rotation not only is that the dumbest shit in the history of cs but it will never work. This isn't like fkn football or basketball where you just swap out positions.. You have to completely change your style of play in cs for 1 person.. So they are gonna have 2 different approaches with when he plays.. Honestly who ever thought this was a good idea is braindead.

just wait for them to rekt everyone on the scene and we will see if its braindead or no , astralis focus more on mental and physical repercussions thus attending all tournaments and playing top form in all of them is hard that's why they got a 6th with whom they will practice and he will fill certain roles when needed

2020-03-22 13:05

We have no idea tbh. Only thing that they would clearly have going for them would be that it would be impossible to prepare against them.

2020-03-22 13:11

impossible to prepare against a fkn shambles? LOL they are shit with 5 people mate.. How is adding a very average player going to make them better just how..

2020-03-22 13:55

"impossible to prepare against a fkn shambles? LOL they are shit with 5 people mate.." You are talking about the best lineup to ever touch csgo. i could tell ur country without even knowing. fucking dumbass swede...

2020-03-23 00:08

Bahahahahahahah

2020-03-23 04:07

Glaive is not going anywhere. They lose glaive, they lose top10

2020-03-22 14:44

wtf is happening

KEKW

nice

Soon cs will be like football and will have big rosters and subs an that with team changes all the time making it more complex. I like the 5v5 just 5 people in the team abs u stick together. Would be a strange game it u get subbed in for the last 4 rounds of the game or u get subbed off after having 4 bad rounds

they wont be subbing during the games, this is mainly used to prep new players on how to perform in the team before throwing them into big tournaments, then they will make a strong switch at some point and a veteran will probly be the 6th

You just described OW :D

Wats ow?

2020-03-22 13:49

Overwatch

2020-03-22 20:53

Thx

2020-03-22 22:07

LOL?

- ecolai incoming

We need to see how this will work. Maybe this will be a new meta on CS:GO pro scene in the future.

Finally! I was always wondering about this type of moves. Like any group professional team, why dont they have any replacement? EDIT: Im not talking about changes in the middle of a game. Im talking about: illness situacion, travels, holidays, etc. Once again: Astralis one step ahead again. Greetings!

Look what happened with Vitality and ALEX a few weeks ago :) They could have a 6 man roster. And Alex wouldnt have to travel so much.

+1 If Vitality had a 6th player this time, ALEX may not have left the team.

ever heard of ago

Expected

2020-03-22 12:50

interesting approach, doubt it'll work perfectly though...

zonic ez chek talants

what the actual fuck

why

What does es3tag gain from that? I mean free 15K EU salary is cool, but doesn't he want to become an accomplished player, which you can't do if you don't play.

Proper recognition if he plays well in a top team possible more opportunities from orher topteams. Or eventually lf this go down the drain, he might have the opportunity to replace someone from astralis for good.

if he plays

2020-03-22 13:59

Why would it be free damn people on this site are stupid He will have to go to all their team practices and bootcamps, sub in scrims in multiple positions, watch every game and join in debrief, and practice bots/DM/fpl every day as if he was a playing member. If he is standing in for someone they will probably go 1on1 and watch previous pov of the player he is standing in for while that player answers questions and make comments on what protocol in the system or what freedom based decision was in use at the time. Doing this the player can basically try to be a clone or play his own way at any point during a match, making it extremely hard to antistrat.

2020-03-22 15:27

why u do that lmao e3stag is 24 and already washed up better acor or someone from Mad lions than this

Obviously they don't wanna spend money on buying a 6th, otherwise they would have bought out es3tag already.

Weird flex but ok

First they abuse the smoke bug and Nvidia settings, now they want to play 6 vs 5. Not that I can blame them after recent performances. Interesting development.

they didnt abuse any Nvidia settings, stop spreading bs

Is this the first you've heard of it? It's well known, I'm not spreading anything.

2020-03-22 13:20

no its not the first time i heard of it..but theres no proof they used it and they also denied it. they used the smoke/radar bug...which every other pro used aswell.. totally legit

You're entitled to your opinion as is everyone else. But clearly, considering you've heard of it as has probably every single person reading this, I'm not spreading anything.

2020-03-22 13:35

Other teams have been using the smoke bug as well, just less blatantly. Fallen had mentioned it 6 months before the "scandal"

2020-03-22 13:22

No doubt, just as other teams were using the jump bug that BIG are infamous for.

you're confunding radar/smoke bug with Astralis players ACTUALLY seeing them in the smoke, Here is Xyp9x killing coldzera centuries before the smoke was gone: twitter.com/i/status/1065724547058536449

2020-03-22 14:58

Yes, they want to play 6vs5 - very funny, ha ha ha

2020-03-22 17:47

this just proves that every person on astralis is the biggest dickheads on the planet LOL. "GET US ANOTHER PLAYER.. WE WORK TOO HARD GET US ANOTHER PLAYER." what a bunch of little bitches LOL trashstralis fk outta here.

its so funny.. but then again i shouldnt expect random leeching teenagers on HLTV to understand business continuity.

2020-03-22 15:19

+1 I would pay > €30 per month to play somekind of MM with only nice, well balanced adults (AI which analysis ingame voice and chat messages -- business idea incoming) and great anticheat software.

2020-03-22 17:52

ive known the pro scene since 2001 mate from exerience this wont work. its been a 5 man roster for 20 years for a reason lol. This has been tried and failed a couple of times, although you would know that right??

2020-03-22 22:40

i've managed orgs and followed the scene for a long time. fps gamer since 1998. if the best org in csgo history is looking to evolve and transition how they operate when they have a greater understanding of the landscape than either of us, i dont sit at my computer and talk a bunch of uninformed bs.

2020-03-23 00:49

Why are you talking like this is an evolution its been tried and failed. Also the money side of things is the biggest problem, if you wanna be a successful 6 man roster you have to have a great 6th player. So you are saying orgs are going to pay a huge wage for a 6th player that sits on the bench and plays every now and then. Right so when that player plays you have to completely change your play style to work with that player. Ok so teams are now going to have to play 2 different play styles to work with there team? Teams have a hard enough time working on 1 fkn play style LOL. You're a veteran so you must think about this kinda stuff right? Oh nah because the "BEST" org in history which is the biggest over statement in the history of fkn life does it then it must be the right thing. Hell no you have managed orgs if you are this dumb. Ok so we can get past the massive wage for a good 6th player which Astralis didn't do because they can't afford it so they are putting half a foot in this so called revolutionary 6 player roster. And we get past the 100+ hours of fitting in a completely new play style to fit that player when he plays. Then we work on coms with that player and every single possible thing to make that player work into the system. Honestly you people just see a thread title and fan boy to the IF THEY ARE DOING IT THEN IT MUST BE RIGHT. You don't fkn think about everything isn't right. PS; if you ever wanted to get a good 6th player, no good player on the planet would agree to be a bench player, so you have to forever settle with a non ambitious player who is happy to be on the side. :) Mr Ive ran orgs since 1998 LOL. fk off.

2020-03-23 01:16

id rather be on astralis' bench than in vitality. i'd learn more and have more prestige. why do teams in traditional sports have more than the minimum number of players to field a team? i'm not an astralis fanboy. my fav teams are 100t (i think the org itself is a wank) renegades and fnatic. however i am aware that the players in astralis have equity in the org itself and understand how businesses work to a degree. what you cannot comprehend is the human element. these people arent machines.

2020-03-23 02:07

2020-03-22 16:27

wow

2020-03-22 12:55

6v5 200IQ

es three tag topkek

What about stickers? Who will get it?

I think a player must be signed for the whole tournament (imho)

2020-03-22 13:10

Astralis inspiring from AGO polak cs tier 1 cs confirmed.

haha

2020-03-22 16:11

How will this even work lmao

didnt mTw pull this move already (with zonic in the lineup), making a 6man lineup?

I'm a big fan of Astralis, ever since they were Dignitas. But that after ''dirty'' moving (sad for Heroic, if it's true), I can no longer respect this team

There is nothing dirty. Es3tag has a contract with Heroic that expires on the 1st of July. He has decided to signed with Astrals after that date instead of renewing his contract.

2020-03-22 13:13

Exactly the same here. God damn I love what the players have done for CS since DH Marseille. They revolutionized this game and made the greatest era of all time. But then there's the org side of Astralis: -shady deals and conflict of interest with Nyholm/Blast, hurting the scene for an entire year -EPL/FP, abusing their ranking in the scene in questionable methods -now this, can't wait what dekay will find, should be juicy. What's clear though is that they fucked over 2 orgs with this move, the question is how exactly and if it was legal. Not sure how to support a team like that :(

2020-03-22 13:18

10 replies

nothing shady going on: es3tags contract expires and he decided to leave. and btw orgs dont care about other orgs...why should they?

2020-03-22 13:54

Because doing shady shit and fucking over other orgs is not a good long term business strategy lmao They should care about other orgs because they are often required to work together for better conditions with TOs for example.

2020-03-22 14:15

but there isnt going on anything shady? and about the working together part: i dont think that really matters.. they mainly look for themselves. bigger teams get the good players from smaller teams..thats how it works in every other professional sports aswell

2020-03-22 14:31

hate to break it to you but astralis have a much larger understanding of esports business than you will ever have.. they've forgotten more than you even know now.. poaching a player (this isnt even a poach) is standard in every sporting industry..

2020-03-22 15:18

+1 g2 has done this too with huNter and nexa and got away with it scot free. the people working at astralis undoubtedly have a great understanding of how contracts work

2020-03-22 16:29

Noone at this point knows exactly how it happened, all we know is that Nyholm has repeatedly lied about actions that would be severely punished in any kind of sport while Heroic is preparing legal action. No, I'm not an expert, neither are you, it's completely wrong though to say nothing wrong happened with 100% certainty because we don't know anything about how it happened.

2020-03-22 22:31

i use to manage an org. im not a legal expert, no, people are paid well for that. however, you're just talking uninformed shit. if you dont know anything, dont comment with a bunch of bs.

2020-03-23 00:47

"now this, can't wait what dekay will find, should be juicy. What's clear though is that they fucked over 2 orgs with this move, the question is how exactly and if it was legal." dude are you fucking retarded ? biggest no brainer there is

Its because of this retarded fuck own as Nikola Nyholm. He is literally just milking esports for its money and has no real passion for it, not does he care about integrity. You know how Blast was super dogshit and also downright shady last 2 years but then is suddenly good this year? Guess what? Nikola Nyholm is no longer associated with Blast. Everything he touches turns to shit. His man has no regards for ethics and is one of the biggest snakes and liars in esports but just because he owns a successful brand, none of the fans say shit about him.

2020-03-22 16:01

preaching to the choir man.. I don't know how so many people manage to look away so effectively from this. There are some great org owners out there but also some horrible people.

2020-03-22 22:27

lol fuck astralis

Welcome to year 2001 , big rosters, online tournaments... waiting the black of clanbase, sogamed, gotfrag and clantags with []

flair checks out :)

COMUNICADO OFFICIAL

Unexpected

this is exciting, a future where teams could swap players mid game would be cool

It won't be ever allowed, don't be a fool.

2020-03-23 22:12

smart move

lol so fucking stupid

I already told you that AGO started new trend. More to come.

What is so "dirty" to sign a player after his contract expires? In all sports people sign contracts ahead. Heroic could try to extend his contract sooner = problem solved.

2020-03-22 14:26

In football you can be sued if you keeping "harassing" a player from another team, this happened with Barcelona.

2020-03-22 15:01

he's too bad

He will probably get 20k per month without playing XD

I understand them, despite the fact that it looks like a low blow to Heroic/FPX. I think more teams should have spare players in order to deal better with fatigue.

Fatigue playing video games xaxaxaxaxaxaa

2020-03-22 14:30

a job is a job.. and mental fatigue is a real issue in esports, as well as any industry - doesnt have to be physically demanding. can you comprehend that??? probably not, you've never had a job

2020-03-22 15:21

Put these "pro players" to do real jobs and they will never complain ever again xaxaxa

2020-03-22 15:35

I agree with you when we talk about "pro players" in irrelevant teams that compete in low level scene, only lose and get paid for that, like fl0m and others. But when you talk about the strongest team in the world, fatigue is real. These guys, even being "video-game players", are accomplished, rich guys now. And stop with that idiot, internet slacker/troll laugh if you want to mock Astralis' players

999iq play

they just stole idea from AGO, polish scene is always first

aside from bad faith or ethics regarding the negotiations and approaches from astralis, would you guys think 6-man roster is ineffective in terms of utilizing players? i mean, unless you can do player swaps like League of Legends do in between maps (other than BO 1), it is really hard to do practice during normal days since astralis will have to substitute during their regular pracc/scrims. Other than that, IF only substituting players in official matches between maps is allowed, that would be cool, but honestly, it would not happen at all ever.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't change the 5 even between tournament matches, rather in between tournaments, preparing for each of them differently. Would mean other teams would have one hell of a task preparing against them. Between maps would probably create an insane rivalry between players, always being afraid of being bottomfragger of map1 etc. Right now I'm just looking forward to seeing what the hell went on here for this to even happen.

+1 As you mention before, yes, would be some shitty tons of prep for other teams to deal with them. But it could just mean with 6 man army it will backfire on them if they themselves prepping too much playbook and strats. And yes, we might just want to see the consequences for astralis taking this unexpected move. Cheers and stay safe

2020-03-22 13:31

I don't see why they couldn't rotate playersbetween maps, but I guess it would depend on the tournament rules. It's not unheard of to see a standin for just 1 map though, I've even seen it for a few rounds of a map. As far as making it actually work and being successful goes, that is a very interesting question! Obviously we can only speculate, but I personally think it probably could be done if executed perfectly. Having said that, I think the challenges it presents are significant. As you mentioned, it will affect practice but also team chemistry. Interesting times!

Yes! Might depend on tournament rules tho, i hope there is one which allowed player swaps between maps (or maybe per half) to make it more interesting to watch! How it goes, we might see in a not too distant future, but hopefully it does not ruin their prep having 6-man army, since it could backfire them having way too much playbook in their sleeves. Cheers, and stay safe wherever you are mate!

2020-03-22 14:13

Yeah I'm actually looking forward to seeing what happens. Cheers, you too! I'm in Adelaide so no dramas here really.

2020-03-22 14:21

do you understand the concept of business continuity?

I thought circuses are usually more than 6 people. Astralis = 🤡

New meta

2020-03-22 13:12

ez 6v5

I feel like actively changing a player in your team will result in worse form

dupreeh will sit on the bench

rip es3tag's career

He deserves it but I don't want this astralis can still be the top team everyone wanted to take down

2020-03-22 13:21

League of Legends be like

5 player teams < Astralis 6 < AGO 7 players

make this happen Astralis vs AGO 6 vs 7

2020-03-22 13:29

Haha , major final

Will es3tag get his sticker in 2nd major with his 5 teammates?

No, Valve only allows 5 stickers per team. I suppose the starting lineup of Gla1ve, Xyp9x, Device, Dupreeh and Magisk will get stickers and es3tag will be left out. But only time will tell.

2020-03-22 13:40

Rip dupreeh

2020-03-22 13:32

you think Astralis are going to swap out one of the best entry fraggers for es3tag LOL that sounds more like a Finnish roster move

2020-03-22 13:38

And what is the comment below this about? Oh wait, you agree with me in it... Fucker...

2020-03-22 14:19

Astralis didnt even want to lose Kjaerbye and you lot think they will drop Dupreeh or Xyp LOL

professional bench-sitter?

easiest money ever for es3tag

2020-03-22 13:41

if u can't beat them, join them :D

2020-03-22 13:44

Astralis showing the way yet again. Soon all the top teams will have permanent stand-ins/6-man rosters. You may bookmark this.

Only the pussy ones

2020-03-22 14:27

When I was talking about it 2 years ago, people were laughing at me and said its stupid. I used the same argument that he used, people do it in sports since always. Gaming is no different, its hard to play good when You have problems at home, stomach ache or whatever. It makes You distracted and it makes Your team weak. GL Astralis. I hope fans will grow up and understand how life works.

and they all are laughing when ago sign 6th man and then 7th man XDD

2020-03-22 13:56

Good luck Es3!

2020-03-22 13:58

i'm happy for him, been looking for him since mid 2017, that's great he got a chance to show himself on the hignest level

6v5 ez for astralis

new meta

2020-03-22 14:03

Ez odds orgless

2020-03-22 14:06

This thing gonna put tons of pressure on Astralis players, they gonna fear from having a bad performance etc. I don't agree with this move.

I think they should play with es3tag instead of dupreeh for some events, because dupreeh is really not in form.

2020-03-22 14:16

what a crazy opportunity for es3tag, the amount of shit he has to learn now is huge and the pressure must be immense, let's see how this works out

IMMORTALS 2.0

2020-03-22 14:25

What is this shit lol come on

2020-03-22 14:28

6v5 easy

Stupid. There are stand in practice for a reason, why would you sign somebody to sit on a fucking bench? Then go full rotation strat and sign 5 ppl to have full flexibility wtf

how is it fair to play with 6 against 5 :/

If Es3tag replaces let's say Device in Blast and ESL there Will be a problem going forward. Either Es3tag wont be Good enough and the team will underperform or he will do great and Device spot for the major would be at risk. I really can't see this working out.. Somebody has to be the "benched" player and I don't think any player good enough for Astralis will be happy playing 2-3 tournaments a year.

2020-03-22 14:35

This is the beginning of Astralis doing an "Mibr"

Es4tag is obviously happy to be the stand in now and again... Astralis aren't changing this roster unless someone is feeling burnt out or maybe Device health problems arise again. People acting like someone is getting dropped now.

2020-03-22 14:50

axaxaxaxa

2020-03-22 14:38

snakestralis

Now mibr can resign felps, LUCAS1 and probably sign Luken and no one will think it's weird... Ahhahahah

ok 2a2b2mid ez6vs5

hf playing 2 matches a year LUL

North/Mad Lions grab some better FPX players

2020-03-22 14:51

They are actually ruining themselves with this one

6 man roaster in before "we need moar firepower" and... -gla1ve

Awesome =) Welcome es3tag

EZ 4 Snakeestralis

2020-03-22 14:53

6v5 Astralis changing the game yet again

now they cant lose. ez 6x5

Es3tag sellout.

2020-03-22 14:59

2020-03-22 15:02

i hope they make him get a haircut

2020-03-22 15:14

This is good move. It would be fun if they would add rule in esport cs that u can sub player in a match, halftime or between maps.

2020-03-22 15:16

How to pronounce his nickname? esthreetag? esetag?

2020-03-22 15:22

eats egg

2020-03-22 15:29

EseTag

2020-03-22 16:31

S-TAG

2020-03-22 16:36

Es tag

2020-03-22 17:00

eat-bat

EzTag

2020-03-22 18:22

big stag

2020-03-27 10:59

still no chance against NaVi even playing 6v5

Why??

2020-03-22 15:30

dev3ce scared to play against s1mple.

2020-03-22 15:34

s2mple*

Not sure if your stupid brain dont get that HE WOULD NOT MEET Simple Guardian was awp player so (drumroll) he would met Guardian

2020-03-22 16:58

And Who played awp for navi in stand off... Oh wait Guardian

2020-03-22 16:59

what the fuck are you even trying to say lmao.

2020-03-22 17:10

Figured you meant the blast stand off device stood up during dental problems, almost every s2mple fan cried how it was to avoid simple when they wouldnt Even have battled lol.. Device definitely lose simple No doubt but your comment was disrespectful

2020-03-22 19:01

Well even if he faced s1mple instead of zonic, the result would be the same as it was at OMEN HP Challenge.

2020-03-22 19:15

6 vs 5 oh fuck

2020-03-22 15:40

So now Esetag is gonna sit on bench for most time and only join in when someone in Astralis starting five feels exhausted. Seriously doubt anyone from original five are gonna miss out in any of the big tournaments. How fun for Esetag..... NOT!!

2020-03-22 15:43

if he is a total noob maybe he just likes the money?

2020-03-22 16:03

Bye dupreeh

2020-03-22 15:45

Ah Nikola Nyholm continuing to be the snake he is, first he fucks up Blast, then he leaves Blast and suddenly Blast is a good league this year. Everything this man touches turns to shit. This guy is here for the money and has absolutely no passion for esports.

2020-03-22 15:56

not fair 6 vs 5

is estag a random noob or can he actually play some csgo?

Has been competent at some dreamhack opens. Is Danish. Needs a haircut.

2020-03-22 17:27

will he get better after the haircut? the hair is holding him back too much?

2020-03-22 17:29

The hair and the backwards cap make him look like a white boy who listens to rap.

2020-03-22 17:41

wow, cant listen to rap as a white kid. big no no etags

2020-03-22 17:46

I wonder how this will work in regards to pracc and scrims? "Okay boys...let's do that again but this time we swap device for es3tag" Doesn't that just complicate things? Make it harder to ensure all are on the same page etc?

2020-03-22 16:07

they will bench dupreeh soon no worries

2020-03-22 16:30

what the F xddd

2020-03-22 16:17

i do know why!!!

WHAT THE FUCK

2020-03-22 16:26

Astralis 6v5 lost

Well, it was very unexpected that someone was gonna join Astralis, but then also him not replacing but just playing once in a while instead of someone else, lul. Well he gets paid very well soo i guess cool.

Yeah why not sitting in Astralis backup and get pay more than play in Heroic/FPX official match. Who not want that lol

and he will have a bigger chance of winning a big tournament when actually playing or even a major if one of the core 5 should get sick, than he will ever get in funplus phoenix

2020-03-22 17:26

Disgusting (as always with anything from Denmark)

2020-03-22 16:33

Wait. That's illegal.

2020-03-22 16:38

Rip

2020-03-22 16:51

In my opinion, it is a good strategy by Astralis. I guess the organization is looking to create roster flexibility, and this is a good way to do it. It will be interesting to see how Astralis will implement the changes in his game ... because this could be a great success but also the opposite.

2020-03-22 16:52

That is an actual rat move, by esetag dropping his teammates like this. What a cunt.

2020-03-22 16:53

Well he is not joining until july when his contract ends, so i can't see why he is being a rat. Who wouldnt accept an offer to join the most successful cs:go team?

2020-03-22 17:23

Because the team he was on for so long was about to enter a new organization. Which probably is blown off because they can’t field a 5 man team.

2020-03-22 17:43

Then it's an opportunity for the new org to get a saying in how the new team should look by being a part in selecting the new 5th. It's a weak move by the org, if they drop a team due to one player leaving, a player who is not even the star or igl in the team and whoms contract ends in 3 months anyway.

2020-03-22 18:40

They enter csgo, at least want to. By picking up a full squad. Finding a 5th can be hard, on many different levels and you know that. But flair checks out. Gl with this retarded move.

2020-03-22 19:06

Dont remember saying that i think this is a good move in any way, just said that i can't see how this makes Es3tag a rat flair checks out? nah dude, this is not a princess sport, and danish teams lose their best players to the better danish teams all the time, so if this makes funplus phoenix drop their interest in entering cs:go, it's so much on them and shows what a weak intention they had in the first place

2020-03-22 20:33

I never implied you thought it was a good move. Just wishing you goodluck as an astralis fan. And their intention might be weak, we can’t judge. I feel it is a bitch move to pull off. It seems quite sudden. Which is also why heroic wants to take action. If the plans where there already for him to leave to whatever team when his contract expires he should have mentioned that beforehand especially when the team is being picked up by a different org.

2020-03-22 21:53

someone in astralis probably have corona so -1 +1 =1

2020-03-22 17:01

wtf 100pt math mens

2020-03-22 17:09

why six players in team? its joke?

2020-03-22 17:11

2020-03-22 17:15

In my opinion, it is a good strategy by Astralis. I guess the organization is looking to create roster flexibility, and this is a good way to do it. It will be interesting to see how Astralis will implement the changes in his game....because this could be a great success but also the opposite.

This is going to be interesting

2020-03-22 17:12

ITS NOT APRIL FOOLS YET GLA1VE WTF(

2020-03-22 17:13

bye device, take care (im fking daydreaming)

Let's see how it works

Totally agree, especially the hype to see how the team behaves with a new partner, we will see.

2020-03-22 17:53

wise move. es3tag is good player.

2020-03-22 17:40

Stupid es3tag suck

oh no, the only player I wouldn't be mad at dropping Magisk, but if anyone else, I will hate it

2020-03-22 17:42

Honestly, thats great.

2020-03-22 18:37

Astralis is looking ahead and trying to prepare for whatever challenges await them. GL to them and es3tag

2020-03-22 19:57

gl es3tag!

2020-03-22 20:04

from July 1 over 3 months OMEGALUL imaging astralis wining again only bb es3tag

2020-03-22 20:37

probably Device will get benched later in july. FPX will probably drop the entire roster of heroic and lose their spot in flashpoint. and the four remaining players will struggle a lot

2020-03-22 22:55

"probably Device will get benched later in july." Wow, finally.

2020-03-23 19:14

6>5 quick maths

2020-03-22 23:19

very noice

2020-03-22 23:46

Cadian malding

2020-03-23 05:41

rats

2020-03-23 09:40

I guess the only one really under risk of being replaced is dupreeh, considering the last 4 months

2020-03-23 11:29

Astralis knows that winning is 100% mental, psychological 6th guy gives them motivation, especially when they pretty much won it all (i'd probably be done after so many achievements)

2020-03-23 22:16

NEW META.

2020-03-23 14:24

Can't win 5on5, solution: add 1 more player and ez win 6vs5.

Like glaive wasn't already cheating through smoke, now they want 6 players? Nice try astralis

2020-03-23 19:29

dupreeh is the only guy older than him in the team

2020-03-24 22:16

rip G1ave,u are undue here

2020-03-25 02:55

If they can keep their roster a mystery game to game bullshit. IF they are forced to stick with a 5 at the start of a tourny fine.

2020-03-25 15:00

what you all freaking out over? he is a backup, incase someone in astralis gets sick or injured and cant play, now astralis has a extra in their backpocket and they dont have to call in some random kid

2020-03-27 11:01