Astralis move JUGi into starting lineup as gla1ve takes medical leave

19/5/2020 - 10:07

Jakob "JUGi" Hansen has been moved into Astralis' starting lineup as in-game leader Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander is taking a leave of absence due to medical reasons, the Danish organisation announced on Tuesday.

gla1ve will be out of action for the next three months on advice from his doctor and from Astralis' Sports Director, Kasper Hvidt, after complaining of symptoms of stress and burnout for a long time.

This means that JUGi, who officially joined Astralis last week, will be playing for the team at least until Patrick "es3tag" Hansen becomes a permanent member of the roster on July 1 following the expiry of his contract with Heroic.

JUGi will make his Astralis debut on Tuesday

gla1ve will sit out at least DreamHack Masters Spring and BLAST Premier Europe Showdown, the team's next two tournaments. It is currently unclear who will be calling the shots in his absence, with Mr. Hvidt having recently told HLTV.org that the team had "more potential co-IGLs" in case the 24-year-old needed to be rested.

"For a long time, we have worked with Lukas and the team to minimize the tasks inside and outside of the game," Astralis' Sports Director said. "This has helped, but unfortunately, it has not been enough for him to avoid going on leave.

"I know that there are many players out there in situations similar to Lukas’ and though you might say we should have taken this step a long time ago, it is my hope that we can avoid a similar situation in the future.

"I am obviously looking forward to having Lukas back 100%, but right now he needs to rest. We will support him in any and all ways possible."

JUGi, who has been out of action since January, will make his debut for Astralis later on Tuesday against his old team of Heroic as the world No.1 squad begin their DreamHack Masters Spring journey. The online tournament will run from May 19 through June 14 and will have $160,000 on offer.

The Danish team have been gathered in Copenhagen since Monday for a bootcamp together with the organisation's performance staff and will be playing their DreamHack matches from the main office.

Astralis will field the following roster in their next two tournaments: