Astralis commit to trace as coach; MODDII replaces ave in academy team

2/5/2022 - 14:52

More coaching news from the Danish organization.

Martin "⁠trace⁠" Heldt will stay on as Astralis' main team coach after the Major, the organization confirmed on Monday, as the team showed an uptick in performance since he slotted into the role temporarily for the Major-qualifying cycle.

Unable to compete in Valve-sanctioned events due to his coaching-bug abuse ban, Alexander "⁠ave⁠" Holdt was demoted from main team coach to the academy in March, but has now resigned from the position. The Swede that spent most of his career in Danish teams, Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh, will take the spot and work with Astralis Talent moving forward.

Astralis have committed to trace as their replacement for zonic

Speaking about the decision to make trace the permanent coach, Director of Sports Kasper Hvidt praised the effect the 31-year-old had on the squad, helping them qualify for the PGL Major and reach the grand final of the BLAST Showdown, where they suffered a narrow loss to ENCE.

"Martin has stepped in with the authority and clarity needed on a team with big names and personalities, and under him we are starting to see some of the energy and confidence we in Astralis must always stand for," Hvidt said.

Having gone from coach of ECSTATIC to Astralis Talent and now Astralis' main team in about five months, trace shared his excitement about taking the next step. "When you work with such skilled players as at Astralis, it is about creating the best possible framework so that they can use all the resources to deliver on the server," trace said. "I understand that the expectations for Astralis are always high, and they should be. [...] We might not always win, but we will always do what we can to make it possible."

blameF: "We can be proud of what we displayed here with the new roster"

MODDII's signing as the Astralis Talent coach marks the 32-year-old's transition to the out-of-game side of competition for the first time after spending over a decade as a player in CS1.6 and CS:GO.

"I have long wanted to use my Counter-Strike experience in the coaching role and come with a lot of ideas, but also a great deal of humility in relation to the work that has already been done," MODDII commented. "I know the organization and the people from my time on one of their teams and can only say I am very much looking forward to getting started."

Lastly, ave's departure marks the end of a short stint with the Danish powerhouse as his first coaching gig since 2019 ended after just six months, and with mediocre results.

Astralis are now:

Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander
Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth
Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke
Asger "⁠Farlig⁠" Jensen

Martin "⁠trace⁠" Heldt (coach)

Astralis Talent have the following lineup:

Alexander "⁠Altekz⁠" Givskov
Frederik "⁠Fessor⁠" Sørensen
Victor "⁠vigg0⁠" Bisgaard
Benjamin "⁠brzer⁠" Jensen
Mikkel "⁠MistR⁠" Thomsen

Andreas "⁠MODDII⁠" Fridh (coach)

Let's go MODDII

2022-05-02 14:53

7 replies

Pog coach

2022-05-02 14:54

5 replies

2022-05-02 18:30

4 replies

-1 take your Nordic flag off. Everyone in that entire region played under ave. karrigan, glaive, fifflaren, etc. You kick him for coach cam: all other teams did it. He can’t coach valve sanctioned events. So? If Astralis Talent are top 16, don’t give credit to BOTIII

2022-05-02 21:10

3 replies

Abu abu

2022-05-02 21:22

Dude, chill.

2022-05-02 22:26

Too much effort to read so just have a nice day

2022-05-03 13:01

MODDIII the goat

2022-05-02 16:27

Astralis go brr

mezi left fnatic for that?

huh?

2022-05-02 15:12

2 replies

he looks like him

2022-05-02 16:04

1 reply

Better to be coach of Astralis, than player of LULtic.

2022-05-02 16:07

Moddii = mezii

2022-05-03 16:31

Nice!

F ave

inb4 zonic returns

2022-05-02 14:55

youtube.com/watch?v=zLwqahjtEWw&ab_chann.. classic

2022-05-02 14:56

this never gets old.

2022-05-02 19:23

Is JW a better person today than he used to be? Or does he still have zero empathy.

2022-05-03 20:08

"I'm guessing JW hadn't had his morning six cheeseburgers." :DDD

2022-05-05 21:22

those coach changes from astralis + BIG plus the ESIC announcement that there will be another coach-banwave this week hmmmmmmm

10 replies

Since when have astralis cared about banned coaches tho.

2022-05-02 15:28

9 replies

Ave is on the hit list

2022-05-02 16:30

Astralis, you mean one of the only orgs left without a coach on the bug abusing list? LMFAO, nt thorin stan another swing and miss.

2022-05-02 17:42

Astralis signed ave who was already banned

2022-05-02 18:15

You should probably look that up once again. Aves ban was expired when Astralis signed him, he just couldnt attend the following major in similar fashion that Guerria won't be with furia at the major. RobbaN wont be with faze due to his ban. F_1N won't be with Gambit / C9 and so on. To portray Astralis as an org who "doesn't care" about the bans when they were never involved in that unlike orgs such as navi, nip, faze, furia, gambit etc. is entirely BS

2022-05-02 18:18

get his ass

2022-05-02 19:01

Appreciate swooping his ass with hard facts.

2022-05-03 02:06

Bro F_1N doesn't coach Cloud9 for like year

2022-05-03 10:03

Only because he's banned from majors. Hes still their active analyst

2022-05-04 10:05

What about hunden?

2022-05-02 23:25

A move that is sure to leave a trace in csgo history.

Carlos!

2022-05-02 15:05

2022-05-02 14:59

Astralis preparing for another coach banwave

2022-05-02 15:02

how so

2022-05-02 15:43

6 replies

ESIC gonna soon ban a lot of coaches

2022-05-02 22:09

2022-05-03 01:02

ok but how are they preparing tho ave already had a ban

2022-05-03 05:37

That doesn't mean he can't get another ban u know

2022-05-03 10:04

well yes but they werent gonna be using him for the major cycle anyways so I dont see how they are preparing for his bans to be extended

2022-05-03 10:05

Well he wouldn't coach academy team at Major... And if he get new ban, he couldn't even coach academy.

2022-05-03 12:29

ave was too thin to replace zonic. trace not as big, but he will do.

2022-05-02 15:03

He should start bulking ASAP.

2022-05-02 18:39

Man watching the game yesterday, Trace looked so happy everytime they won. W for that guy

cute af

2022-05-02 15:21

Bro his damn smile is something else , no homo tho .

2022-05-02 16:29

i will become homo for him xd

2022-05-03 10:17

+1 he's just glad to do cs while making a living He's finally making money of his hobby Glad he's happy, mam is a legend and deserves it

2022-05-02 16:35

+1 really deserved

2022-05-02 18:23

Trace is chad <3 youtu.be/pVUyes8G6uU

2022-05-03 11:27

Expected. Ave is too analytical and/or introvert for that lineup. The lineup is built on hyyyyyyypee

2022-05-02 15:13

F ave :( hope he'll find a new team soon Let's go trace <3

2022-05-02 15:14

BEEFCAKE !!!

Doing ave real dirty first he got coach in main in only few months and now he got replaced in academy team by a player whos only known for not wanting to shake hands with old prime nip kek

2022-05-02 15:16

zoomer

Pog

ave was the problem

2022-05-02 15:22

guy literally goes from coaching main team to nothing

2022-05-02 15:51

GOD MODDII

esic banwave coming this week -> big and astralis instantly remove coaches makes you think

2022-05-02 15:23

astralis is keeping their coach? it is just the academy team switching and ave was already banned.

2022-05-02 15:36

yeah. astralis is removing ave, hence "Moddii replaces ave in academy team" in the title.

2022-05-02 15:41

Ave was already banned... Literally changes nothing.

No his ban expired... Will probably get another ban

why would these teams already qualifying to the major change coach weeks before it starts… definitely has something to do with ESIC. ave’s ban will probably be more serious if astralis is straight dropping him from even the academy team

2022-05-02 17:11

well Trace was Astralis coach going into the major and he was also coach during the blast showdown.

2022-05-02 17:19

Yeah, maybe im looking too far into it.

2022-05-02 17:20

its all good man have a great rest of your day

2022-05-02 17:43

You too

2022-05-02 19:05

ave coach ban incoming

2022-05-02 15:27

Enkay J as well I guess. No reason to remove him this soon otherwise.

2022-05-02 15:55

incoming? he already got it

2022-05-02 18:19

please just disband

it expired u know

2022-05-03 10:06

i thought moddii replaced trace for a sec

2022-05-02 15:31

lowkey moddii is my favorite player of all time, MYM was forever my favorite team with zet <3

2022-05-02 15:37

MYM the good old days :D

2022-05-02 16:18

damn

2022-05-03 00:47

From most bloated coach to most buffed one.

2022-05-02 15:38

didn't know modii was still around lmao

2022-05-02 15:40

moddii speaks danish?

He played in sk and heroic with danish roster for example, so i guess he speaks danish

2022-05-02 16:01

He is skåning and been living in Denmark for years...

2022-05-03 17:25

Now you just need friis

2022-05-02 15:52

byebye Ave. here is a big fat check and we thank you for your services.

king moddii

2022-05-02 16:21

I imagine trace recommended MODDII as the new coach for Astralis Talent since they were teammates in the old fnatic.

2022-05-02 16:22

rip full danish flag

2022-05-02 16:28

ave always looked sad , no matter what..even when he smiled, GL in future adventures

Moddii as a coach, thats intresting. Sad that he wont be playing anymore but nice that he's still in the scene, WP moddii and GL!

Astralis chews up and spits out players/staff like it’s nothing. Zero regard for peoples lives and wellbeing. Remember bubski and lucky?

2022-05-02 16:44

1/10

2022-05-02 17:21

as you go on to mention the only 2 players that were removed in the history of Astralis due to their poor display on the server hahahaha. Astralis have made less changed during the past 5 years than literally every other t1 org and if you were capable of actually reading you would find out Ave was offered the coach role of the academy team but declined.

2022-05-02 17:36

yawn

2022-05-02 18:17

Chad trace. Love to see you there!

I think ave is more suited for analytical job or even at desk, he was one of the best if not the best igl in 1.6 so he knows his shit but for sure, trace attitude suits as Astralis coach way better, team feels very confident behind him, think like team was before zonic. What's crazy both have played under ave's leadership but he's the one who doesn't fit coaching them. Happy that trace finally got a chance and used it perfectly, he was looking for a job in esports for way too long He was pretty similar player to device back in the day, great both with awp and rifle, could do primary both and greaaat positioning

2022-05-02 16:58

2022-05-03 00:49

Det bliver så let. youtube.com/watch?v=KWtvdNYYKl4

Nice

2022-05-02 17:09

lmao the moment trace came onto the main roster i knew they were going to remove ave in the future under trace astralis looks so much better...they take initiative and don't chicken out as much as they used to when ave was at the helm

2022-05-02 17:14

traceb <3

2022-05-02 17:25

how is that dude 32 wtf

2022-05-02 17:29

If Astralis could go like 2 months without changing something maybe they would be worth something.

2022-05-02 17:40

When trace came Astralis played better, so you say they are worthless(best org in csgo history) because they make changes to became better. Is that your logic or? I'm not sure.

2022-05-02 19:59

Their current ability to be competitive is worth nothing. Only reason they are anywhere near relevant is because of P2W process of being a partner with organizers so they've got some points even tho they did not do crap. Astralis TEAM WAS the best in CSGO history. Astralis org is known for being one of the worst orgs out there with how they treat their people. Constant changes suggest lack of direction which they have definitely shown. I do think that trace looks like a better coach than ave, but if they keep changing things every few months they'll never get anywhere. Only reason Astralis is relevant these days is because of tournament invites. That's it. Last 15 months it was terrible to say the least and not worth of top 50. Fact that they are randomly hanging things but keeping a player who is likely one of the worst players in tier 1 right now, xyp, shows the complete lack of self awareness. Their statistically best player is a baiter who always was best rated player in teams that lost everything. gla1ve picked up awp 7 time and dropped it at least as many. k0nfig is the mechanical god with a peanut brain. They use awpers as anchors for some reason. I do not think they are becoming better, I do not see it for this team.

2022-05-02 20:33

no trace of ave now....sad mood

2022-05-02 18:16

I was wondering what happened to MODDII, but here he is

ECSTATIC have declined since he left, seems he did a good job here as well.

2022-05-02 18:21

Finally got rid of Ave, he is just such a bad coach

Moddii pog

MODDII legend

2022-05-02 19:03

Ave useless , trace is amazing. Gl moddii

2022-05-02 19:36

Ave is like the chrisJ coaching equivalent +ave -ave +ave -ave

2022-05-02 20:16

GOAT MODDII is back, let's f go...

2022-05-02 22:55

good for main roster. Trace is super guy :D He bringed back a lot of energy to this team, he got a lot of emotions, ave always was super sad and no emotions. Trace with blame got probably the best synergy, they are pumpin biceps together.

2022-05-02 23:51

So lame, they're trying to make Ave the scapegoat. CS can be a very fickle mistress sometimes.

2022-05-03 01:20

Trace is hot.

2022-05-03 02:40

So funny that this was released. Moddii didn't even get to reveal this to his current coworkers, before they started congratulating him (my GF works with him).

2022-05-03 13:36

What does he work with right now? I'm curious to know.

2022-05-03 17:27

Customer support

2022-05-05 17:30

Moddii the Skåning legend <3

2022-05-03 17:28

nice, they looked pretty bad with ave, but the talent team looked pretty good with him, so why not keep him

2022-05-04 15:08