Astralis need to change something

For a while, it felt as though the only thing that Astralis was missing was the return of Nicolai “device” Reedtz.

After all, Benjamin “blameF” Bremer was a top-20 CS:GO player and was playing well in almost every single match, while Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander was a formidable IGL who had led Astralis to numerous Major victories. A bit more firepower should have been sufficient to start winning trophies again. But as we now know, it wasn’t.

Astralis’ disappointing results

Device rejoined Astralis at the end of October. That was nearly six months ago. And in these six months, the team failed to achieve any significant results. In some cases, such as the recent one, they were humiliated.

At ESL Pro League Season 17, after the Danish team finished 17^th-20^th, people naturally assumed that Astralis simply needed a bit more time. And that they were unlucky to run into a very strong Team Liquid. But now it’s no longer clear that the current Astralis roster has the potential to be a top-eight team.

At the moment, Astralis are ranked 16^th globally and each tournament is a new failure. What’s even more painful is that they even fail to qualify for some of them. Finishing 13^th out of 16 teams in European RMR A was probably a demoralizing experience.

They lost against Team Vitality, which was expected. But losing against Eternal Fire and Ninjas in Pyjamas was definitely not expected. The only win of the tournament came against Team Spirit, who ended up getting eliminated because it was their third consecutive defeat.

In other words, Astralis won against no one of significance at this highly important qualifier and will not be present at the Paris Major.

What Astralis might need to change soon

It’s hard to believe at this point that Astralis’ problem is related only to strategy and communication. If nothing improves, there’s a decent chance that Christian “Buzz” Andersen or perhaps the coach of the team, Peter “casle” Ardenskjold will be changed until the end of the season.

It’s doubtful that someone like Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth will be benched because he’s still young (27), plays well, and has been with the team for a very long time.

When things aren’t going according to plan, something needs to be changed. And apart from improving the gameplay of the current roster, the only realistic changes that can be made are the ones mentioned above.

If Astralis’ management and IGL are satisfied with the performance of Buzz, the coach will likely be changed. Otherwise, the player will be the one to get benched. Whatever the decision may be, it needs to be taken sooner rather than later.

If Astralis fail to qualify for the second Major of the season, their current strategy is not sustainable. When you have players like device, you need to win titles or at least be among the best teams in the world.

Header: ESL