Astralis set to sign Christian “Buzz” Andersen

Christian Møss “Buzz” Andersen is set to sign a contract with the Danish esports organization Astralis, according to reports from HLTV.org.

After months of discussions with a number of prospects and unsuccessful attempts to secure bigger names, Astralis appeared to be settling on, Christian “Buzz” Andersen, who is currently a player of MASONIC. The 19-year-old talent will take Mikkel “MistR” Thomsen’s position in the starting roster. MistR, who has been a stand-in for the main team since October, will rejoin the Astralis Talent lineup.

 

The young Danish prospect, who began his professional career in 2020, posted numerous impressive performances in B-tier competitions but lacks experience in top-tier competitions. His biggest accomplishment was winning REPUBLEAGUE Season 3, while his recent feat was winning Dust2.dk Ligaen Season 21 with MASONIC.

According to the reports, Astralis has been in contact with Buuz since October, but the organization dropped the negotiations in favor of signing bigger CS:GO stars. Rasmus “sjuush” Beck and Victor “Staehr” Staehr of Sprout were reportedly among Astralis’ top candidates to fill the final spot. Astralis, however, failed to reach an agreement with the Sprout for Staehr, while sjuush decided to stay with Heroic for two more years. 

Astralis failed to qualify for the 2023 IEM Katowice

The reports follow Astralis’s failure to secure a spot at IEM Katowice. Astralis bombed out of the qualification race after losing to the Copenhagen Flames in the grand finals of CCT North Europe Series 2. Despite Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz, the team’s star AWper, delivering exceptional performance, the team was unable to overcome their native opponents in the best-of-three series. Astralis was in close competition with Evil Geniuses and paiN, for the last spot at Katowice through world-ranking positions. 

However, EG and paiN ultimately secured the final spots in the event after finishing in the top four at ESEA Autumn 2022 Cash Cup 7 North America, which improved their global standing. The Danish team’s failure to qualify for the IEM Katowice is another major blow for Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and his men. Astralis put up some encouraging performances this year, but they haven’t been nearly as consistent as the Astralis of 2018, as shown by their continuous drop from the top-ranked CS:GO team in March 2021 to 16th place in the world ranking. 

With the offseason just around the corner and the possible signing of Buzz, Astralis should begin thinking about a strategy to reverse their downward trend in the rankings. Astralis has two prestigious CS:GO tournaments planned, the first of which, the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, is set to begin in late January. Following the Groups, the Danish team will focus on the ESL Pro League Season 17 and  BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023.

Header: Astralis