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Will the signing of HUNDEN hurt Astralis’ reputation?

Undoubtedly, for all those who started following the CS:GO competitive scene after 2017, Astralis was synonymous with the word... Eduardo | 6. January 2023

Undoubtedly, for all those who started following the CS:GO competitive scene after 2017, Astralis was synonymous with the word success, as the Danish organization won absolutely everything at that time.

Led by superstars like Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, Astralis won four CS:GO Majors between 2017 and 2019 and added other S-Level trophies to their showcase.

Everything changed in 2021

In the 2021 season, everything changed for the Danish organization. The super team once labeled as the most fearsome in CS:GO history failed to lift a single trophy that season and lost its main gameplay references.

The departure of dev1ce to Ninjas in Pajamas and later, dupreeh, Emil “Magisk” Reif, and Head Coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen joined Team Vitality in 2022.

But, it had all been so bad until 2022, when Astralis was left out of the IEM Rio Major 2022, the first time this organization did not attend an event of this size since its creation in 2016.

This generated a total change in the team structure, including the return of dev1ce, as no other AWPer had been able to do his job well.

Astralis was only missing one piece to complete its team by 2023, the analyst position. As we mentioned in a previous article, Astralis made the surprising decision to sign the former Heroic coach, who has been banned twice for cheating Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen as an analyst.

This signing could damage the reputation of the Danish organization

Regardless of what happens this season, there is no doubt that this signing could damage Astralis’ well-earned reputation in the CS:GO scene.

While it is true that HUNDEN has tried to justify his actions in the past on different occasions, Astralis is taking a risk by associating its image with him.

According to reports published in August 2022, HUNDEN was working with Astralis thanks to the Aim Lab partnership. The organization clarified that the doors were open to HUNDEN after serving his sentence, and here he is as the new chief analyst.

About HUNDEN

After a long career as an IGL in several tier two teams in Denmark, HUNDEN decided to make a foray as Head Coach in 2020 when he was signed by Heroic, Astralis’ main rival in his country.

HUNDEN showed excellent skills helping his team to become a great team in the competitive CS:GO scene, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, when all tournaments were played online. Their successes reached the point where Heroic won their first big-level event since their inception, the ESL One Cologne Europe Online, in 2020.

Suspension of HUNDEN

The victory celebration didn’t last long, as HUNDEN was suspended by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) in September 2020 along with 36 other coaches.

The reason was simple, HUNDEN was one of the coaches who abused the spectator coach bug. This cheating method allowed coaches to place cameras anywhere on the map and reveal the opposing team’s location. The Danish coach took all the blame for this and claimed that his team knew nothing about the use of this bug.

It is evident that the rest of the organizations doubted that Heroic players knew anything about it, so Astralis president Nikolaj Nyholm implied that the players knew everything and created a stir in the social networks.

Immediately, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander joined this controversial debate.

Even Oleksandr “s1mple,” Kostyliev himself said that he was not aware of the existence of the bug.

Second ban on HUNDEN

Until April 30, 2021, HUNDEN was Heroic’s analyst when his ban expired, and he could return to activity. However, shortly after that, he was banned for the second time in his career.

This time it was because HUNDEN tried to leak Heroic’s strategy folder to another team attending IEM Cologne 2021 while he was trying to leave the organization and join a new one. This resulted in him being banned for two more years for “creating a threat to the integrity of the game.”

This time HUNDEN did not keep quiet and, after he assumed he “would be out of CS: GO forever,” he accused the Heroic 2020 staff of being complicit in the trainer spectator bug.

Following these statements, ESIC began investigating Martin “stavn” Lund, Casper “cadiaN” Møller, René “TeSeS” Madsen, Johannes “b0RUP” Borup, and Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen.

Header: Astralis