It has been a rough month for Astralis. The Danish club had high hopes when it decided to change its Counter-Strike roster last year and so far, things have not worked out at all.
The two players who joined, Martin “stavn” Lund and Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard, are both exceptional at their respective roles. But the team as a whole lacks a key ingredient and it’s hard to say what that ingredient is.
Astralis’ Failure
Astralis failed to finish European RMR B in the top eight. Meanwhile, both ENCE and Heroic, the two teams that are directly linked to Astralis’ most recent roster changes, have qualified for PGL Major Copenhagen. Both of them encountered Astralis during the qualifier and won, just as they did at IEM Katowice.
This nightmare scenario, repeated twice in such a short time, could cause some people to develop a strong belief in karma. I won’t go into the reasons why the community criticized Astralis for their roster moves, but it’s certainly sad to see them failing like this.
Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz deserves better. Numerous fans would have loved to see him at the Major.
Not all is lost, though, because Astralis finished European RMR B in 9th – 11th place, which means they will have one last chance to qualify in the Decider Brackets. In theory, the odds of Astralis winning that competition are high.
They’re the highest-ranked team of the six and also the competitor with the strongest roster. But GamerLegion could easily steal their Major spot.
The Five European RMR B Matches
Astralis started the tournament with an easy victory against Nexus: 13 – 5 on Ancient. With the exception of jabbi, who had a modest performance (6 – 9), everyone on Astralis did well and it looked like the roster would easily qualify for the Major.
But this victory was followed by a match against Team Spirit, lost by Astralis in the most painful way possible: 13 – 11. Then followed another defeat, against Heroic, who were hard-carried by Guy “NertZ” Iluz. His score was 24 – 9 / 132.5 / 1.99.
In the fourth match, Astralis eliminated Monte, who were expected to qualify for the Major ahead of the tournament.
Then, in the fifth match of the competition, Astralis met ENCE once again, who are currently led by the former IGL of Astralis, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander. His inside knowledge allowed him to defeat his former team with ease.
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Header image credit: Astralis
