What will happen to Astralis? Prospects and problems of the new roster
After a disastrous performance at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR, such a large and ambitious club as Astralis undoubtedly expected drastic changes in the roster. But no one expected the changes that occurred.
The club got rid of one of their best rifflers – Benjamin blameF Bremer. But beyond his role as a shooter, he was also one of the most important parts of the lineup. Since his transfer from Complexity, he has taken on the burden of captaincy in Astralis. It was logical that after his exclusion from the team the club would look for a new IGL, but things turned out to be not so simple.
The new Astralis player is Alexander br0 Bro. The Dane was never a captain and did not become one in the new organization. His stated goal will be to create space for the rest of the players and a high level of individual performance.
Unexpectedly for everyone, the main star of Astralis Nicolai device Reedtz took a new role that he had never tried in his career as an esports player. In this material we will discuss changes in the CS2 club composition and controversial decisions that raise a lot of questions.
Device is the new captain of Astralis
After the expulsion of Benjamin blameF Bremer, Astralis needed a new captain. But management did not look for IGL among free agents, and it was difficult to do so, because there are no free leaders on the market and there has long been a shortage of good captains on the professional scene. The squad decided to deal with this problem in its own way: it transferred this role to one of its best players – Nicolai device Reedtz.
The Dane had never acted as a captain in his career; it was always customary for him to perform the basic functions of a sniper, and he handled them perfectly. An IGL sniper has not been something unusual for a long time, take the same Casper cadiaN Meller or Gabriel FalleN Toledo. But even his fans did not expect to see Nicolai Reedtz in such a role. It would seem that after the failure at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR, the club needed a simple and reliable solution, and making a captain out of its strongest player is a huge risk. There is a chance that this will work, but it is not a fact that it will happen and, moreover, it requires a lot of time and practice, which Astralis does not have right now.
Device himself notes that leadership prospects are not new to him. According to him, he always played the position of the second caller and was directly involved in the tactical component of Astralis. Only time and distance will tell whether one of the best snipers in the world will be able to become such a good captain, but do not forget the numerous statements of Nicolai Reedtz that he does not enjoy the game. With such a setup, it is difficult to fulfill IGL tasks, and when this manifests itself, the Astralis roster will have great difficulties.
Br0 – will it pull?
Big questions also arise for the new player Astralis. Alexander br0 Bro is not known for great achievements and the community was waiting for the signing of a more stellar player to replace Benjamin blameF Bremer. The only club on the big stage for the newcomer Astralis was Monte, where he played since July 2023 and won only one trophy at ESL Challenger Jonkoping 2023, where there were no strongest teams in the world. Before this, Alexander br0 Bro spent almost a year at the Astralis academy, from where the Ukrainian club took him.
At Monte, br0 was not a star player and was clearly not the main contender for transfers to big clubs. But apparently Astralis liked his personal qualities back in the academy and the management felt that he could become the missing link for the new main roster. But he was clearly not chosen based on statistics, because over the past three months his rating on HLTV is 0.97 – which is lower than some captains. Most likely, he will play more of a support role in the team than the main killing player. But even so, this transfer looks very strange and undoubtedly a club like Astralis could choose a better player from free agents or buy out some promising talent from other organizations. Fans criticized the organization for this transfer, as did most analysts and journalists.
New Astralis coach
In addition to the players, Astralis also changed its coach. Casper ruggah Due became the new coach of the club. His signing was announced back in January, but he was scheduled to take office only after the end of his contract with OG on April 1, 2024. The disastrous result of Astralis at PGL Major Copenhagen 2024: European RMR forced the club to take drastic measures and attract a coach in advance. Of course, he is a better candidate than the club’s temporary coach Mathias R0nic Pinholt from Astralis Talent, but looking at the achievements of Casper ruggah Due, this appointment still raises big questions.
The coach has represented OG since January 2020 and did not score important victories, and the performance of some of the club’s squads along with ruggah disappointed fans. During his entire time in the organization, he managed to lead the team to 3-4 place at BLAST Premier Spring Final 2022 and BLAST Premier World Final 2022, and at IEM Rio Major 2022 and BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 OG failed, not leaving the Challengers stage. But perhaps the problem with Casper ruggah Due’s failures lay not in his coaching qualities, but in the wrong decisions of the management. Perhaps in Astralis he will be able to reveal himself to the fullest and lead the team to trophies.
There are more questions than answers to the new Astralis lineup. It’s hard to imagine that the club will return to the top of the Counter-Strike 2 scene with such a roster. Perhaps there will be a few more replacements waiting for him, or maybe Nicolai device Reedtz will be able to open up in a new role and become another good sniper captain. However, the club still has promising young talent in Jacob Jabbi Nygaard and Martin stavn Lund, for whom Astralis are rumored to have paid Heroic $2 million. So far they are not showing even close to the game they showed under the leadership of Casper cadiaN Meller, but perhaps they need more time to adapt to the new organization.
The next tournament of the updated Astralis roster will be IEM Chengdu 2024 in April. There the team will have to meet with the strongest giants of the professional scene, for example, FaZe Clan, MOUZ and Virtus.pro. It’s hard to imagine that Astralis will perform well in China. Most likely, this tournament will become a training tournament for the team and will allow them to test their achievements on a large LAN, and not an attempt to compete for the main prize. After this, the club awaits the 19th season of the ESL Pro League, where failure is no longer acceptable, and the community will already be expecting some significant results from the updated roster.
If we objectively assess the current state of Astralis, we believe more in their total failure than in their unexpected rise to the top 10 teams in the world. Most likely, the club will hold several inconclusive tournaments and make several more substitutions.