Astralis to Part Ways with Xyp9x

Astralis‘ decline continues after parting ways with Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz. Now, Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth is considering all options, including parting ways with Astralis, as his contract nears the end.

The 25-year-old famous player made statements about his future to Dexerto before the end of his contract at the end of the year. The player used the following statements in his interview:

“I love Astralis, but I think now is a great opportunity to look around, see my options, and see what the future brings. There have been some talks with Astralis but nothing is set in stone. Everything is up in the air.”

“I just know that I want to continue playing at the highest level. I can easily see myself using my skills and experience to build up a new successful unit or maybe help an established team take the next steps to the top.”

When we look at Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth’s statements, Astralis always seems like a second option. Of course, the player also has very valid reasons to think so. As a team, they were ultimately great in the CS:GO scene as Astralis. They won 4 Majors and claimed the first and only team to win three consecutive Majors. But on the surface, the strong and homogeneous structure they formed as a team was at the center of this success. Maybe the players weren’t the best individually. But they always showed that success in Counter-Strike is teamwork. In fact, this is the basis of Xyp9x’s concerns about Astralis.

Astralis Loses Its Glory

The pandemic actually marked the beginning of the end of the golden age of Astralis. The online era was to be the end of the masters of large LAN tournaments and Majors. During this period, the health-related break of Xyp9x and gla1ve caused the first damage. We know that the Astralis team even does their social activities together, and from time to time they get support from professional soldiers by doing activities such as paintball. Therefore, such separations deeply hurt the team chemistry.

But the decline wasn’t over yet, and in April 2020 Nicolai ‘⁠dev1ce⁠’ Reedtz’s NiP transfer dealt the biggest blow. Then head coach Danny ‘⁠zonic⁠’ Sørensen entered the last month of his contract.

But actually the breaking point for Xyp9x was the dev1ce transfer. The player expressed his thoughts and feelings on the subject as follows:

“I thought we still could manage to win tournaments. After that, as things progressed, I just didn’t see the same era again.” 

“I’m not saying that we can’t win tournaments with this lineup, but it’s certainly tougher and contracts are running out, so we have a short window to get everything fixed.”

“Given the dynasty that we had for three years, almost winning everything, managing to win four Majors… There is a really long road.”

“I think that when device left, that was when the era died, so to speak.”

Xyp9x’s statements actually express his belief in how successful they are “as a team”. However, this belief is also the root cause of today’s disappointment. Because he believes that when the “giants” left everything was over and the team would never be that old Astralis ever again. He expressed this thought in the following words:

“There is nothing about the organization that has led to this. I’m only thinking about myself and where to win tournaments. That’s mainly where I put my focus. Any player would weigh up his options when his contract is about to end.”

“We as a team created an era and I don’t have any bad feelings towards Astralis. They helped us get here with performance optimization, elevating us.”

“But now it’s a different team and a different era. I think we can conclude that the first Astralis that I was part of is over.”

To put it briefly, the future of Xyp9x with Astralis is rather ambiguous. In fact, from the eyes of Xyp9x, it looks like it’s already finished. Because the team management has already relied on their new player, Lucas “Bubzkji⁠” Andersen. In fact, the team that will face Spirit today at 20:00 CET in ESL Pro League Season 14 may not include Xyp9x in the main roster.

Xyp9x out of the roster in ESL Pro League Season 14

As this news is being prepared, Xyp9x will not have a chance to play in the ESL Pro League Season 14 squad with the current news. Instead, Philip ⁠Lucky⁠” Ewald will play in ESL Pro League Season 14. With Dev1ce’s departure, the need for an AWP player seems to have cost Xyp9x its future in Astralis. This strengthens the possibility that the legend of Xyp9x, the most talented name of the Astralis team, is at the end of his journey with this team.

Thus, perhaps we are witnessing the definitive downfall of the once legendary team. Stay tuned for new developments on the subject.