Today ENCE announced the signings of both a new in-game leader and a new coach. 

The legendary Astralis IGL, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander replaces his countryman, Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer as the new captain on the server for ENCE. Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander was benched during the summer at Astralis after a string of bad results. The 28-year-old Dane is the most winning in-game leader in history with four Major titles alongside 20 titles during his career on Astralis. 

On ENCE's website General Manager, Niklas "Willkey" Ojalainen calls the signing of gla1ve the "biggest addition to our roster we have ever made here at ENCE".

For the Dane, the move to ENCE is a chance to prove his worth in a different environment than at Astralis.

- It's an incredible opportunity for me, and I feel very blessed to be on a team with so many amazing players. I have a lot of excitement going into this project as it's a completely new environment for me, but also because we have so much stuff to dive into with Counter-Strike 2. I know what this team is capable of, and I love that I'm a part of that now, gla1ve says.

Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński was also announced as the new head coach of ENCE. The Pole is taking over the role from Eetu "sAw" Saha, who departed the team yesterday. Jakub "kuben" Gurczyński joins the team after a successful stint at Apeks. The 35-year-old is best known for his time at Virtus.pro, where he came extremely close to winning a Major in 2017 but lost the Grand Final to Astralis and gla1ve. Now the two legends of the game will look to be the driving force behind a successful change of leadership at ENCE.

- I felt nothing but pure joy of happiness when I heard ENCE was interested in signing me. I was talking with ENCE three years ago and came close to becoming a coach during COVID. Eventually, the impression I left back then could have been the key to joining ENCE now. I have worked hard in international teams for the last few years to finally get back to the level I belong to. I’ll do everything in my hands to help these guys succeed.

The new ENCE captain and head coach will make their debut for ENCE in just two days when ENCE faces HAVU at the Elisa Masters Espoo 2023.

gla1ve

ENCE

After 2576 days on Astralis, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander has left the team. The announcement was made today by Astralis.

- As Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander has come to an agreement with a new organization, it is time to say goodbye and thank you to one of the cornerstones of Astralis' historic dominance in CS:GO.

gla1ve was part of the most successful era of CS:GO with Astralis. Together they broke all records by winning three Majors in a row, and four in total.

Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander joined the team in November 2016 where he replaced none other than Finn "karrigan" Andersen as in-game leader for Astralis. ENCE has been mentioned as a potential new team for Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander.

You can learn more about gla1ve and his career here.

[youtube:VRxcI3doVxQ?si=zTAkyT8W-3pJ-osw]

Astralis

So, what really happened on the 22nd of June, 2023? Oh well, NA CS practically died, the most-winning in-game leader of all time was benched sharing the fate of the most-winning CS:GO player in history, who just recently won his fifth Major.

Let’s start with Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander. His departure was the first shock of the day. The 28-year-old IGL was benched after the lackluster results in Dallas and Washington. The two tournaments should have been the turnaround for Astralis, who started promising in Dallas but lost the quarter-final against MOUZ after a dramatic overtime loss on map 1. What really tipped the boat was probably the 2-1 defeat to Complexity a few days later in Washington. Complexity, playing with a stand-in, was able to edge out Astralis and knock out the Danes before the playoffs.

The optimism that the Astralis management may have had disappeared that Thursday in Washington. Two weeks after the Astralis project took a dramatic turn with the sacking of Director of Sports, Kasper Hvidt alongside the controversial figure Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen. Now both Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth have been benched with contracts lasting until the Summer of 2024 and the end of 2024.

So, what’s next for gla1ve and Xyp9x? Will they stay on Astralis and let their contracts run out, or is there still some fire in them to prove, that they can still perform?

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- One of the toughest decisions I had to make in my professional career, coach of Team Vitality Danny "zonic" Sørensen said after the news of Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen’s benching broke out. We understand why. How do you weigh the experience of a guy having won everything in CS:GO history versus a rookie whose greatest achievement is winning Spring Sweet Spring #2? The decision to axe Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen and replace him with Shahar "flameZ" Shushan will probably be one of the key defining moments for Team Vitality going forward. It signals their huge ambitions and their fears of stalling as we have seen other Major winning teams do recently. There is ten years difference between dupreeh and flameZ. Ten years of experience in and out of the game versus the raw firepower and reactions of the 20-year-old Israelian.

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A key thing to also remember is that dupreeh actually played well in both IEM Rio and the Paris Major. In Rio, he was the reason why Vitality came back against Cloud9 down one map and behind 3-12 on Vertigo. With a 2.55 rating on the T-side the Dane charged back and turned the match around which eventually gave Vitality the perfect build-up for the Major.

Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen should have no problems finding a new home.

Where were you, when NA CS died? Team Liquid is transitioning to Europe, and will take the only Legends Spot at the upcoming Major in Copenhagen with them. The Dutch-founded organization returns home to Europe after eight years in North America. The reasoning behind this is obvious with the lack of teams and tournaments in North America in general. The evolution of Counter-Strike is happening so fast in Europe right now, that everyone not on board will be miles behind the power curve if they are not playing in the EU regularly.

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Russel “Twistzz” Van Dulken realized this two years ago. Now Keith "NAF" Markovic and Joshua "oSee" Ohm are looking to relocate to Europe in the near future. Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski stayed back. It’s unsure whether it was his own choice completely, or if he was reluctant to relocate. His mission is now to elevate Complexity to a new level, where the NA team can compete with the teams from Europe. A mission impossible.

Three legends of the game (four if you include Xyp9x) found themselves benched yesterday. It was the first of many roster moves this summer, where the anticipation of Counter-Strike 2 is making several organizations think long-term. Quite refreshing but also brutal at the same time.

EliGE

dupreeh

Team Liquid

Team Vitality

After six years and seven months in the Astralis jersey, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander was today removed from the active lineup.

Astralis announced the benching of their legendary in-game leader, who is the most coveted in-game leader in CS:GO history in a press statement, where 18-year-old Dane Victor "Staehr" Staehr and Johannes "b0RUP" Borup will be new faces on the Astralis lineup, while Alexander "Altekz" Givskov rejoins the talent squad.

The in-game leader responsibility will fall on Benjamin "blameF" Bremer with the benching of Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander.

- I am extremely happy that we have agreed with Sprout on an immediate transfer of Staehr, who is undoubtedly one of the biggest Danish CS talents of the past 5 years. It's an open secret, we've had a good eye for him for a long time, and in terms of what we want with the team, he fits in perfectly. I am looking forward to working with him and helping him to really develop his potential further.

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- In relation to b0RUP, he is a player we know well. He has been brought in for the specific role in the system we want to play and I expect him to contribute a lot to the team and his teammates. He is only 23, but he brings in a lot of useful experience, and with these 5 players on the roster, I have a strong belief, we have found a better balance in the team and a will come out with a lot of energy and firepower.

- At the same time, I would like to praise Andreas, Alexander and Lukas for their efforts during a difficult period when, despite hard work from everyone, we have not made things succeed quite as we would have liked. We have seen good signs and trends along the way, but we also had some very big dips and neither found the right constellation nor a stable level of performance. We now have the opportunity to bring in two players who fit in with the way we want to play, and the time for change is right, says the head coach.

28-year-old Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander has won 19 S-tier tournaments with Astralis including four Majors. The in-game leader is number four on the all-time moneylist with $1,860,642.41 in earnings during his career.

{cflag:DK} Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen

Staehr

b0RUP

Yesterday’s news linking Sprout’s Victor "Staehr" Staehr to Astralis has sparked speculations about who the 18-year-old Dane is set to replace on the current Astralis roster (if any?).

While the rumors have not yet been confirmed, the former Astralis player and now analyst Lucas "Bubzkji" Andersen went on Twitter with his take on the situation.

In a reply to Jacob "Pimp" Winneche, Bubzkji furthermore explained why he thinks the signing of Staehr would indicate, that Astralis are not looking to replace one of the two former academy players currently on the team, Alexander "Altekz" Givskov and Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen.

The tweet from Bubzkji was quickly quoted by fellow analyst Alex "Mauisnake" Ellenberg citing the tweet as a sign of the public discourse going from “role-agnostic to role-pilled”.

In a follow-up tweet Mauisnake underlined, that the move of replacing blameF with Staehr would only make sense to cut costs.

Astralis with gla1ve, blameF, Altekz, Buzz, and device on the team plays their quarter-final at IEM Dallas tonight at 20.30 (CET) against MOUZ.

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Bubzkji

blameF

A lot has happened since Astralis played their last match at ESL Pro League. Back in Season 16, both Kristian 'k0nfig' Wienecke and Asger 'Farlig' Jensen were still on the team that crashed out of the group stage of the event.

What followed next was even more shocking. The four-time Major winning Organization missed out on qualifying for IEM Rio after nearly also failing to qualify for the RMRs in the first place. This an unusual position to be in for the experienced in-game leader Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, who does not hide the fact, that it was a difficult time.

- That was probably the worst I've ever felt when it comes to feeling pressure, but there is always some pressure when you're in Astralis. It's about how you handle it as a team and as a group, and I feel we're in a much better place today both mentally, quality-wise, and in-game. I'm not saying we'll win it all hands down, but I actually feel good about the team and the upcoming tournaments. We still have a lot to work on, but we're getting there.

“We don’t feel sorry for ourselves”

The 2023 version of Astralis does look like a solid improvement to last year’s lineup. The addition of Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz hardly needs any further comments, but perhaps more surprising is the performance of Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen, who has looked very solid on Astralis’ two favorite maps of Ancient and Nuke. In combination with a new coaching staff setup, which gla1ve already has praised highly, there is a sense of optimism to detect in the answer given by gla1ve about the balance of the team in terms of roles and positions.

- Peter (casle), Nicolai (Hunden), and everybody on the team are working damned hard to improve as players and as a group. We have found a feeling of togetherness, and we're certainly in a much better place than we were in most of 2022. It feels really good in practice, and I hope we will see the same level in officials. You still have that small doubt, but that only proves how much we want it. We are where we are, we don't feel sorry for ourselves, and we're ready to take some territory back.

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For Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander ESL Pro League and the upcoming European RMR will give some answers on the doubts that he and the rest of the CS community have on the 2023 version of Astralis.

On a personal level, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander became a father in 2021 and has since then had to juggle his time between being a parent and leading Astralis back to the top of CS. Two full-time jobs to say the least. But according to recent studies, there are also physical changes happening to a father. In an [link:{"url":"https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-is-dad-brain-and-why-do-first-time-fathers-experience-it#Details-from-the-study","isNewTab":true,"text":"American study"}], researchers identified that the most significant changes in the expectant fathers occurred in the cortex — the brain’s outer layer managing attention, planning, and executive functioning. Three key components for an in-game leader!

And maybe this has been contributing to the progress, that the four-time Major winner has felt lately. Or not.

- Ha ha. I heard that a "dad brain" should improve the ability to process things visually, and I do feel that I'm improving as a player and an in-game leader, but honestly, I'll give most of the credit to the way we work on the team and in the new set-up with the people involved. It feels like we improve and learns every day, and that's a great feeling.

Wednesday at 16.00 CET we will see, if the vibes continues to be positive, when Astralis face Team Spirit in their opening game at ESL Pro League Season 17.

Astralis managed to take down OG at BLAST Premier Spring Groups and secured themselves a sport at the BLAST Spring Finals. Despite a tough start to the tournament Gla1ve and co. are moving on to the finals after an intense match against a well-played OG team.

Qualifying for the Spring Finals means a lot to Astralis due to their poor results during the 2022 season. The team has not found its footing since the team disbanded back in 2019. Now their team is set and ready to build a strong bond going forward, with high hope and confidence moving on to the next tournament in the 2023 season. 

Astralis´s next challenge starts on Feb 22nd when ESL Pro League Season 17 kicks off in Malta. 

Over the last three months, the Danes from Astralis has experienced a major overhaul in their entire setup – both on and off the server.

Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Christian “Buzz” Andersen has been brought in to strengthen the roster, Peter “casle” Ardenskjold has been appointed as the head coach, where lastly the much-debated figure of Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen has been revealed as their new head analyst.

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One individual who is excited about the new format is the in-game leader Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, especially praising the coaching setup. 

- HUNDEN and casle are a sharp duo, I personally have never had such a competent trainer/analyst team behind me, so I'm certainly not complaining, gla1ve said in an interview with Astralis.

That’s some big words coming from gla1ve taking in mind that he’s been coached by the most accoladed coach in CS:GO history Danny “zonic” Sørensen for more than five years. A partnership that racked up four Major titles together and achieved to establish the most dominant era ever seen.

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Furthermore, Astralis has announced the addition of two new faces to their performance team in B. S. Christiansen and Jan Ø. Jørgensen. Something he also touched in the interview via Astralis’ [link:{"url":"https://twitter.com/AstralisCS/status/1613154008419500032","isNewTab":true,"text":"newsletter"}].

- I think it's been great so far. Jan and BS complement each other really well. It is clear that BS is well-versed, calm and has a lot of tools, where Jan has a little more energy and different ideas. It works well. Both are guys who know their stuff and who you look up to.

Here is the entire setup for Astralis going forward: 

{cflag:DK} Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth 

{cflag:DK} Peter "casle" Toftbo Ardenskjold (Coach)

{cflag:DK} Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen (Head analyst) 

{cflag:DK} B. S. Christiansen (Mental coach)

{cflag:DK} Jan Ø. Jørgensen (Performance coach)

The legendary Astralis era is back with a friendly wingman match. As the most successful team to ever grace our game of Counter-Strike, Astralis was laid to rest in 2021. The Astralis team from 2018 to 2020 will go down as the best team in the history of the game. 

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Dupreeh & Xyp9x take on gla1ve & Magisk in a fight where what to buy is decided at random at the start of every round. Which mix team will win the reunion of the Astralis legendary roster? 

Check out this iconic wingman match on Cobblestone:

Magisk

Xyp9x

That’s one of the things Astralis’ captain had to say when he was asked to give some comments on Nicolai “device” Reedtz’ return to the Danish camp in a video on Astralis’ TikTok.

“We’ve played with him in pracc for some time. We wanted to see if he was still good and he has been playing really well. We wanted him to play (at the Elisa Masters event), but I think he’s also holding a little bit back because he has been out for 9 months. You need a slow start, especially with all the traveling we do.”

Even though gla1ve already wanted to see their AWPer in action at the Elisa Masters in Finland, he isn’t disappointed with device’s choice to miss out on the event and thinks it’s the right thing to do in his situation right now.

“He has also been out on sick leave so I think it’s the right thing to do. Take it slow, one step at a time. First, you’re joining a few pracc’s and when you've gotten used to that, you join the traveling so you don’t just go from 0-100 right away. I think it’s the right choice.”

device

Professional Counter-Strike is an industry where you often see players jump between multiple teams and organizations during their career - counting up to more than ten different teams in some cases.

But that's not the case for every CS:GO player. 

In this article, we highlight the most loyal players in the game. Players who have stayed with one organization despite big letdowns, disappointing results, and lucrative offers from other teams. Topping the list with quite a margin, we have Liquid's Jonathan "EliGE" Jablonowski who has represented the North American squad through thick and thin for over seven years. 

You can find the complete list down below. 

Top 10 players | Longest tenure with a single team

*The list only includes active players inside Top 30 (17/11)

1. {cflag:US} EliGE (Liquid) 22/3 2015 – 7 years, 7 months, 26 days

2. {cflag:DK} Xyp9x (Astralis) 18/1 2016 - 6 years, 9 months, 30 days

3. {cflag:NO} rain (FaZe) 20/1 2016 - 6 years, 9 months, 28 days

4. {cflag:UA} s1mple (NAVI) 4/8 2016 - 6 years, 3 months, 13 days

5. {cflag:SE} KRIMZ (fnatic) 24/10 2016 - 6 years, 0 months 24 days

5. {cflag:DK} gla1ve (Astralis) 24/10 2016 - 6 years, 0 months 24 days

7. {cflag:US} Brehze (NRG/Evil Geniuses) 19/12 2016 - 5 years, 10 months, 29 days

8. {cflag:DE} tabseN (BIG) 2/1 2017 - 5 years, 10 months, 15 days

9. {cflag:SE} REZ (Ninjas in Pyjamas) 12/6 2017 - 5 years, 5 months, 5 days

10. {cflag:ES} mopoz (Movistar Riders) 24/7 2017 - 5 years, 3 months, 24 days

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mopoz

tabseN

s1mple

Brehze

KRIMZ

rain

Elisa Masters Espoo 2022 will kick off this Wednesday with profiled teams such as Fnatic, ENCE, BIG and Complexity having travelled all the way to Finland for the $200.000 LAN tournament.

Another squad that will feature in the event is Astralis, who arrive with a roster consisting of the youngsters in Mikkel “MistR” Thomsen and Kristoffer “Kristou” Aamand. This will be Astralis’ last chance to take home a title in 2022, following a strugglesome year for the Danish titans.

The CS:GO action in Finland is set to begin at 10:00 (CET) this Wednesday. You can find the entire schedule [link:{"url":"https://www.hltv.org/events/6621/matches","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

We are now less than one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached IEM Katowice Major 2019.

Astralis (Xyp9x – device – dupreeh – Magisk - gla1ve)

 Cache, Dust2, Inferno, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train.

The IEM Katowice 2019 was a much-awaited Major tournament among the CS:GO community. 24 teams, and thousands of fans from all over the world, assembled in Katowice, Poland to witness an even full of emotions and magic. It was the 14th Major Championship in CS:GO history and the third to be played in Katowice.

Astralis were the clear favorites going into the tournament. The Danes had already cemented themselves as a strong team that was very difficult to beat, having won the previous Major in dominating fashion. However, winning the trophy and the majority of the prize pool wouldn’t come that easy. Their rivals in this new era of Counter-Strike, Team Liquid, among other strong teams, were not willing to go down without a war.

Many fans expected the Grand final to be between Astralis and Liquid due to the level that both teams showed at previous events. But things didn’t turn out as expected.

At the IEM Katowice 2019 Major event in Katowice, the Finnish team from ENCE showed the world what they were made of through unbelievable performances. This is their journey from the European Minor all the way to the Grand finals.

Back in October 2018, ENCE came out on top with title victories at StarSeries and i-League Season 6, taking down the juggernauts on their way across the finish line. The Finnish team slowly started to make themselves a name within the CS:GO scene and gave fans the feeling that they were capable of much more.

Flashforward three months in arguably the toughest Minor pool and ENCE were able to surface at the top, securing their ticket to Poland for the Challengers Stage in Katowice. After dominating teams with stellar performances, ENCE advanced into a more heated arena in the Legends stage, where they faced serious complications as they were on the brink of elimination after falling into the 0-2 bracket. But ENCE didn’t let themselves affect of their losses and went on to conquer the likes of BIG, G2, and AVANGAR in a sequence of bo3 to advance into the Top 8.

While the playoffs backet spelled a Astralis vs. Team Liquid Grand final initially, ENCE weren’t done carving out their mark at this tournament just yet.

In the quarter-finals of the tournament, ENCE surprisingly proved to be the better team despite having players competing professionally for the first time. They made an unreal comeback against the North-American side from Team Liquid to eliminate them with a 2-0 victory. The Finns then went ahead to play against NAVI in the semi-finals, whom they also took down in stunning fashion to reach the finals. ENCE beating NAVI in the semi-finals conceded the feeling that this team deserved it, and they did.

The Danes lived up to the status of being the favorites. Starting with the New Legends Stage, gla1ve and company were never really in trouble. After making short work of Complexity and Clodu9, only Renegades were able to win a map against the Danes, after winning Mirage in overtime. Once Astralis got onto their strongest maps, Inferno and Nuke, it turned into yet another comfortable victory for them. The playoffs were not that dangerous for Astralis either. Ninjas in Pyjamas and the Brazilians from MIBR made it close on Overpass and Dust2 respectively, but on the other maps, Astralis dominated.

After taking out the Finns from ENCE in the final with another 2-0 result, Astralis had managed to go through yet another Major playoff without dropping a single map. Their teamplay, utility usage, and ability to play comfortably on all of the maps shined through once again, but even their individual players were at the top of their game. Many could easily have made an argument for either Xyp9x or device taking the MVP award instead of Magisk, and it just shows how dominant the Danes were throughout the tournament. With their victory in Katowice, the Danes cemented their status as the greatest team in CS:GO history without a doubt, and they didn’t plan to slow down anytime soon.

Highest rated players at IEM Katowice 2019 Major

1. {cflag:DK} Nicolai “device” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.32 Rating 

2. {cflag:UA} Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev (NAVI) – 1.29 Rating 

3. {cflag:DK} Andreas ”Xyp9x” Højsleth (Astralis) – 1.29 Rating 

4. {cflag:DK} Emil ”Magisk” Reif (Astralis) – 1.28 Rating 

5. {cflag:BR} Marcelo “coldzera” David (MIBR) – 1.26 Rating 

6. {cflag:DK} Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen (Astralis) – 1.24 Rating 

7. {cflag:CA} Peter “stanislaw” Jarguz (Complexity) – 1.20 Rating 

8. {cflag:BR} Fernando “fer” Alvarenga (MIBR) – 1.20 Rating 

9. {cflag:RU} Egor “flamie” Vasilyev (NAVI) – 1.20 Rating 

10. {cflag:US} Vincent ”Brehze” Cayonte (NRG) – 1.19 Rating

Tomorrow we take a look at the StarLadder Berlin Major 2019.

We are now only one week away from the start of the much-awaited IEM Rio Major in Brazil. To ease the waiting time, we have created a countdown series, where we dive into the history of all 17 Majors. Today we have reached ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017.

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 Astralis (Kjaerbye, Xyp9x, dupreeh, gla1ve, device)

 Cache, Cobblestone, Dust2, Mirage, Nuke, Overpass, Train.

ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017 was the tenth CS:GO Major tournament in the history of the game and was held from January 22 – January 29, 2017 in the G-FUEL ELEAGUE Arena in Atlanta USA. Like the two previous Majors, this one also featured a total prize pool of $1,000,000 with 16 teams competing for the lions share.

The ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta was arguably one of the best tournaments for Astralis. The Danish powerhouse managed to beat everyone who had stopped them in the past during Major playoffs. In the quarter-finals they took down NAVI to advance to the semi-finals where they came out on top against fnatic and secured a spot in the Grand final. The Grand final was played against the Polish squad from Virtus.pro who had only lost one map in the tournament, and the match turned out to be a really dramatic one.

More than 1.2 million viewers tuned in to watch the ELEAGUE Major 2017 Grand final from Atlanta, setting a new record for CS:GO audiences as the Danes defeated the legendary squad from Virtus.pro to make CS:GO history. This is how it all went down.

Placed 4th on the world rankings at the time and going into the Major as favorites as their form was at the highest level since 2014, the Danes from Astralis had the pressure on them going into the ELEAGUE Major 2017. With the help form their newly acquired sports psychologist, their stars in Kjaerbye and device hitting new levels, a new tactical approach from gla1ve, and the clutch-king of Xyp9x also reaching new levels of winning 1vsX situations, Astralis were able to go all the way to the grand final, where they would take upon the Polish squad from Virtus.pro, who were looking for their second Major championship and first significant victory in some time.

The action of the Grand final started on VP’s pick of Nuke, where the Polish squad was able to end the first half with a 9-6 advantage, thanks in part to the efforts of Snax who stepped up huge and held off the retake of B site in a 1v3 situation. Astralis gained momentum in the second half after they won the pistol round, but ultimately fell as pashaBiceps and company went on to close the map 12-16.

Virtus.pro secured an almost unwinnable 2v3 in the first pistol round on Overpass, defusing the bomb in the last possible moment. However, Astralis replied with a forcebuy victory thanks to dupreeh’s quad kill that helped the Danes take the early lead on their map pick. The Polish squad struggled to deal with Astralis’ slow, execute based tactics, which resulted in the Danes finishing their T side with a 9-6 lead. After some back-and-forth action in the second half, Virtus.pro caught up, taking the lead for the first time in the map with a 14-13 scoreline, and were on the brink of closing it out. But Astralis’ Kjaerbye stepped up huge and won a 1v1 situation against Snax to keep his team in the game and allow them to close out Overpass 16-14 to force the third map, Train.

On the decider of Train, Virtus.pro started off strong and quickly strung together seven consecutive rounds in a row, capitalizing on Astralis’ low economy. After that, Astralis managed to save an AWP and avoid being reset, starting to mount their comeback.

Virtus.pro switched to the defense with a 9-6 advantage, and even extended their lead to hit twelve rounds on the scoreboard before the Danes climbed their way back into the game. Astralis fought their heart out and lowered their deficit to only one round, but things started to look very tough for Astralis when VP secured the following round (12-14). However, the Danes didn’t get affected by looking at the scoreboard and despite Astralis’ anti-eco mishap in the ensuing round, gla1ve and company recovered and closed out the final map 16-14 to get the job done.

The Major Grand final delivered a five-hour long battle full of quality.

The previous Major, before the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017 made the Danes reconsider their leadership structure. And most importantly, they were positively surprised by their substitute from Cologne, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander who helped out the team. Astralis ended up replacing Finn “karrigan” Andersen, who went on to join FaZe Clain and signed gla1ve instead.

This was the final push the Danish squad needed to become a world-class team in CS:GO and win their first Major together. Their success continued on, but the Danes weren’t able to win the second Major of the year.

It was obvious that it was due to Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye not fitting in. After being crowned as the Major MVP, the pressure got to him and he didn’t feel comfortable in the team anymore. At the beginning of 2018, Kjaerbye left Astralis on short notice and joined their rivals from North.

Kjaerbye was never able to climb back to the very pinnacle of Counter-Strike after leaving Astralis, while his former teammates went on an era-defining run.

The Dane announced his retirement at the age of 23 on June 30th, 2021, bringing to a close his 7 years as a top player.

Highest rated players at ELEAGUE Major 2017

1. {cflag:RU} Egor “flamie” Vasilyev (NAVI) – 1.36 Rating 

2. {cflag:KZ} Dauren ”AdreN” Kystaubayev (Gambit) – 1.34 Rating 

3. {cflag:US} Jonathan ”EliGE” Jablonowski (Liquid) – 1.30 Rating 

4. {cflag:DK} Nicolai “device” Reedtz (Astralis) – 1.29 Rating 

5. {cflag:PL} Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski (Virtus.pro) – 1.28 Rating 

6. {cflag:BR} Marcelo “coldzera” David (SK Gaming) – 1.28 Rating 

7. {cflag:SE} Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson (GODSENT) – 1.26 Rating 

8. {cflag:DK} Emil “Magisk” Reif (North) – 1.24 Rating 

9. {cflag:FR} Kenny “kennyS” Schrub (Envy) – 1.22 Rating 

10. {cflag:DK} Markus “Kjaerbye” Kjærbye (Astralis) – 1.21 Rating

Astralis secured their first Major, but the story of the Danes is far from over yet. Stay tuned for our upcoming articles of this series to find out how Astralis cemented themselves as the best team in the world.

Tomorrow we take a look at the PGL Major Kraków 2017.

Kjaerbye

Astralis have been a part and competed at every single Major championship since its birth back in 2016, winning four titles on their way. However, that streak might end sooner rather than later with the Danes currently fighting an uphill battle in the attempt to secure a ticket for the upcoming Rio Major.

But if you ask Janko "YNk" Paunović, CS:GO analyst and expert, he believes missing out on the Major would actually be the best possible outcome for Astralis.

- I think the best thing that could happen to Astralis is not making it to the Major. Then you just blow up the roster. You keep blameF, you keep gla1ve, and then you get device and potentially staehr and zyphon from Sprout. There’s a roster for you, YNk said on the desk before Astralis’ match against Eternal Fire.

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device is rumoured to join Astralis with the transfer price having been agreed reportedly

YNk clearly doesn’t believe in the current Astralis lineup, saying the problems already started right after they signed Benjamin “blameF” Bremer and Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke in a blockbuster transfer in November last year.

Following that Asger “farlig” Jensen also arrived replacing Phillip “Lucky” Ewald on the AWP.

- There have been issues with this roster ever since they added k0nfig and blameF, with the role overlap with gla1ve, which we have talked about time after time, YNk stated on the desk. I think it would be a great sort of excuse for them to start fresh - give the players some rest, to reset mentally. It has been a very draining process with someone like gla1ve and xyp9x who have won four Majors and been a part of the best team in the world for a couple of years. Now they can’t even make the Major.

You can watch the entire desk segment about Astralis in the video below. 

Astralis began their European RMR campaign at IEM Road to Rio yesterday, where they are hoping to secure a prestigious ticket to the Rio Major later this month. The Danes are currently on a 1-1 record after beating Eternal Fire today and losing to Ninjas in Pyjamas on Tuesday. They will play their next matchup tomorrow.

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Zyphon

Farlig

Lucky

k0nfig

The fight for the prestigious tickets for IEM Rio Major is set to begin this Tuesday with the commencement of IEM Road to Rio, being the last qualifier before the main event later this month. We will kick of with the European RMR tournament, and more specifically Group A.

If you want an overview of the teams and see our predictions, then take a look at our preview of the first group in the article below.

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The opening round is set to feature no more than eight Bo1 matchups in a Swiss Group format. Here is today’s schedule.

11.00: Bad News Eagles - Eternal Fire | 16-14

You can watch all the action on the following two streams.

With the conclusion of Group A and B at ESL Pro League Season 16, it's time for the prestigious event to initiate the third group, which is starred by the Danish super teams in Astralis and Heroic joined by ENCE, HEET, Complexity and MOUZ. Group C will run over the next five days displaying a thrilling round-robin Bo3 format that will end up finding three playoff teams. 

	30 days	90 days
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gla1ve

Player stats

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gla1ve set to join new team

The Fall of the Giants: The Throwback Thursday from Hell

End of an era: gla1ve benched on Astralis – Replaced by Staehr and b0RUP

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gla1ve: We're ready to take some territory back

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gla1ve on HUNDEN and casle: I’ve never had such a competent coaching/analyst team behind me

Video: Astralis legends play Wingman against each other

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7 years and counting! Here are the most loyal players in CS:GO

Astralis set to revive themselves as Elisa Masters Espoo begins today

IEM Katowice Major 2019: Astralis surpass legacy

ELEAGUE Major Atlanta 2017: The beginning of an Era

YNk on the future of Astralis: The best thing that could happen to Astralis is not making it to the Major

Live: IEM Road to Rio EU (Group A)

Live: ESL Pro League Group C (Day 4)

gla1ve: I have played in four Major finals, but there has never been more pressure than now

gla1ve: I try to not care about how I look individually

gla1ve's tips & tricks: How to stop a B-rush on Dust 2

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