What went wrong with Astralis? (2024 edition)
Astralis failed to qualify for the third straight Major in a row with today’s loss against 9 Panda. How did it come so far?
In 2020, when we launched Pley.gg, Astralis was on the top of the world. They had won three Majors in a row, and was the team to beat in the world of CS:GO. That feels like almost an eternity ago now.
Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz was the first to leave the magical core, but is now the only player left from the golden days of Astralis. In the 2024 edition of the team, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz is surrounded by some of Denmark’s most promising talents and players that have proved themselves on other teams in the past. So why can’t they perform, when it matters the most?
Too many stars?
The current edition of Astralis is the strongest of the many different iterations of Astralis since their last Major win. There is a lot of firepower on the team, who had four players ranked among the 20 best players of 2023 according to HLTV. Oddly enough it is the only player not on the list, Victor "Staehr" Staehr, that has made the strongest impression in the past month at IEM Katowice and at the RMR.
So, who is the player, that makes everyone else better? That sacrifices himself, who opens up bombsites, or throws the perfect flashes? Often, we see the in-game leader being proactive.
(Filter: Last month) – Top 5 teams’ IGL’s on HLTV’s world ranking
Name | Flashes thrown per round | Opening attempts | Deaths per round |
1. karrigan | 0.75 | 28,5% | 0.73 |
2. apeX | 0.8 | 22,1% | 0.71 |
3. chopper | 0.83 | 18,6% | 0.64 |
4. siuhy | 0.9 | 26,9% | 0.69 |
5. Hooxi | 0.8 | 23,5% | 0.68 |
7. Jame | 1.12 | 13,8% | 0.47 |
17. blameF | 0.47 | 19.2% | 0.63 |
So, it’s clearly not Benjamin "blameF" Bremer, who is setting his teammates up for success at Astralis. But there are other ways to play Counter-Strike. The best example is Dzhami "Jame" Ali, who has had lots of success playing passively with his AWP, while though setting his teammates up with minimum one flash per round.
On Astralis it is Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard that throws most flashes, while the opening attempts are very evenly distributed. Compared to the 2019 version of the team, it is obvious that the roles were clearer with Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander and Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth supporting the team with flashes, while Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, and Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen made most attempts to get the opening kill.
Lack of coach
Astralis are right now playing some of the most important matches in recent times without a coach. At the end of 2023, the Danish organization chose to part ways with Peter "casle" Ardenskjold, but had no replacement lined up to overtake the duties. 23-year-old Mathias "R0nic" Pinholt has taken the role as an interim coach until Casper "ruggah" Due is free of his duties with OG.
In reality Astralis has not had a long-lasting coach since Danny "zonic" Sørensen departed the team in 2021. Looking from the outside the coaching role in professional Counter-Strike is probably one of the roles on a team, where there is most space for improvements. Danny "zonic" Sørensen has defined the coaching role for many years now without any real competition that can match his knowledge of the game, his understanding of the importance of team chemistry, and the ability to win big events.
Our guess is that most of the Counter-Strike teams in the world are eagerly awaiting experienced in-game leaders such as Finn "karrigan" Andersen, Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander, and Gabriel "FalleN" Toledo to retire and transition into a coaching career.
There is a huge job waiting Casper "ruggah" Due, when he takes over the reins at Astralis. The OG coach has not been able to take OG anywhere since he joined the team in 2020.
The decline of device
The tweet from Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz sent shivers down the spine on most Astralis fans. The mental side of the game has been the perhaps most important part of Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz’s game since he returned from his break from competitive Counter-Strike. No one could be in doubt that Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz and Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen had a great thing going on the team until Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen were benched to make way for Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard.
After the benching of Christian Møss "Buzz" Andersen, Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz’s rating has taken a considerable dip.
With buzz on the team: 1.22 rating
After buzz’s benching: 1.08 rating
There could obviously be multiple reasons behind the lack of impact on the server for Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz, but its worth noting, that it has often been things outside the server, that has caused issues for the Danish AWP’er, who continuously has proven his consistency on the server throughout the years.
What’s next?
Astralis would usually make changes after two hugely disappointing tournaments such as IEM Katowice and the EU RMR. But they’ve just changed the roster in November. So, what are the next steps for Astralis? Casper "ruggah" Due and the rest of the Astralis backroom certainly has some work cut out for them.
