Astralis, once the primary dominant force in all of Counter-Strike, is heading back to the drawing board once again after a third straight failed attempt to qualify for a Major.
This time around, it’s a major change at the in-game leader spot as Benjamin “blameF” Bremer has been moved to the bench “with a potential sale in mind.” Astralis has also released interim head coach and former assistant Mathias “R0nic” Pinholt and has hired Casper “ruggah” Due, formerly of OG, OpTic, and North.
In a statement from the team’s director of sports, Kasper Straube, the decision to bench blameF is due to “a mismatch in profiles and roles.” A new IGL “will be announced shortly.”
The moves come after Astralis finished with a 2-3 record at the PGL Copenhagen European RMR B and a 2-0 loss to Russian roster 9Pandas (who eventually qualified for Copenhagen) in the decider bracket. Astralis’ run at the RMR included losses to domestic rival Heroic and former IGL gla1ve’s team on ENCE.
Going into the break from CS Majors brought on by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Astralis was the reigning three-time champion with its legendary roster core. But starting in 2021, Astralis went through a series of roster shuffles and worsening results at Majors. At PGL Stockholm and PGL Antwerp, they failed to make it out of the playoffs, and in the three Majors since, they haven’t even qualified.
Aside from the Major struggles, Astralis has also taken a couple of hits in the eyes of the public over the last couple of years. This is in part due to moves like the signing of formerly banned coach HUNDEN and the controversial signing of former Heroic players stavn and jabbi.
