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At least if you've lost a player, we've got a handful of half-decent ones you can pick up for nothing, as long as you're willing to wait.
Ring, ring. Astralis for free.
Illustration by NovaH
Today is the 2nd of July, meaning the Astralis core (Magisk, gla1ve, xyp9x, dupreeh and zonic) are free to speak to any team ahead of a possible $0 pre-contract agreement for January 2022.
Having so little time left on their deals also should open up the chance of a cut price deal this summer. Not that NiP managed to shave many zeros off of dev1ce’s buyout.
Astralis are having a car-boot sale – and most of Counter-Strike should be attending.
Ok, ok...
- gla1ve is having a kid
- dupreeh is 28
- xyp9x is 25
- Magisk’s stock is lower now than at any other time in his career
We'll even admit that they might have been a little bit more motivated before they won everything there is to win.
But it’s still Astralis. It’s the GOATs, with yellow ‘reduced to clear’ stickers on them.
FaZe surely need a role-playing rifler to upgrade Olof, and the gla1ve-zonic combo would improve every team on the planet.
There’s barely even a language barrier. Scandinavians speak better English than Brits do, and dev1ce has shown that Danes are willing to adapt to a similar-ish culture in Sweden.
Put it this way: when we enquired about what languages the Astralis players spoke, a Fnatic manager told us to delete our post and stop sniffing around. Psstt, dupreeh lived in Sweden for 2 years.
Of course, some of the core may stay in Astralis. That might even be fun – someone like dupreeh rebuilding Astralis à la Oskar or Hobbit, with Zonic standing behind them.
It’s all very uncertain at the moment, but the post-Cologne player break is shaping up to be as exciting as the event itself.
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NBK leaves for VALORANT
He's calling it "a new beginning" on Twitter - we're calling it a great loss.
Even though he was fairly unimpressive in his last years as a CS professional, he is still one of the household names of the game. He might be the reason some of you, our readers, are even here.
VeryGames, EnVyUs, Vitality, DBL PONEY - the man has played on some seriously good teams through the years. Especially that last one. But unfortunately, his success in Counter-Strike was starting to fizzle out.
So who can blame him for jumping ship? Sure, he may have enough stacks already to not have to work ever again, but for some of these players competing is what it's all about.
And it's very clear from all the big names that have already switched and have built a succesful career in the other game that if playing to win is your biggest motivation, making the move is... the right move.
So Nathan, we wish you the best of luck in VALORANT, the game that you win, not with abilities, but by getting kills. Hehe.
Get ready for the player break
Tune in to this week's episode of Overtime on Inferno where your favorite hosts aizyesque and Logan Ramhap go deep on the biggest news and current topics in CS:GO:
- Who signs gla1ve? Where is coldzera going?
- TACO's greatest kill ever
- And the player who is too good for his new team
Kjaerbye-bye
Illustration by Crash_. Source: Starladder
Alright, I'm serious this time. Whoever is cutting onions has to stop. This isn't funny any more.
Major MVP, North legend and device's personal Heimlich manoeuvre (for the first Major victory) Kjaerbye has straight up just retired from pro CS.
Yeah. It isn't April 1st. Turns out spending that long on North/Hyenas isn't good for your career, and he got so sick of it that he just quit. Honestly? Understandable. But gutting nonetheless.
Kjaerbye is (or we suppose, was) a sensationally gifted if mercurial talent. While inconsistent, his top level was one of the best in the country - but after carrying device to a Major win, suddenly grinding your way back up from the bottom probably takes its toll.
And indeed, it seems that way.
He's lost the hunger to play at the top level, and as such will be retiring. There's no mention of Valorant - yet - but we're pretty certain he'll have some offers.
This apparently 'wasn't the end of Hyenas', for a whole day. They've since disbanded, so uh, anyone need a few Danish players? Combine aizy and fessor with the rest of Astralis and maybe you've got something. Although, probably not.
aizyesque is a mess, but at least the real aizy won't be leaving for Valorant. Oh, jesus christ...
Rate Our Setup
- To be fair these are better than 99% of what our Russian teammates have. But that does set the bar pretty low.
- Geez, mouz NXT really are set to become the next Gambit Youngsters...
- It's okay, we've already prepared the tissues for aizyesque.
- Does your mom take commissions?
- Not only does he run ESL Pro Tour, he also runs. And swims. And cycles.
- Don't you just love German summers?
- Just so we can lose all our matches 16-0? Hell yeah!
- North 2.0
