CEO of Astralis retorts to Thorin for accusing Astralis of “Lying” and not showing “Professional Ethics”

It seems like Duncan “Thorin” Shields and Nikolaj Nyholm - CEO of Astralis locked horns yesterday with each other, as Thorin was not pleased with the Danish organization joining ESL Pro League and ditching FLASHPOINT in the process.

Image Credit: Nikolaj Nyholm

Thorin took to Twitter, calling out Astralis indirectly by referring to them as “the stupidest people” in the CS:GO community, while also accusing them of being the “worst offenders” and an organization that lacked “professional ethics” in an interview with Dexerto.

According to him Astralis apparently does not “understand the difference between comparing offers and literally lying and telling someone (that) you plan to work with them when you in reality never planned to.”

He said the following because Astralis who had initially signed with FLASHPOINT jumped ship to join ESL Pro League, considering both financial and sporting impact.

Thorin being the Creative Director for FLASHPOINT could not believe if Astralis were even actually genuine or authentic about joining FLASHPOINT, “I think they tried to get all the info they could and that, cleverly, for their own interest, they played both of the leagues against each other to try to get the best offer they could.”

[Also Read: FLASHPOINT Gives VAC Banned Players a Second Chance]

Having taken enough flak for their (Astralis') move Nikolaj Nyholm took to Twitter to tell his side of the story, saying that “I can live with Thorin's whining, but his lying crosses just one line too many.”

Following this Nyholm put forth some points to bring what he referred to as being the 'truth' in front of everyone,

• He stated that Astralis had never spoken to Thorin, nor did FLASHPOINT made Thorin have a conversation with any other team because according to a FLASHPOINT executive “Thorin is an unstable and deeply troubled character but a key to wining (sic) over the core and has nominally good ideas.”
  
  
• He does not know the source for Thorin’s ‘truths’ but it is likely that ECS and FLASHPOINT may have oversold their commitment which might have led Thorin to believe that we (Astralis) were fully committed when we clearly weren’t.
  
  
• We spoke to ECS and FLASHPOINT about of 2 main concerns, which were, ECS’ falling viewership with every passing season and lack of top-tier teams except for MIBR.
  
  
• After overcoming these concerns, an explicitly conditional term sheet was signed on 8th December with FLASHPOINT promising to sign 2 other top-tier teams.
  
  
• We knew FLASHPOINT would not be able to fulfill the request after the Paris meeting, as EPL was turning into a team owned league.
  
  
• As Astralis has an obligation towards its investors, they have to make the best possible choice financially, keeping in mind all its members from players, partners, and even their fans.

Though Astralis had long before confirmed their allegiance with ESL Pro League, only yesterday did everyone get to know that they have signed the ‘Louvre Agreement’ with them and are one of the 13 teams that hold a majority stake within the EPL.

[Also Read: ESL Announces long-term deal called 'Louvre Agreement' with 13 CS:GO Teams]

Thorin has been snubbing ESL hard ever since they announced changes to the Pro League, disrupting Season 11 for a lot of qualified teams. Let’s see which of the two leagues has a better season as they take place together in March.

[Also Read: Thorin calls out ESL over Alleged Unethical Pro League Dealings]