LEC Team, Origen Rebrands to Astralis

4 time Major champions and arguably the best Counter Strike team to have ever existed, Astralis have announced their expansion into another major title - League of Legends. Existing franchise, Origen who play in the League of Legends European Championship have re branded as Astralis. The organization were already a under the Aastralis Group since 2018. After Counter Strike, this will be Astralis’ first foray into another tier 1 esport title. The organization also operates a FIFA squad called Future FC, who have also re branded as Astralis. 

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Origen Rebrand to Astralis

The Danish organization has been on the top of the global Counter Strike scene for a long time now and recently added new players in the form of es3tag and Bubzkji. Having dominated the CS circuit and established themselves as one of the best teams to ever touch the game, the organization announced its entry into League of Legends. Unlike their dominant CS squad, the roster they picked up in the LEC, Origen, has had its fair share of troubles. The team finished last in the recently concluded LEC Summer. 

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Origen’s best performance in LoL came in 2015, when the squad finished in join third-fourth place at Worlds. The organization is owned by well known mid laner, xPeke who previously played for Fnatic and won the inaugural season of Worlds. He is currently the manager of the team and will become a shareholder in Astralis. While Origen were already signed to the Astralis Group, they will now rebrand as Astralis and play under the same name. 

 “Looking back, we never really took the needed steps to fully implement our performance model which has been so successful on our Counter-Strike team. We have always prided ourselves on being willing to make the tough choices to ensure long-term success, and with Origen we simply made too many short-term fixes” said Astralis co-founder Jakob Lund Kristensen.

While its no secret that Origen are no front runners for a League title any time soon, the rebrand will provide them a new lease of life and drive for the 2021 season. Whether they are up to the level of a Fnatic or a G2 in the next season, is yet to be seen but the organization has made plans for the long term. 

“The criteria for success is not winning Worlds next year,” Jakob explains. “We’d much rather end sixth in spring and third in summer, than first in spring and then end sixth in summer because we’ve rushed things. It is no secret though that our ambition is to be a contender for the Worlds title at some point. Just like with our CS:GO team, we do have patience as long as we see progress. And I am sure we will.”