Cover And Thumbnail Image Courtesy: Astralis
The reports of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen being signed by Astralis have come true as the Danish organization has announced the arrival of their sixth player. According to them, the move has been made “In order to improve working conditions for our players,” as the Danes extend their lineup to a six-man roster.
In an extended statement by the organization, they have stated that as CS:GO players have to regularly cope with tight-schedules, tournament stress, and a constant strive to improve, all this has taken its toll on the current lineup as well.
“In order to improve working conditions for our players, it has been decided to increase the Astralis roster to six players. On this basis, Patrick “es3tag” Hansen will be joining the roster (on) July 1st, when his current contract expires.”
With the last statement, Astralis has indirectly also clarified that they will be signing the player directly from Heroic, brining the whole ordeal involving FunPlus Phoenix to a halt.
As the player is set to join the Danish lineup after 3 months, this gives the Chinese organization enough time to sign a new player while also completing their journey through the first season of FLASHPOINT, which is scheduled to come to an end on 19th April.
Kasper Hvidt - Director of Sports at Astralis Group says that,
“Our work with Astralis and all our teams is focused around performance and health. It’s our responsibility as an organization to secure optimal conditions for our employees on all levels, and especially our players. Increasing the roster size to six players is something we have worked on for a long time with relevant stakeholders in Counter-Strike.
This approach is no different than in traditional sports, but it’s new to Counter-Strike, and a change like this will take time to optimize for full advantage.”
Robert Gertsen added that “If other teams follow this lead, it will ultimately create more positions to fill among top teams, and thus more opportunities for pro players.”
Astralis have already revolutionized the way teams have approached Counter-Strike, be it in-game strategizing, showcasing the advantages of having a good coach, or highlighting the importance of dedicated support staff to help the players attain mental and physical exercise.
Now fielding a six-man roster, let’s see how Astralis make a comeback with regards to their performance or does the experiment back-fire on them.
