Cover-Credits:
- Dev1ce in a recent podcast with HLTV has revealed when gla1ve plans on returning back to Astralis.
- Dev1ce goes on to talk about Xyp9x as well but there is no clarity on when he plans on making a return.
- Astralis' management has been under heavy criticism since the departure of the two players, read on to find out why!
The Danish Counter-Strike giants Astralis have certainly seen a dip in their performance ever since the departure of Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and Andreas “Xyp9x” Hojsleth. The team severely underperformed at both BLAST Premier: Spring 2020 European Showdown and DreamHack Masters Spring 2020: Europe. But it looks like gla1ve might soon be returning to the lineup according to Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz.
Dev1ce Confirms Gla1ve's Return
In the recent episode of HLTV Confirmed podcast while answering a question about the whereabouts of the two players and if they will be coming back to join the Astralis lineup, dev1ce revealed that gla1ve might be coming making a return in August later this year.
“Gla1ve return is planned for August, Xyp9x’s return is not planned. That’s all I can say and I don’t know when in August gla1ve will return but it is in August.”
Dev1ce further went on to state that they still have no update on Xyp9x’s situation and that he does not want to put unnecessary pressure on his teammates to come back sooner. Giving his own example from 2017 when he had to miss several tournaments like ECS Season 4 - Europe, BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen 2017, ESL Pro League Season 6 - Finals, and ECS Season 4 - Finals, due to his prolonged illness for which he had to take a solid 47 days medical leave.
Soon after Xyp9x’s departure, Astralis’ management had stated their intent to expand their existing roster into a ten-man lineup along with an academy team like in the professional LoL leagues. But ever since then the Astralis’ management has been under fire for various reasons one of the big once being the way they have managed player burnout in the last 12 months.
The back-to-back departure of two of their most experienced players has visibly hurt the organization. Taking a look back as to what could have caused this to happen shines a light on the 43-day span late last year during which the team competed at four tournaments in a row, putting immense pressure on the players and draining a lot out of them.
This directly impacted the way the player set out to play tournaments this year. The first to fall was gla1ve who took a leave on the grounds of prolonged stress and burnout, he was quickly replaced by the recently signed 23-years-old Jakob "JUGi" Hansen.
While this seemed to be a planned move from the organization they had certainly not expected that Xyp9x would also take a break just a week after gla1ve’s departure. Though the team managed to scramble a replacement for him in time for their next event this displacement was enough to reveal the chunks in Astralis’ seemingly formidable armour.
It will certainly be a big relief for Astralis now that they have an idea about when gla1ve plans to return but with Xyp9x still out of the picture, the situation is far from perfect for the Danish giants who have slipped on the global rankings to 7th position.
