Es3tag to Join Astralis As a Sixth Member

Astralis have announced that Patrick "es3tag" Hansen will join their roster as a full-fledged sixth member on July 1st, 2020. The organization decided to increase their roster to six players to improve working conditions of their players, who are required to participate in large number of tournaments across the globe and get mental and physical fatigue.

Es3tag is a 24-years-old Danish player who currently plays for the FunPlus Phoenix roster, which recently was aquired from Heroic. According to some information, the transfer is still in progress and might be cancelled due to es3tag leaving the team. The organizers of FLASHPOINT League stated that FunPlux Phoenix, who were announced as founding members of the league, were disqualified from the first phase of the tournament “due to the recent roster changes”.

Erik Askered, CEO of Heroic, believes that Astralis “acted in bad faith, considerably affecting the sale of Heroic to FPX”. According to his statement, the organization is preparing to resolve the situation within the legal framework. Astralis CEO Nikolaj Nyholm issued a statement, according to which “no actions have been taken to the detriment of Heroic or FPX”. He also revealed that Heroic asked $800,000 for es3tag’s transfer – the organization declined the offer and decided to wait for the expiration of the player’s contract, however they are still interested in making the transfer early.

Astralis are currently ranked #2 in the world ranking, as this winter the team placed 3rd at IEM Katowice 2020, emerged victorious at BLAST Pro Series Global Final 2019 and finished 3rd at ESL Pro League Season 10 Finals. Currently they are competing in the European division of ESL Pro League Season 11. The addition of es3tag will be the first roster change for Astralis since early 2018, when they signed Emil "Magisk" Reif.

This year the CS:GO scene saw the emerging of multiple prolonged leagues, including FLASHPOINT, BLAST Premier and the new format of ESL Pro League. Earlier this month several players stopped playing due to tight schedules – Alex "ALEX" McMeekin departed Team Vitality, while Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen was benched by MAD Lions.

Astralis:

• Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz
• Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen
• Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth
• Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander
• Emil "Magisk" Reif
• Danny "zonic" Sørensen (coach)
• Patrick "es3tag" Hansen (from July 1st)