Astralis confirmed the signing of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen to its CS:GO roster today after HLTV.org and 1pv.fr reported the deal yesterday.
Es3tag is most known for his time with Heroic from 2017 to 2020. Earlier this month, he moved to FunPlus Phoenix after the Chinese organization acquired Heroic’s CS:GO roster. According to HLTV and 1pv.fr, the deal between FPX and Heroic fell apart, which confirms rumors that the negotiation was incomplete. Es3tag played one match under the FPX banner so far.
The 24-year-old will join gla1ve and crew on July 1, when his contract with Heroic expired. Astralis will feature a six-man roster, an experience that hasn’t worked in CS:GO yet. Immortals, per example, fell apart after the organization added João “horvy” Horvath to the PGL Kraków Major runners-up roster in 2017. Apart from Astralis, the Polish team AGO is the only one trying it too. They currently have seven players and intend to have two for each position.
According to Astralis’ CEO Nikolaj Nyholm, the possibility of a six-man roster has been discussed since device took some time off and missed tournaments due to health issues in 2017. Kasper Hvidt, Astralis’ director of sports, said that the players, the coach, and the performance team all had been involved with the decision and agreed with it.
Some of the biggest CS:GO tournament organizers such as ESL and BLAST permits lineup substitutions between maps, but that still isn’t allowed in the Majors. Head coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen will decide who will play and make the changes if needed, according to Nyholm.
So far, FPX hasn’t commented on the issue yet. Heroic’s CEO, Erik Askered, said to HLTV that Heroic is making legal preparations as he believes that Astralis “acted in bad faith” and affected the team’s sale to FPX. According to Nyholm, no actions had been taken to the detriment of Heroic or FPX, and Astralis notified both organizations about es3tag’s signing.
Es3tag said he will continue to play with his current teammates until he joins Astralis in July 1.
