Do you remember Astralis? The CS:GO Astralis team, roster of dreams, the unbeatable giants from Denmark? Oh, how the tables have turned: since we last checked on them, at the end of last year, they haven’t been performing at their best, and so much so that there have been some announcements of big changes coming.

Aside from slipping down the rankings (they are still second on the world ranking, but the future doesn’t look bright), they’ve been taking some serious hits in the big spring tournaments. Just a few days ago ESL Pro League Season 13 ended, and it didn’t end well for CS:GO Astralis. Also, they have just been eliminated from the BLAST Spring Showdown as we speak.

What Is Happening To CS:GO Astralis?

Their latest loss,  beaten by OG 0-2 with the latter currently going through some roster adjustments. So, what gives? Well, according to Astralis’ captain and superstar, device, a lot. In a recent interview, he gave right before Astralis experienced this latest, fourth consecutive poor performance in big tournaments; he made clear that the team feels no pressure for BLAST.

That wouldn’t be such an interesting statement on its own, but it implies something much bigger: their obvious lack (and search) of form, and the fact that he doesn’t have much faith in them regaining it at this moment. In fact, he pointed out that they are hoping to be back on track for Flashpoint 3 in May, adding that RMR’s are most important to them. Moreover, he hinted at some big changes coming and acknowledged the fact that individual performances haven’t been up to par. In fact, he practically blamed their “individual levels” for everything that went wrong with CS:GO Astralis in the past year or so.

Confusion Still In The Air

In the end, he basically admitted that they themselves aren’t really sure if they should just try to improve through working with what they have or is it may be time for a rebuild. That statement alone would be enough to figure out something definitely isn’t right at their HQ right now, be it Covid, internal disputes, es3tag’s departure, general satiety or something else.

At one point during the interview, device also praised aggressive individuals for the current rise of the CIS region: “They just have so many skilled players, right?”, he said. And, of course, he’s right. Although they’ve lost the ESL Pro League finals from Heroic, Gambit Esports has everyone’s attention for quite a while now and demonstrating some crazy good play. Aside from them, Na’Vi and Virtus.pro are also in the top five in the world currently, and team Spirit ranked in ninth place, which brings us to a total of four CIS teams in the top 10 in the world right now. That is impressive.

What’s Next

As far as the ongoing BLAST goes, Astralis weren’t the only giants sent home at the very beginning. Liquid also lost, to Swedish Dignitas, currently ranked 28^th in the world. The rest of the top 10 has yet to play (besides G2 who’ve successfully progressed to the quarter finals beating Endpoint), so there is a lot of excitement coming our way.

This current Astralis’ state is getting a lot of attention, which is completely understandable since fans are very much used to seeing them win, and are obviously freaking out wondering what’s happening. And sure, we’ll never know for certain what goes on behind the closed doors, but interviews like these at least give us some insight into the rosters, no matter how filtered or polished they are. And they are very valuable if you are gathering information about world class teams, which you should, so you are free to play CS:GO along with these exciting tournaments through our Pick 6. FTP CS:GO fixtures are just about to go up!