It has been a couple of painful months for the legendary Danish team, Astralis, after Gla1ve and Xyp9x both stepped away from the competitive scene (and seemingly their online presence entirely) after noting in late 2019 that players were slowly beginning to burnout due to the sheer number of matches that teams were playing.

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Astralis suddenly had a massive void in their roster which they were eager to fill, resulting in them dropping below the top ten teams in the world, a first in a long time for the Danes.

Granted, it also gave way to the brilliant plays of Patrick es3tag’ Hansen who could have otherwise gone unnoticed; the new player has been vital to the legendary team in restarting the rampaging legacy that they are well-known in the scene for defending; they’re now ranked as #2 in the world.

Now, after half a year watching from the sidelines, Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth is finally stepping back into the roster, and he has more than enough time to ramp up versus Lukas ‘Gla1ve’ Rossander who appeared to be relatively thrust back onto the stage.

The next matches that Astralis are currently scheduled to play with Xyp9x are in November at Blast; the same who finally reversed their deal with the Saudi Arabian utopic city.

Now there are a couple of interesting questions that will need to be answered before Astralis log into the server for Blast; precisely, if there is still room for Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth after the inclusion of Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen.

While it’s simple to make room for more storied and experienced members of the team, Patrick has made a monumental name for himself in his short-lived stint thus far with Astralis, readily hefting them onto his shoulders more than once in their recent bout against Natus Vincere against the legendary S1mple on the AWP.

It’s a pleasant conundrum for the organization to have a myriad of fraggers on a singular team, but it can make way for additional problems regarding morale. Not many professional players are eager to ride a bench into obscurity, regardless of how easy the paycheck is to collect.

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Astralis has mentioned that they’re looking to rotate members across the roster from bench to active play to ensure that everyone has a break; time to convalesce and mentally reset before another string of matches. Precisely who gets the honor of sitting out first isn’t clear at this moment, but it’s difficult to imagine a full return to a pre-pandemic team.