It was a little strange to see Nicolai ‘device’ Reedtz giving the interviews for Astralis, offering a bit of an inside glimpse to the inner-workings of the fabled team. The interview was primarily a direct rebuttal against allegations that Astralis (GS#7) players need to practice for at least 40 hours a week, not including matches and coaching sessions, which Dexerto reported.

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Yet as Astralis has lost their primary mouthpiece with Gla1ve taking a step back, someone had to confront inquiring minds, and Device apparently drew the short straw.

Within the interview, they discussed a myriad of various allegations and theories behind Astralis in their current form, yet nothing too ground-breaking came out in the interview as a whole, minus their two star players that have both taken a leave of absence due to burnout within competitive Counter-Strike.

The good news is that Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander has a return date to Astralis. The player, that many consider being the best in-game leader found in professional Counter-Strike, is scheduled to return to the team in August.

Thus, he will return in time for Cologne and the upcoming Rio Major, which has not been rescheduled in light of Brazil facing a massive outbreak of COVID-19 cases that has ravaged the country.

This bodes well for Astralis making a return to form within 2020, and hopefully in time for them to reclaim what many consider to still be their right; number one ranking amongst professional Counter-Strike teams.

You can’t have rainbows without a little rain, however: Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth does not yet have a confirmed date to return to the legendary team from Denmark.

The bright side is that Gla1ve is an impeccable leader, and presuming that Astralis maintains JUGi in the interim, it’ll be a test of character to see if Lukas can lead Astralis to victory without Xyp9x in the line-up.

JUGi has arguably failed to play well, however; it’s plausible that we’ll see es3tag instead for tourneys as Astralis currently doesn’t have much breathing room. They’ve dropped from their global seed #1 down to seventh, dropping out of the top five seeds for the first time in over two years.

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Still, some fans aren’t entirely convinced that Lukas Rossander can step back onto the metaphorical stage and immediately have a complete turn to form. While it’s difficult to deny that Astralis consistently appears as one of the greatest teams to have ever competed in professional Counter-Strike, long-term absences can result in a lack of readiness in players; doubly so when you’re competing against the best players in the world.