Xyp9x exploring options as Astralis contract nears end: \u201cEverything is up in the air\u201d ESLIn an exclusive interview with Dexerto, Andreas \u2018Xyp9x\u2019 H\u00f8jsleth says that he is currently weighing up his options. The \u2018Clutch Minister\u2019 has only a few months left on his contract with Astralis, his home since 2016. Xyp9x is one of three players on Astralis with contracts running out at the end of the year, alongside Peter \u2018dupreeh\u2019 Rasmussen and Emil \u2018Magisk\u2019 Reif. The Danish organization has yet to give any public indication as to whether it is planning to offer new deals to these three players, having so far only agreed to an extension with in-game leader Lukas \u2019gla1ve\u2019 Rossander, who in July penned a three-year contract until the summer of 2024. Rather than waiting to see where Astralis is sitting by the time his contract expires, Xyp9x decided to be proactive. He wants to see what the market bears before deciding on his future. \u201cI love Astralis, but I think now is a great opportunity to look around, see my options, and see what the future brings,\u201d he told Dexerto. \u201cThere have been some talks with Astralis but nothing is set in stone. Everything is up in the air. \u201cI just know that I want to continue playing at the highest level. I can easily see myself using my skills and experience to build up a new successful unit or maybe help an established team take the next steps to the top.\u201d Xyp9x has been on Astralis\u2019 books since the organization was created, in January 2016, playing a key role in the team\u2019s journey to becoming the most successful side in the history of competitive Counter-Strike. They hold the record for the most Major titles, four, and are also the first team to have won three Majors back to back. After two years of aggressive dominance of the Counter-Strike scene, Astralis hit a stumbling block in 2020. The team lost some of their luster and aura in the online era caused by the global health crisis, especially when Xyp9x and gla1ve both had to take medical leaves due to burnout. That summer, a report from Dexerto\u2019s Richard Lewis shed light on the extent of the Danish organization\u2019s problems. Astralis brought back the Major-winning lineup for the final stretch of the season and finished the year on a high note, but the problems didn\u2019t end there: In April, after a disappointing start to the season, Astralis sold star player Nicolai \u2018device\u2019 Reedtz to Ninjas in Pyjamas in a shock transfer deal. Last month, HLTV.org reported that head coach Danny \u2018zonic\u2019 S\u00f8rensen is weighing up his options as he enters the final months of his contract. Xyp9x admits that things have never quite been the same since device left the team. \u201cI thought we still could manage to win tournaments,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter that, as things progressed, I just didn\u2019t see the same era [happening] again. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that we can\u2019t win tournaments with this lineup, but it\u2019s certainly tougher and contracts are running out, so we have a short window to get everything fixed. \u201cGiven the dynasty that we had for three years, almost winning everything, managing to win four Majors\u2026 There is a really long road. \u201cI think that when device left, that was when the era died, so to speak.\u201d Despite rumors suggesting that tension between the Astralis management and the teams continues to build as zonic and some of the players approach the end of their contracts, Xyp9x maintains that he has no underlying grievances with the organization. \u201cThere is nothing about the organization that has led to this,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m only thinking about myself and where to win tournaments. That\u2019s mainly where I put my focus. Any player would weigh up his options when his contract is about to end. \u201cWe as a team created an era and I don\u2019t have any bad feelings towards Astralis. They helped us get here with performance optimization, elevating us. \u201cBut now it\u2019s a different team and a different era. I think we can conclude that the first Astralis that I was part of is over.\u201d Still hungry Some might be inclined to question Xyp9x\u2019s motivation and hunger to succeed, given that he has won almost all there is to win in the Counter-Strike scene and that he has been competing at the top for almost a decade. But the Danish player points to his performances at IEM Cologne \u2013 where he was Astralis\u2019 best player with a 1.07 HLTV rating \u2013 as an indicator that he still has a lot to offer, especially as esports are sliding towards a return to normalcy and LAN events are becoming more frequent. \u201cI think I did a good job in Cologne,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen it comes to LAN, that\u2019s where people get nervous but I become calm. It\u2019s my home turf. \u201cI just don\u2019t get nervous, like less experienced players tend to do. Hopefully, this COVID situation will soon be resolved or at least controlled so we can go out and play on LAN again because that\u2019s where I feel my biggest strengths are. \u201cOrganizations will also look at how people perform on LAN when we are to go back to that. In that sense, I have pretty good chances [of finding a new team]. \u201cI want to prove myself that I\u2019ve still got it, and I think I showed it in Cologne. It would be amazing to find those other four players, the coach and the organization, to win another Major with. \u201cI\u2019m not done, I want to win more trophies.\u201d While talking to Xyp9x, one gets the sense of inevitability that he is about to close the book on this incredible chapter of his career. He goes through \u201ca lot of emotions\u201d when asked to reflect on the years he has spent competing under Astralis, a team that has defied all expectations and etched its name into the esports history books. \u201cAstralis have existed for six years now, and I\u2019ve been there since the start,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been a top team, but at least three or four years in the absolute top. \u201cWe, the players, have become each other\u2019s best friends and won everything we could dream of. And that\u2019s just amazing to think back on, getting all the experience from winning and also developing as a person. It\u2019s not just in the game but also on a personal level, you become more complete as a person. \u201cThere are so many memories, and winning four Majors, which no one else has done, is quite outstanding.\u201d The future Xyp9x says that he is open to a change of scenery after years of playing for Danish teams. FaZe have been rumored as a potential suitor in recent weeks, but their interest may have cooled after a semi-final run at IEM Cologne. \u201cFaZe? There are lots of rumors,\u201d he says. \u201cThere have been some talks with some teams, but I can\u2019t go into detail about it. \u201cI\u2019m looking for a team that is professional and has the experience to take the last steps to be among the best. \u201cMost North American teams are bootcamping a lot in Europe or are even staying here. It\u2019s not something that I won\u2019t consider.\u201d Whatever Xyp9x decides to do next, he still has a few months to run on his Astralis contract. He is one of only five still-active players who have attended all 15 CS:GO Majors, and he will be looking to add to that record later this year, at PGL Stockholm. But questions remain about what Astralis are planning to do after recently signing Philip \u2018Lucky\u2019 Ewald, a promising Danish AWPer. Will the team juggle players in and out of the lineup or will the 18-year-old have to wait to get a shot? Xyp9x is surprisingly cryptic when quizzed on the team\u2019s plans. \u201cWe haven\u2019t finalized that,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what I can say. But I think there is a surprise coming, which I can\u2019t go further into. I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Xyp9x exploring options as Astralis contract nears end: \u201cEverything is up in the air\u201d ESLIn an exclusive interview with Dexerto, Andreas \u2018Xyp9x\u2019 H\u00f8jsleth says that he is currently weighing up his options. The \u2018Clutch Minister\u2019 has only a few months left on his contract with Astralis, his home since 2016. Xyp9x is one of three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}