According to a report by DBLTAP, Astralis’ Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth is going to take a break from the team, similar to what his teammate Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander did last week.
Nothing has been confirmed by player or organization at this point, but whispers are growing that Astralis are already in desperate search for a replacement. Some of the names thrown around are Ninjas in Pyjamas’ Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson, Team Vitality’s Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and… Astralis’ Patrick “es3tag” Hansen.
Yep, the player who has already agreed terms to join Astralis could have been of great use right now. Yet, he’s not to play for the team until the end of June, when his contract with Heroic expires. According to the report, however, Xyp9x intends to take a break immediately, which leave his team in a difficult situation.
Astralis secured the signature of Jacob “JUGi” Hansen earlier this month for those type of scenarios, but he was already called up to the squad before Xyp9x’s supposed leave. Team captain gla1ve stepped down last week to deal with symptoms of burning out. Es3tag is supposed to bring even more flexibility in that regard but, as mentioned, he’s not with Astralis yet and now they’ll have to essentially find an eighth member to play until es3tag joins. That is if what DBLTAP suggest is indeed true.
Astralis are currently participating in DreamHack Masters Spring Europe where they finished second in Group A. However, if Xyp9x does leave, their first matches without him will be during the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, beginning June 1.
