Astralis at PGL Astana 2025! How a team on the brink of disappearance changed with HooXi’s arrival? Detailed history.
Astralis, once a dominant team in Counter-Strike, faced a prolonged period of decline after their prime in 2017-2019, when they won four Major tournaments. Since 2020, the team hasn’t won any major tournaments and missed the last five Major tournaments, with their last appearance at PGL Major Antwerp 2022. The team was rocked so badly that nothing remained of their former glory except mockery. Recently, in spring 2025, rumors emerged about a possible sale of the organization, causing significant resonance in the community, especially considering the legendary status of the team. Slides from a notorious hastily-created presentation about selling the CS:GO roster were leaked, making Astralis bosses look like absolute amateurs.
However, before PGL Astana 2025, Astralis unexpectedly signed former G2 captain Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, who hadn’t competed for almost a year after leaving in July 2024. Rasmus is beloved in the community because he’s a nice guy, but he was criticized for his gameplay just as often as he was compared to Gigachad. This move seemed completely pointless, especially considering that it could have been made much earlier. But better late than never, and after just a couple of weeks of practice, Astralis arrived in Astana as a completely different team.
In this article, we’ll tell you: how Astralis declined to such a state, what happened to them after HooXi’s arrival, and whether he will be able to restore the former glory of this tag.
Details about the decline in key moments
Obviously, over 5 years, Astralis faced a series of significant changes that affected their results. Here’s a brief chronology of key events with details and some context:
device's departure (April 2021)
In April 2021, star sniper Nicolai “device” Reedtz left Astralis to join NIP. It was a personal decision related to his desire to be closer to his girlfriend, who lived in Stockholm. His departure was the first serious blow to the roster, as Astralis worked as a single mechanism, which couldn’t start without one gear. Later, this event would be perceived with irony, saying that one girl destroyed an entire empire.
zonic, dupreeh and Magisk's departure (December 2021)
After an unsuccessful 2021, including a failure at PGL Major Stockholm 2021 where the team didn’t make it to the playoffs, Astralis parted ways with coach zonic and two players – dupreeh and Magisk. Their departure marked the end of an era. Their contracts simply expired, and Astralis didn’t receive a cent for the transfer of such experienced fighters, which is certainly an incredible failure. The new team for the three Danes was Vitality, who subsequently won a Major and proved that they were wrongly written off and their contracts weren’t extended.
device's return (October 2022)
After a period with NIP that didn’t meet expectations, and a break due to mental health problems, device returned to Astralis in October 2022. His return was perceived as a chance to restore former glory, but the team continued to show mediocre CS, having nothing in common with their former greatness.
gla1ve's departure (November 2023)
Lucas “gla1ve” Rossander, a key player and IGL, left Astralis in November 2023. The reasons could include contract disagreements, a desire for new challenges, or the organization’s decision to completely refresh the roster and start from scratch. His departure weakened the team, especially in terms of leadership, as finding a replacement for such an experienced captain is very difficult, especially considering the shortage of quality IGLs on the pro scene.
stavn and jabbi's arrival (November 2023)
To strengthen the roster, Astralis signed stavn and jabbi. Although HEROIC would most likely call this “stealing,” as rumor has it the pair had already agreed with HEROIC bosses to extend their contracts, but at the last moment they were intercepted by Astralis. This left another negative trail for the organization, which again made an unpopular and in this case absolutely ungentlemanly decision towards a competitor.
cadiaN's arrival and departure (September 2024 – April 2025)
Casper “cadiaN” Møller, whom stavn and jabbi had “kicked” from HEROIC just before leaving for Astralis, joined the team in September 2024 as the new IGL. To say that the decision seemed absurd is an understatement. Casper was forced to give up the sniper rifle, reunite with “traitors,” and build a team competing for trophies in all this chaos. For the community, this felt like the last straw, and Astralis finally lost their status due to systematic failed decisions by management.
Rumors about sale (April 2025)
In April 2025, reports emerged that Astralis was considering selling the organization and its CS roster due to financial difficulties and interest from Jonas Gundersen, former COO of NIP. Apparently, the bosses no longer believed in themselves, and after another failure and missing the Major, they made this decision. This caused concern in the community, given the team’s history, and everyone still hopes that if the sale happens, the tag will be preserved.
HooXi's story. Gigachad or ruin?
Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen had been a substitute in G2 since July 2024 due to the team’s unsatisfactory results and his weak individual performance. Despite victories at IEM Katowice 2023 and IEM Cologne 2023, G2 decided to make changes, replacing him with Snax. After these reshuffles, the team played with different colors – G2 immediately began reaching finals and by the end of 2025 even won a couple of trophies. For many, this indicated that HooXi was indeed the problem. As it would later turn out – parting with the Dane was not the players’ decision, and all the Samurai’s decline began after nexa’s arrival, whom nobody in the team expected. Later, m0NESY and NiKo would hint at questionable decisions by G2 management, while HooXi himself would receive only praise and support.
Astralis + HooXi. Minus times minus equals plus.
And so, HooXi gets his chance at Astralis, which raises many doubts for several reasons:
- No one believes in Astralis’s adequate management anymore
- If this was the best option, why were experiments with cadiaN necessary?
- Rasmus was leaving G2 with the stigma of a low-performer and mediocre player
The team arrives at PGL Astana and what do we see? Confident 2:0 in the group, which is initially attributed to even weaker opponents. Then a predictable loss to Spirit and a victory over VP, which guaranteed them a spot in the playoffs. In the match against the Bears, HooXi showed such performance that everyone admiringly said – “he closed them out solo.” Later, VP’s substitute player – n0rb3r7 would write that he wasn’t surprised by the Dane’s cool individual form because he personally observed how HooXi was killing thousands daily on DM servers.
Astralis advance to the playoffs and face NAVI, who looked very good in the group stage, and many said it was their best form of 2025. But Astralis outplayed B1ad3 himself, where on the last map they simply destroyed the Born to Win. Then – Aurora and reaching the final after losing the first map and dismantling 13:8/13:3 on the next two.
Now Astralis look simply amazing. It feels like HooXi came and just arranged everyone in a winning combination that can’t lose if no one fails individually. Most impressive is that this result was achieved after a couple of weeks of practice, and it’s unclear whether this is a honeymoon phase or real progress. device himself will answer this question with burning eyes – “this is HooXi” and a similar lively and happy look can be observed in every Astralis player.
Conclusion
We don’t know what will happen with Astralis, we don’t know what will happen with this roster, but one thing can be said for sure – HooXi is a tier-S player, no matter how G2 bosses tried to ruin his reputation. This story is just beginning, and it will be extremely interesting to watch. What will happen to the great tag? With this roster? Will top teams hunt for HooXi? All this is very interesting, and this is exactly why we love Counter-Strike!
