Astralis confirmed the signing of free agent Patrick “es3tag” Hansen to their CS:GO roster. This move brings the number of players on the squad up to seven, continuing the organization’s plans to expand the roster beyond the standard starting five.
The 7-Man Era Begins for Astralis
We have known about es3tag’s transfer to Astralis for over three months, but it’s only now that the move has been made official. The player had agreed to join on a free transfer after the expiry of his contract with previous team Heroic. Well, that happened at the conclusion of June and a day later – on July 1, Astralis were happy to announce the transfer on their social media.
- READ MORE: Another CS:GO team moves to a six-man roster
Es3tag’s arrival is surely a welcomed breath of fresh air at the Danish organization after they were hit with a couple of unfortunate events in the months leading to es3tag’s move to the team. Astralis lost captain Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander and veteran Andreas "Xyp9x" Højsleth in close proximity and with just Jacob “JUGi” Hansen on the team’s bench at the time, Astralis were forced to bring in Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer as a temporary stand-in. A period which Snappi and Astralis would prefer be quickly forgotten.
Now, with es3tag becoming a permanent part of the roster, any similar occurrences should be handled much smoother. It would be interesting to see how the seven players are going to rotate in the future. After all, gla1ve and Xyp9x are not going to be out forever and there’s a serious doubt that their starting spots would be in any danger upon their return.
According to teammate Nicolai “device” Reedtz, gla1ve should be back by the end of the player break, which is going to answer a few questions right away, if true.
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