zonic: "I wanted to keep es3tag, but there are areas of the game that are out of my hands"

15-10-2020 14:08

The Danish coach was full of praise for the player and asked Astralis' fans to support him in his decision.

Astralis coach Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen has admitted that he would have liked to keep Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen in the team but that Cloud9's offer proved too good for the player to resist. The 24-year-old will complete the move only after DreamHack Open Fall — his final tournament for Astralis —, switching sides just four months into his contract with the current No.1-ranked team.

zonic praised es3tag's work ethic and dedication

"I wanted to keep Patrick on board, but as in any other sport, there are areas of the game besides the sports side of things that are out of my hands," zonic said on Twitter. "Patrick deserves to play every game he wants and I understand his decision completely so I encourage all Astralis fans to support him for this final run! I sincerely hope I get to work with this man again."

zonic also heaped praise on es3tag, who was able to lock down a place in the starting lineup despite spending over three months on the sidelines following his benching by HEROIC. He has averaged a 1.12 rating for Astralis, helping the team to reclaim the No.1 spot in the rankings after last week's ESL Pro League Season 12 victory.

"Being out for several months and then coming back in the fashion he did is nothing but amazing," the Danish coach said. "es3tag is one of those guys who deserve everything coming to him and Cloud9 will sign one of the most dedicated and hard-working players we have."

es3tag is the third high-profile signing made by Cloud9, who previously splashed the cash to buy Alex "⁠ALEX⁠" McMeekin and Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker from Vitality and MOUZ, respectively. The team will make their first appearance later this month in Betway Nine to Five 5, a tournament which they will use as preparation for Flashpoint 2, which will have $1 million at stake.

6 man lineups dont work

2020-10-15 14:08

21 replies

why not? es3tag find team, its works for him.

2020-10-15 14:10

5 replies

2020-10-15 14:15

4 replies

7+1 = 8 8 man lineups won't work either 0/8

2020-10-15 15:48

2 replies

2020-10-15 16:10

8man is just +2 for 2nd team which is what they want to get

2020-10-15 17:38

es3tag, will get 1.5 miliondolla for 3 years. :)

2020-10-16 01:16

Flag checks out

2020-10-15 14:14

so Astralis signed a player, gave him a chance to grow and learn from the best team of all time, he ends up signing a big contract with another org and Astralis make money and Xyp comes back into the team.... looks like it works to me

2020-10-15 14:18

2020-10-15 14:27

Works perfectly...

2020-10-15 15:05

2020-10-15 15:34

2020-10-15 17:48

everyone profits

2020-10-15 19:00

Where bubz been at tho

2020-10-15 14:39

3 replies

And what did they pay for bubz, when picking him up

2020-10-15 15:13

Gla1ve said on hltv confirmed he's too aggressive, if he calms down he can start

2020-10-15 15:51

he will igl the 2nd team i guess

2020-10-15 17:39

Does that mean, C9 i doomed to fail.? Feels like most in here, have forgotten this hltv.org/news/30289/henryg-im-going-to-h..

2020-10-15 14:54

10 man roster inhouse pugs and/or scrims whenever you want ez dub

2020-10-17 02:18

Of course it does. Substitutions is the future, get used to it.

2020-10-17 11:39

wow

1 reply

Every intl lineup needs a danish god I think, this is a good pickup for C9. GL!

oof

2020-10-15 14:09

goood

welp

Godzonic

zonic 2face toledo

2020-10-15 15:15

Fallen biggest 2 face

2020-10-15 15:17

no nifty and niko (if he goes to g2) >>>>>

2020-10-15 15:39

and smallest toileto

WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE CSGO PLAYER IN CSGO PRO HISTORY WHY ,,,, HE IS DANISH WHY ,,,, HE PLAYS FOR ASTRALIS WHY .... NA HAVE MONEY AND WANT THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD

2020-10-15 19:49

Tuff

I said it!!!

Ouch..

Imagine thinking es3tag is better than Xyp9x just because he performed better in JUST ONE ONLINE TOURNAMENT. KEKW

26 replies

actualy he was best player in astralis but k

2020-10-15 14:12

25 replies

No he was not

Kappa

obv rating means nothing

2020-10-15 14:17

Rating has meaning but it's not everything. There's a lot to CS that rating doesn't tell you - for example, the clarity of your comms (which I imagine gla1ve is the #1 in ast for)

2020-10-15 15:26

its impossible to pick just 1 best player both in astralis and in world .astralis is a well oiled machine where every player has same worth and its hard to point out best , in other side u have teams focused around one player like navi or vitality. its team game.

2020-10-15 15:32

He was amazing but he won't ever hit this form again. He will never have the opportunity to work with a coach as good as Zonic or an IGL as good as Gla1ve

14 replies

he is young and developing we will see

2020-10-15 14:19

He's almost 25. That's pretty far from young in csgo.

Lekr0 started when he was 23 and evolved quite a lot... Look at RPK the guy retired came to completly different CS and right now is one of the best french supports... Your age doesnt mean you cannot reinvent your game... All it needs is talent and time invested to shape the talent you have.

2020-10-15 16:28

Yes that is all true but those are exceptions to the rule. And the point here was that we wasn't young, and not that he couldn't improve. So #48 should've read only "he's developing". It just bothered me that someone would call him young, that's all

2020-10-16 15:59

Fair enough he isnt young but he can develop was my point.

2020-10-16 16:07

Except it was Magisk IGLing during his time in Astra

2020-10-15 14:59

8 replies

Oh yeah my bad. But surely Magisk was using the stratbook that gla1ve cooked up. The caller was different but the calls were somewhat same :/

2020-10-15 15:00

6 replies

Why are you assuming things and spewing them out as facts?

2020-10-15 15:25

I might be wrong. For sure Idk what really went down. We're all assuming stuff here. And I really wanna say that I didn't mean to sound like I was trying to get that statement out as a fact, that really wasn't my intention. But it's just that I felt the way Astralis ran some strats during the tournaments were not really that different from the ones they ran during, say 2019. I might be a poor observer, but except a little more aggression on the CT side, I really didn't feel that big of a strategical change. That's why I assumed that it was the same stratbook.

2020-10-15 17:43

If you give me a source on that sure. Considering their play style during this time wasn't the same as it was before gla1ve and xyp left

2020-10-15 15:55

My bad man, I worded my statement poorly. I wanted to say that in an assumption type of way. Like "I assumed the strats were same". Wasn't trying to be a know-it-all even though it came out like that. Further on #164

2020-10-15 17:45

Ah that's fair dude, just a misunderstanding

2020-10-16 13:17

Magisk/gla1ve were split IGL during EPL. Magisk did initial calls and gla1ve did mid-round adaptations.

As I said, 1. one good tournament and you give your worthless judgment as if y'all know better. Gtfo with your asinine statements.

and i agree same as i agree he was brightest point of astralis in this tournament

2020-10-15 14:20

I agree until the final there everyone stepped up

2020-10-15 14:51

Fluke form

2020-10-15 14:23

0/8 the stupidity on this site is astonishing

2020-10-15 14:43

He knows es3tag is better than Xyp.

Nowdays yup

clearly or he would be staying dumbass

Astralis with lies again

Trying to clean up his false promisses that got crushed by profit possibilities, pointing into ezetag instead, dirty af but nt nt. Btw, because of baiting ezetag to not sign new contract for heroic, heroic lost the deal with funplus phoenix. Astralis literally stole money from their dansk brothers, *sssssssssss*

This is not Ukraine with corruption and crime, street gangs, as well as street hookers on every street corner, or low educated man people. This is the most winning counter striker team in the world, with the most professional people. I know that what you see and experience in your own country is something you think is happening all over the world, it is very normal for people to think that way, so I understand you well.

2020-10-15 14:31

7 replies

the line about my retarded country is accurate af

2020-10-15 14:44

funplus phoenix part was actually scummy especially the CSPPA involvment dunno why would you start a ukraine rant all of a sudden it's not like people from shitty countries were the ones who called out astralis when it happened. kek

2020-10-15 14:56

"dunno why would you start a ukraine rant all of a sudden" Cos transfering from disqussion point into personalities when you butthurt but didn't find anything to counter-arguement is obviously a common psychological pattern lmao

2020-10-15 15:18

1. Racista reportado (that butthurt rant about Ukraine). 2. The chronology: - FPX was in talks to buy Heroic lineup; - Astralis was in talks with esetag to make a 6 man roster; - esetag, being one of Heroic's main performers, did not sign new contract with Heroic and gets benched by Heroic after, sitting on bench for 4 month, waiting for contract to expire; - FPX stops negotiations about buying Heroic lineup. Heroic claim Astralis for ruining the deal. All of this is literally HLTV news, authors are, most likely, not "corrupted gangster ukrainians". Btw, money laundering and unfair business indeed is practiced all around the world and doen't require "gangsters", just businessmen, economists and lawyers. 3. Brutal. Savage. REKT.

WTF where have you been men

2020-10-15 15:44

Youre right, at least in denmark all your street hookers are concentrated on the 4 corners of only one street. You should totally keep riding that high horse

2020-10-15 15:28

damn this ukranian fella really hurt u bruh

2020-10-15 15:47

he dont deserve your shitty orgs plant to waste talent on the bench which talented young pro would choose to rot his prime in bench dont be stupid

13 replies

Yeah it is Astralis plan to waste talent dumb shit

12 replies

Bubzkji has played ONCE in the last 1 1/2 monts m8. What is that other than wasting talent?

11 replies

yeah because Astralis forced him to sign LOL low IQ Bulgaria

The argument was never that anyone forced Bubzkji to sign, so stop posing strawmen you moron. So I will happily repeat my question. What is that other than wasting talent?

2020-10-15 14:33

so how are Astralis wasting talent when they just helped Es3tag sign a big contract with C9. Nobody forces these guys to sign contract when they know theyll be sitting on the bench when the core 5 is ready to play. Its not rocket science but then again Bulgaria has low IQs

2020-10-15 14:52

It was a sarcasm, rofl.

2020-10-15 15:09

He clearly doesn't fit their style. Nobody forced him to sign the contract, he knew he would not start. Es3tag fit better, proved himself, got an opportunity and now is using it. It literally happens in football all the time.

2020-10-15 14:25

Astralis touted to build a 10-man lineup without anyone being a bench player, but a constant rotation to combat player burnout. How can Bubzkji expect to just be a bench player then? I regard his decision to be a mistake as well, but that does not change the fact, that astralis is in fact wasting precious talent.

2020-10-15 14:26

You know they can sign more players right? So by your logic they should've forced es3tag to stay and not give him the opportunity to leave? Amazing logic from the most idiotic esport fanbase on earth.

I am merely saying that astralis is in fact wasting talent, which in my opinion is egotistical and does not adhere to astralis self proclaimed "play org-image". I am not saying that es3tag should stick around. And of course they got the legal right to sign every Danish player. It being legal does not change the fact that it's a dick move though. I rate es3tag's decision to leave very highly even, as he will be more likely a starting player in C9's roster than in Astralis'.

2020-10-15 14:38

But Will he have succes there tho? I doubt it but we Will see to me this C9 looks a lot like a OG team

2020-10-15 14:53

og is a team of washed up bots, c9 will have firepower at least

2020-10-15 15:50

Valde is ok tho my point is C9 done some heavy spending on a very Od combo and it could work but I just feel like it wont least with first lineup

2020-10-15 17:30

Everything happened just to be better.

Don't ruin a player's career zonic by benching him. Bubzkji will join a Tier 1 or Tier 2 team soon too.

Ez money for astralis

2020-10-15 14:11

es3tag snake confirmed

i was about to make a comment about ur iq but then i saw ur flag

nt eastern europe

Imagine getting baited by a liquid fan

so Cloud9 es3tag?

Of course not, man. The post just 5 hours before this one, stating that Astralis confirm es3tag sale to Cloud9 is there just for fun

hahahahahha your funny.

2020-10-15 16:11

hope C9 will live up to the hype

henryG came with C9's big money, they should rename the colossus the colosuck

Imagine c9 spending this much money and if this team fail

2020-10-15 14:30

This team doesnt look good. I don't see it succeeding like coL for example, the condition would be for mezii to be a really good player (never seen him play so who knows)

Mezii is star t2 player!

2020-10-15 21:43

They Will fail for sure but its a start at least

win win situation

A win/win situation

Some "rich people problems" aka danish scene, if a GOD like es3tag may not be in your starting 5. Maybe Astralis should have asked Valve to change rules and to make CS a 6v6 game or even 7v7 in order not to keep talents on the bench.

2020-10-15 14:16

astralis lying and sell him expensive lul

Proves leaving was Esetag's decision. When C9 comes in with big money, the only force that could have stopped him was Esetag himself but he choose to go for C9, an Org doesn't ever wanna miss out on a big profit venture. Good on him, wish him luck.

Great team, shitty org

Snakebye 2.0

2020-10-15 14:24

He played really well, Astralis shouldve kept him.

Astralis signed es3tag on a free transfer and now probably is gonna get like 2M euros or so. Get ready for the numbers, business is business.

2020-10-15 14:28

no way its 2 m probably like 500k or something max

2020-10-15 14:32

im just gonna say get ready, cause hey have to buy him out, plus the salary.

If they pay more for him than for Alex it is a fail investment. Cuz you could get a jks for a little more money and then you have a top 10 rifler.

2020-10-15 14:45

we´ll see once HenryG shows numbers, but i expect at least 1,5M

2020-10-15 14:46

I think Cloud9 agreed with Astralis to keep the transfer price a private matter

2020-10-15 15:19

twitter.com/HenryGcsgo/status/1316734366..

2020-10-15 16:51

31er

"highprofile" player lul. C9 is max a top 30 teams, when you see what good teams already compete beyond top 10

Astralis 200 IQ: Make a player take a break. Pick up random player for free. Make him look good. Sell him for BIG BUCKS! Return to original 5 man world number 1 core. Repeat for unlimited income.

2020-10-15 14:40

400 IQ if: C9 project fails astralis picks the same player they sold for free again

2020-10-15 14:42

tbh i have a feeling c9 won't achieve anything in their new roster for atleast a couple of years

True

2020-10-15 14:57

Same. But I also had no expectations on col and they actually did good so we might be surprised

2020-10-15 15:03

If woxic plays like he did for like 1 year ago and mezzi performs good i actully think it could be a decent team

2020-10-15 15:23

? why didnt they do the same with jugi and snappi

2020-10-15 18:07

Yea, ''Make him look good'' Astralis cheating CONFIRMED lmao. Take away their EPL title ASAP!!!!!

2020-10-15 18:57

hmm so it was es3tag's decision to leave astralis well it can't be helped then; gl

Zonic 'twofaced' Toledo

Yeah behind the scene "you have to take the deal or you will benched for ever and I will bully you everyday now go and sign that shit, Fucking noob" Or why two-faced?

2020-10-15 14:47

imagine leaving a team that can win a major for a team that would be lucky just to qualify kkkkkkkkkkk

2020-10-15 14:49

He wont be in that major team likely tho

+1 many of the ast boys have said that they'd have the original 5 try to defend the title at the next Major

2020-10-15 15:29

Yea think so as well and likely what Es3 realized as well

2020-10-15 17:29

Its clear why lol Es3 knew xyp would play majors and he got the offer from C9 which likely Pays a bit better, cause doubt he got same salary as astralis main 5, so with chances of not playing majors he took this deal, which I understand but just not that its to C9

2020-10-15 15:10

+1 good move for es3

2020-10-15 15:21

Real zonic or their PR manager again?

Probably manager

always has been

2020-10-15 18:06

Money talks.

Money.

Not the kitchen on de_mirage that's for sure

"I WANTED TO KEEP ES3TAG, BUT THEY OFFERED US TOO MUCH MONEY TO GIVE A FUCK"

lol good one

2020-10-15 19:09

Colossus???????????? What a shit team c9 did lol

woxic and es3tag are strong, ALEX is okay but with the two others they are far from contestants to win titles. They'll be lucky if they reach tier 1, good thing they are in that bush league instead of ESL

2020-10-15 19:46

i mean, shit is not fair, but with the that hype i was thinking about a superteam...

2020-10-16 03:47

Yeah, same here, I was thinking at least about a team of coL's caliber. Theybare far from it and probably the most expensive team ever or damn close to it...

2020-10-18 00:21

The Astralis org is actually the most mastermind one I've seen in CSGO by a landslide. - Start baiting with 6-man roster stuff, everyone else does it and loses money - Buyout es3tag for basically nothing - Organize the team in a way to make him look very good - Another team with money buys him out. Zero investment, massive return, both Astralis and es3tag win from this. - Make it clear that it was his decision. The clout has been pulled. - The final player of their core returns, everything goes back to normal, only they made big $$$ and other teams are struggling to figure out wtf to do with 6-man rosters. It seems like 2020 has been more business strategies than Counter-Strike for Astralis, lmao. Admirable stuff, honestly.

2020-10-15 15:45

Yes, and waste his career on your bench, lol. Hopefully someone rescues Bubzkji as well.

2020-10-15 15:49

Na na na na. NA NA NA NA. HEY HEY HEY. GOODBYE! We will miss you.

Astralis gonna get him back when his contract with c9 expires

2020-10-15 16:19

C9 should have bought bubski they need that starplayer🦀

2020-10-15 16:33

EU talent save NA pls

wot

2020-10-15 17:49

I'm really surprised that you didn't zonic, this roster looked maybe even better than the previous one. Really weird.

They wanted to keep him so they benched him right when Xyp was ready to comeback?

Remember when people spammed "who?" when he got picked up? Now he is literally the hottest signing of c9 (could argue that alex is bigger).

2020-10-15 18:25

WTF is this. Astralis playing some dirty game again......who are they buying to replace him???? I think this is horrible for Astralis, es3tag was one of their key players in EPL. Puts alot of pressure on Xyp on his comeback......

2020-10-15 18:49