Bubzkji on time in Astralis: "I was stranded in a battle between the players and the organization"

24-3-2022 10:22

The up-and-coming player turned on-air talent appeared on HLTV Confirmed and shared his experiences of being the odd man out in Astralis and his recent foray into broadcasting.

On Tuesday, Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen joined the HLTV Confirmed podcast as a guest and spoke about various highlights in the early days of his career as well as the more recent struggles as the sixth man in Astralis and his new job as a Danish analyst and commentator for TV2.

After speaking on the topic of his earlier teams, Tricked and MAD Lions, the conversation naturally turned to the experience Bubzkji had as part of an Astralis roster that rarely made use of him as a player beyond situations where one of the original members were out of action.

Bubzkji appeared on HLTV Confirmed on Tuesday

When he first joined the team in the middle of 2020 amidst a period of uncertainty inside the Danish powerhouse, who had Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth and Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander out on extended leave, Bubzkji had high expectations, but soon the atmosphere changed when the in-game leader returned.

"I think it started very well when gla1ve and Xyp9x were out of the team and me and Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen just played and didn't feel like we were stand-ins. The first problems started to appear when we would fight for play time, me and es3tag, and only one could play."

Astralis release JUGi; announce Bubzkji signing

After playing less and less, the team announced the sale of es3tag and the return of Xyp9x. Bubzkji reflected on that period on the podcast, explaining that he found himself between a rock and a hard place. He spent much of his time on the bench as a result, playing only select maps for the next few months, only to return to a backup position once again at the brink of 2021.

"I was stranded in a battle between the players and the organization. The organization maybe wanted me to play and saw me as the future, as I was the youngest, and the team wanted to give the old five a go as they have won so much — and I totally respected that. That meant that I got stuck as I didn't want to fight the organization and I didn't want to fight the team, either, and did what was asked of me from both sides."

After Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz left for Ninjas in Pyjamas in April, a spot in the active roster opened up again and Bubzkji was able to step into the team full-time, but it turned out that he was never in plans to remain there for long, as Astralis signed Philip "⁠Lucky⁠" Ewald and had Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer and Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke lined up to join the team as replacements for Vitality-bound Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen and Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif.

device's departure to NIP gave Bubzkji the chance to play in the main lineup again, but not for long

Eventually, Bubzkji was released earlier this year after being out of action for months following IEM Fall — his last appearance with Astralis, in which he helped them qualify for PGL Major Stockholm only to get the call that he wouldn't be part of the lineup at the pinnacle tournament itself.

When asked about his plans for the future, the 23-year old remained open to many scenarios but shared that competing is not in his plans at the moment, and that he's focused on his work with TV2. "The reason why I am not on a pro team is self-chosen. I got some offers from teams that I could take but I didn't want to join a team just to be a paycheck stealer and just play for the sake of playing."

Right now if Heroic or CPH Flames asked me to join, I would say no

Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen

“Right now if Heroic or CPH Flames asked me to join, I would say no. Maybe if one day I return to a grind mindset, I would happily look for a team. Maybe in three or four months if I have a different feeling and will go and play for a lower-rated team."

Other topics on the podcast touched on the recent news, with the Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt removal from MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas's addition of Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin, and ESL Pro League results being the main talking points. You can watch the whole HLTV Confirmed episode with Bubzkji on YouTube, or listen in audio form via popular podcast apps.

Expected from Astralis

2022-03-24 10:23

8 replies

I feel like pgl Stockholm was the turning point for bubzkji's motivation. There was literally no sense to make changes in the lineup that successfully qualified, and I think he still can't recover after that massive backstab

2022-03-24 14:15

7 replies

Because you can't keep Bubz over gla1ve, yes it might be very unfair towards Bubzkji but gla1ve is just the man that led them to 4 majors with zonic.

2022-03-24 14:22

6 replies

cough cough xyp9x cough

2022-03-24 17:16

4 replies

Maybe Xyp doesnt have what it takes to be so good anymore, but he had indeed more than enough experience to take the spot from Bubz. He was the best support player at some point (more times), so it was probably better to still keep Xyp instead of Bubz

2022-03-24 17:20

3 replies

experience is useless when you get 0.80 rating every match. They robbed bubzjki from the major

2022-03-24 17:27

2 replies

2022-03-24 21:31

2022-03-25 00:22

it's very easy for Gla1ve to take 4 major with Dev1ce, Dupreeh and Magisk playing at the highest level plus Xyp that did its job well. What they did to Bubzkji was big betrayal.

2022-03-30 10:09

lol

yes

2022-03-24 10:24

1 reply

2022-03-24 10:25

"but I didn't want to join a team just to be a paycheck stealer and just play for the sake of playing." Baseado????!

27 replies

what reading hltv does to you kkkkkkkkkkkk nothing wrong with paycheck stealing, get the bag before you become washed o_O

2022-03-24 10:26

16 replies

Respect him who chooses the path of honor and glory

15 replies

paycheck stealing is just bullsh*t words made up by people on hltv. it is the same people who taunt people who have it good in life because they have rich parents. it is not disrespectful to ride the wave before your light fades after all he already committed his life into the game. that itself deserves honor

2022-03-24 10:28

10 replies

yes, exactly, people who brag with their parent's money are pathetic

2022-03-24 10:38

5 replies

I think people who brag their parent's money and people who use their parent's money to succeed in life are two different people

2022-03-24 10:41

Agreed. But taunting people who brag with their parent's money is acceptable and should be encouraged ;)

2022-03-24 10:50

Just say that you poor man its ok

2022-03-24 15:27

LOL

2022-03-24 17:32

People are so fixated on ilussions like money, that they think having a lot of them defines success. But thar day you are about to die, you won't think about money at all, and you will realize that success is something completely different, and has to do with relationships and just about nothing else.

2022-03-24 11:15

I'm supposing he was not motivated enough and knew that if he joined a team he wouldn't be able to play good cs. So expecting disappointments, he didn't try... Astralis broke the guy lol

2022-03-24 10:39

well said, you hit the nail on it's head on that one

2022-03-24 10:42

+1 Bubzkji has had the life sucked out of him in Astralis. If anything is perfectly clear here it's that Astralis mis-managed this player so incredibly poorly that bubzkji dreaded the thought of maintaining everything a pro has to do to compete - aka his whole lifestyle at that point. Instead of the org/players ever completely agreeing on 1 roster, they were plagued by indecision and Bubzkji suffered for it.

Its only good if the whole team is paycheck stealing, but if 4 players are working hard and one is only there for the money it sucks for the other 4

2022-03-24 10:46

nah, Astralis wanted to sell bubzkji for like 700K, and nobody wanted to pay that much for him after being benched for a year, the org didnt want to end his contract so the only solution for him was to do analyst job

2022-03-24 10:45

Didn’t they release him early? Well after all the roster changes so doesn’t really mean much ig

2022-03-24 15:05

The path to glory and honor isn't set by an objective supreme power like a god, it's a bunch of locker room talk in a forum with sexless gamers.

2022-03-24 11:08

Thats for the ones who already got the money :))

2022-03-24 16:53

Thousands of people looking for that one chance and this guy says no to every team. Stupid af!!

9 replies

How I read it, he doesn't have the required drive to do the required grind just now. So he doesn't want to just go to a team for the sake of being in a team and eventually becoming washed since he doesn't want to put the hours in. That would be pretty much the definition of paycheck stealer.

2022-03-24 10:55

But why would he dedicate his youth years to be a pro player if he doesn't have the passion of grinding in a new team ?

2022-03-24 12:01

He had all the passion. But Astralis took it away by letting him sit on a bench

2022-03-24 13:50

Rough , I wish Bubzki the best

2022-03-24 18:33

Cs is not a regular job where you just do whats needed and get paid. There needs to be a spark that drives you forward to compete (giving your all) instead of just doing your job.

2022-03-24 11:03

F0rest and friberg would like to have a word

2022-03-24 11:53

They are just sitting in a children’s swimming pool catching sun rays with their bellies.

2022-03-24 12:00

Bahahahaha

2022-03-24 12:05

Lmaooo

2022-03-24 19:21

idiot

I agree with you

he still can make it. look at RPK, you gotta beleive in yourself kid because there's no else but you that can make it happen o_O gl bubjki

He just has to regain back the motivation astralis fucked him up so hard

yes mens ))

2022-03-24 10:29

Very well said , RPK's story is inspiring !

2022-03-24 12:06

kek

Well at least he's got a job but shame

worst management ever

have you read the article

2022-03-24 10:34

Have you read my comment? I talked about the way whole scenario got handled, I wasn't blaming org.

True honestly, sad that such a talent get wasted because management couldn't realize they had a dying team

2022-03-24 16:19

Thorin was right????

2022-03-24 10:30

22 replies

what did he say ? Im not keeping up with him

has been calling ast a dog org for years

2022-03-24 10:35

why is that?

2022-03-24 10:40

Because Astralis as an org didn't want to tell the public that their Major winning roster were burned out as fuck and wanted a break, so they disguised it as "new meta" of having more than 5 players in their roster that they can just rotate their players depending on map or tournament. That's one instance

2022-03-24 11:57

2022-03-24 10:43

as usual lol. everyone hates both him and RL but in the end it usually turns out they were right all along

2022-03-24 11:00

Thorin is the opposite of right? he blamed the entire thing on the management but look what Bubzkji said. "The organization maybe wanted me to play and saw me as the future, as I was the youngest, and the team wanted to give the old five a go as they have won so much — and I totally respected that." The org wanted him to play but Zonic and the players prefered the old five, yet everyone pretends like it was the other way around including deluded Thorin

2022-03-24 17:10

flag. Also which part of that quote means the org definitely wanted him to play but big bad zonic was toxic

2022-03-24 17:12

12 replies

great argument lmfao, ppl are so obsessed with these dogshit narratives about astralis they refuse to even read the articles anymore and just talk directly from their ass holy fuck hahaha

11 replies

I'm sorry but the owner of the team decides who plays

2022-03-24 17:13

The part saying the org wanting him to play and the team didnt??? Also Zonic have literally stated that he was the one who picked who should be playing and who shouldnt, that doesn't mean he was toxic seeing how insanely bad bubzkji played in Astralis. Benching him was the right call. If you claim that the owner who never himself played CS at any pro level chose the players ahead of Zonic you are directly calling Zonic a liar.

2022-03-24 17:15

I'm so sorry but the owner of a team decides who plays. Not anyone else. If zonic made the decision he was given that authority by the owner

First of there is no single owner of Astralis as they are a public traded company, secondly the idea that some management dude who never played the game decides on in game related things are absolutely insane hahaha. The coach decides who should play and who shouldnt just like literally every other esport or regular sport.

2022-03-24 17:17

"just like literally every other esport or regular sport." Are you implying every general manager ever is a fraud? That's some pretty wild stuff my broski

Are you implying that general managers who know basically fuck all of the game decides on such massively influentially in game related stuff as to who gets to play and who doesn't? LMFAO not only is that directly against what bubzkji and Zonic said themselves, but would be insane if true

2022-03-24 17:23

So the coach decides who plays in every sport and esport in the world. If I fact-check that right now you're 100% sure that's how it is. I wont find a single example of that not being the case?

2022-03-24 17:24

If you fact check me? sure, i'll eagerly wait for your fact check. I can find about 1777555 interviews of football players being asked if they're unhappy with their amount of play time to which they respond something like: Sure, but the coach decides who to play and who doesn't.

care to link me one of those?

2022-03-24 17:29

theinterview.ng/2019/07/03/afcon-why-wer.. "The coach decides who to play each games, it is not a problem it is an advantage for the team and we must make the proper use of it."

2022-03-24 17:31

What the fuck are you talking about. The coach decides who plays. And in CSGO the IGL probably has a word in that process. But Glaive has said in interviews that it's zonics decision.

2022-03-25 08:24

problems: 1) he plays gla1ve positions but does not IGL, making him an inferior gla1ve 2) he said it him self that he did not learn many other things and expanded much (previous interviews) The way he speaks, he does not sell him self one bit. No one wants a player with that attitude. Sure, Astralis fucked up for not releasing him, but, it also could be him who would rather sit on the bench and expect to replace the legendary igl while not being an igl but playing 1:1 every one of his positions.

2022-03-24 17:19

bubzkji was unable to adapt. He can't expect to join a team like Astralis and have everyone giving you the prefered positions and cater to your needs. I mean look at a guy like Roej and Sjuush, they both played with bubzkji in Mad Lions and had to give up all the best positions to make him shine, but now where they are getting more space they both perform waaay better than they did in Mad Lions

2022-03-24 17:25

Why are people so mean to a player that got screwed? Kicking someone already laying down

2022-03-24 10:31

That is the essence of internet and gaming people unfortunately

Gamers seem to have really shitty attitudes towards everything, almost as if no-one in their lifes gives a shit about them because they are socially inept and can't help but fall into a spiral of hate... Call it a stereotype but you only need to browse HLTV or soloq on CS to realise just how damn accurate it is. There's active incel posts in HLTV pretty much day round. Like wtf. It's okay to be a dumb loser, some people just are that way, but at least accept it instead of becoming a toxic bitch ass crybaby.

2022-03-24 12:55

The problem is simple - every single person can express their little disgusting thoughts and ideas anonymously without facing any real consequences and what makes this problem even bigger is that such people can unite and do that together and create a big toxic smelly snowball of waste

2022-03-24 13:01

+1, well said

2022-03-24 15:35

I would love to frame the above two comments.

2022-03-24 20:41

are you new to HLTV forums?

2022-03-24 11:10

He didnt get screwed he signed a contract as a 6th player thinking he could replace one of the players of the best team in cs history, he knew the risks. Stop feeling sorry for this bot, its insane. Xyp9x was back from his break and they chose to still play with bubzjki longer, xyp was salty because all he did was play fpl. Bubzjki shat the bed and somehow we are suppose to feel bad for him while he still got paid on the bench, because he was so bad on astralis no tram wanted to buy him out. C9 bought es3tag because he did good on astralis.

2022-03-24 11:50

He played well in his late tenure and was a key component to them qualifying for the major but then being kicked just before the main event starts. It’s even sadder to see it being clearly the wrong decision as botstralis promptly bombed out of the major achieving nothing.

2022-03-24 11:51

Why do bots like yourself say people play well when this website that we post on called hltv has a stats page, show the player was bad. I will truly never understand how I see posts like this daily.

2022-03-24 11:56

i hope you didn't read the comments in kennyS article. It's just sad

2022-03-24 13:02

Lol he has himself to blame. Saying he didn’t want to stand up to the players or org. What a coward.

2022-03-24 10:32

Showing respect to both sides doesn't make him a coward

2022-03-24 10:49

Makes him more man if anything. Young kid, no proper coaching. Hope he learns from this.

2022-03-24 11:33

Some people just always seem to be left out. Natosaphix, smooya and now bubzkje

who cares about him overrated kid

Poor guy. Astralis destroyed him. Fuck that org

2022-03-24 10:44

About time you learn to read no ?

2022-03-24 13:33

XD Botzkji is overrated kid

2022-03-24 18:27

Best of luck to you bubz

2022-03-24 10:52

Astralis just keep hold of players so that other orgs can't have them. Feel so bad for Bub

2022-03-24 10:54

They really did break his spirit. He had a future as well.

2022-03-24 10:57

Lol nice wish thinking Heroic or CPH Flames will try to buy this guy.

2022-03-24 11:02

Buy????

2022-03-25 09:59

Astralis destroyed this man’s careers just to create space for a washed bot in the major

he’s trash anyway )

Astralis destroyed this guy's career, holy shit. Seems like he even lost the motivation to compete for the time being. It's really sad to see, as he was a promising prospect in the scene.

2022-03-24 11:18

Respect, stay strong dude. You showed more balls than most players at your age would. All you fucks calling him weak would've called him a snake if he chose for either org or team.

2022-03-24 11:34

so apparently the astralis players are worse than the org kinda expected tbh they all seemed like fake nice people

2022-03-24 11:37

Bubzjki is such a clown, I bet if he never read social media that fed his sorry story he would be on a new team by now. Internet and astralis broke him that he'd rather work a regular job now lol. Man the fuck up and stop talking about boohoo time in astralis and disappear or return to the game, how is anyone a fan of this dude because of his tweets? What is wrong with this world.

2022-03-24 11:45

He's not working a regular job, being paid to be involved in esports is not what you typically consider a regular job and he's said that he's had offers but that he didn't want to play at that time, he's not crying about not being on a team rn

2022-03-24 12:07

I am not saying that I am saying that social media made his mentality worse because people feel overly sorry for him for some odd reason, he reads that and thinks it will become true thst it broke him mentality that he doesnt want to play as a pro anymore. Its the same shit with get right ppl kept saying he was going to retire and get right never ever talked about retiring except when asked about being a chef which is unrealistic and ppl implemented it in his head to where it eventually became a reality, it slowly started with sad instagram stories of black n white photos etc like he was dead. Cringey af but it effected him mentally. Now this bot says he will prob never play pro again and will be talking about being a astralis bench player for the rest of his life instead, empty purpose. Like I said either stfu or play the game. All this guy does it bitch for sympathy i could name you 10 players who bounced back from shitty situations and MOVED ON.

2022-03-24 13:31

its not really his fault. astralis should've released him from his contract way earlier, but as it turns out keeping a player in this manner is detrimental to the image of the organization. as the article reads out it very much seems like astralis never gave him any chances and now that he's out he doesn't even want to play professional cs anymore. make of that what you will. i knew that lucky for example was gonna get fucked by astralis the moment he's not performing. lucky is the new bubzjki. this org is literal trash and they don't even respect their players enough to cut them loose.

2022-03-24 13:36

Wtf are u on, he's had plenty of chances... its so funny because when he was benched his said he was pretty happy on the sidelines, looked like he didnt even want to play any other teams because he was hoping to still start thats his problem. Lucky is not new bubzjki he stayed way too long on astralis, whats the deal with feeling bad for players who can't perform?

2022-03-24 18:14

0/8

This guy is such a fucking joke.

2022-03-24 12:08

LMAO bubzkji is a joke?

2022-03-24 12:40

bro you are a joke sitting hating on ppl you don't even know, this guy made like 100k from playing a few games for astralis i say hes a winner here

2022-03-24 14:41

well spoken dude, gl in Danish Television. What events are they doing? RMRs + Major?

2022-03-24 12:48

"I was stranded in a battle between the players and the organization. The organization maybe wanted me to play and saw me as the future, as I was the youngest, and the team wanted to give the old five a go as they have won so much — and I totally respected that." That's kinda fucked up, who runs the team? wtf is that management?

2022-03-24 13:05

Lol always knew that scamStralis and their players were little bitches,just look at bot xypx expecting 70k from a new org for his washed up bot stats

2022-03-24 13:12

Astralis kekw

2022-03-24 13:24

they broke my boy

2022-03-24 13:28

now i understand why danish faceit/mm players have this superiority

ME GLA1VE SMOrc ME KICK BUBZKJI SMOrc ME BOT SMOrc

2022-03-24 14:33

why would heroic or cph sign him LMAO

"I got some offers from teams that I could take but I didn't want to join a team just to be a paycheck stealer and just play for the sake of playing." Respect, what a chad

2022-03-24 15:46

when I saw him playing regularly he ddin't looked so good. average player. not a title contender team material. better as a joker/meme creator than a player.

2022-03-24 16:20

He won major, excuse me?

2022-03-24 16:40

Bubzkji won a major? When?

2022-03-24 20:34

Flashpoint 1 in 2020

2022-03-25 01:11

Lol it's cute that he believes the players wanted him on the team

i dont wanna get flamed by the comments, but imma just say, rip bubzkji

2022-03-25 08:38

Astralis don't believe in their players always changing roster if something went wrong.

2022-03-25 15:39

he was never even that good, he was lucky he got a chance but never took it

2022-03-26 01:17

Astralis Bad management they could have had a fire lineup if they didn't mess it up Dupreeh/k0nfig Magisk/blamef Es3tag Bubskji Device/farlig Yes I know device was out for nip before that but if he saw that astralis was still really good he might wanted to comeback, and if he wanted then astralis would have given him the chance. Same with Messi and Barca, he left for psg because of the money but if he asks Barca they will take him without a doubt and he will play with really low salary same as Alves who agreed to play for 1€/week on Barcelona.

2022-03-26 07:36