Astralis' Kasper Straube: "device has a huge desire to become the IGL"

The Danish organization’s sports director has shed more light on the AWPer’s transition to an IGL role.

Astralis sports director Kasper Straube has played down concerns about Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz’s mental health and well-being following the AWPer’s tweet during the recent European RMRs in Bucharest. He also said that the player had long expressed an interest in becoming an in-game leader.

Straube appeared on Astralis’ Twitch channel on Thursday morning alongside Alexander "⁠br0⁠" Bro to share more details about the organization’s latest signing and the decision to hand the team’s reins to device, who is taking over as in-game leader following Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer’s benching.

device’s added responsibilities come amid a rough patch of form, as evidenced by his 1.01 rating during the team’s last three LAN appearances. In the middle of Astralis' campaign at the Europe RMR, he admitted that he wasn’t "having any fun playing whatsoever" after the defeat to HEROIC. "Really disappointed and sad," he added.

The captaincy will put great pressure on device to right the ship and help Astralis back to winning ways. The team crashed out of IEM Katowice in the Play-In stage and then suffered a devastating blow when it failed to qualify for PGL Major Copenhagen, the first-ever Major in Denmark.

Read more

Astralis sign br0 as device takes over as IGL

Questioned by the viewers on the stream if device’s tweet is cause for concern, Straube insisted that the player "is in no way burnt out — rather the opposite."

"I see a player who is super, super, super motivated," he said. "Being the IGL is a huge decision, and it’s not something that Nicolai decided overnight. It’s something that he had been considering and something I had discussed with him ever since I got to know him because he saw it as a natural progression in his career.

"I think what we should take from his tweet is that he wasn't satisfied with the way we played, which I believe was the same for all the fans watching and all of us in the office because we weren't happy or satisfied either. That's what should be taken from it.

"I've seen Nicolai now, and there is a huge spirit in him and a desire to succeed in Astralis. That's why he returned. There's nothing that forced Nicolai back. As he also stated in the announcement, he's doing what he loves most, and he will continue to do so as long as he can. You can't get any greater commitment from a player who could choose anything over being at Astralis."

Straube explained that, when analyzing the team’s set-up, the Astralis management concluded that a "different direction" was needed. "In that process, it became clear to me, through Nicolai [device], that he has a huge desire to become the IGL," Straube noted.

Astralis hope that br0’s arrival will solve some of the role clashes that have plagued the team since the signings of Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund and Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard, two players that Straube knows very well from their time together at Heroic. "We wanted to put jabbi and stavn in the roles where we believe them to be the best, and where they have shown to be the best," Straube said.

With the Major out of the window, Astralis now turn their attention to IEM Chengdu, Casper "⁠ruggah⁠" Due’s first event coaching the team. The Danish giants are currently ranked 17th in the world, and they are expected to continue to tumble down the rankings — certainly not the picture fans had in their mind when the organization splashed out approximately $2 million to sign the Heroic duo.

"I believe that a lot of energy comes from moving people into the roles they're best at, and I think we gain a lot from drawing a line in the sand," Straube added.

"The defeat in Romania is something that leaves a mark. If you leave it be, it leaves some deep and ugly marks, but if you address it, work with it and use it as motivation, it can become a huge strength."