Xyp9x joins MOUZ as assistant coach

The 'Clutch Minister' is putting his playing days behind him and transitioning to a coaching role.

Former Astralis player Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth has been named the assistant coach of MOUZ, the German organization has announced. The four-time Major winner has been working with the team for a few days already, and will assist head coach Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen at PGL Major Copenhagen.

The 28-year-old takes up coaching after spending nearly a year on Astralis' bench following his removal from the team in April 2023, when Alexander "⁠Altekz⁠" Givskov was promoted from the academy. He still played for Astralis Talent as a stand-in for two months, making his final appearance on June 9 in a CCT North Europe Series 5 defeat to Sprout.

Xyp9x began thinking about starting a new chapter in his career at the end of 2023. As word spread that he was thinking about transitioning to a coaching role, multiple teams reached out to him. Some of them even offered him a head coach position.

"I had some top, top tier options," he told HLTV. "I chose MOUZ because of the setup. I think there is a lot of room for development, for me and the team. I think I can make a bigger impact here."

Xyp9x didn't jump straight into a head coach role as he first wants to get accustomed to this new side of the game. He will have the chance to learn from sycrone, the third-best coach of 2023, though he already has a very strong foundation after soaking up knowledge from Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen for almost six years during their time together on Astralis.

"Our first talk lasted three hours, and I instantly knew that this was the guy I wanted to work with," Xyp9x said of sycrone. "I think he is up there among the best in the world."

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As one of the most decorated players in Counter-Strike history, Xyp9x brings something that MOUZ's squad sorely needs: stage experience. At IEM Katowice last month, the team looked poised to reach the final after topping their group, only to fall flat when they reached the arena and had to take on FaZe in the semi-finals.

For now, Xyp9x will assist sycrone with "structure and analytics." The rest will be figured out as they go along and see how the partnership evolves.

His transition to coaching will certainly come as a surprise to many. After all, he was always the quiet one on his teams, the unassuming player who cleaned up rounds with nerves of steel. Leading a team was not something in which he ever publicly expressed an interest.

But according to him, becoming a coach has always been part of his post-playing career plans. That's also part of the reason behind his short spell with Astralis Talent: he wanted to see how he would fare teaching young players about the game and what it means to be a pro.

"It was in my mind," Xyp9x said of a coaching job. "Maybe I never said it, but I think it's a strong suit for me. What I have experienced in my life and in my career is really beneficial for so many teams."

Xyp9x is the first player of the iconic Astralis lineup to hang up his mouse and keyboard. Throughout his 11-year CS:GO career, he won almost everything there was to win (Cologne was a notable exception), including four Major titles and an Intel Grand Slam.

Xyp9x insisted that he is "pretty happy" with his career, but there was definitely a tinge of sadness when he discussed how things went down during the tail end of his playing days. He is reluctant to use the term "retirement" — not because he will return at some point, but because he didn't get to retire on his terms.

There was no farewell tour, no roar from a sentimental crowd on his way out. After gracing the stage in sold-out arenas around the world for so many years, he played his last LAN match at Gamebox Invitational 2023, a small Danish tournament in Herning.

"You obviously want to make the decision yourself, and I felt this was maybe out of my hands a little bit," he said. "It's a sad ending to a career, but I think the achievements speak for themselves. And for me, it's been a learning experience, and something I can use in my coaching career. I actually think I learned more during this period than in the good times."

Looking back, Xyp9x wishes he had been move vocal about how he thought the team should play. He was pushed more and more to the periphery as the Major-winning Astralis lineup disintegrated and slowly turned into a convoluted mess. His role, one he had excelled at for so many years, was "flushed down the toilet," and he became the target of the critics' ire as his numbers tanked.

While on Astralis' bench, he had some playing offers, but none of them piqued his interest.

"I made up my mind [about coaching] in November or December," he said. "At the time, it was a hard pill to swallow. But once I started talks about coaching, once I started to get a different view on CS and team dynamics, I instantly got something else to think about.

"It is with a heavy heart that I close this chapter. But I don't really see it as retirement. I see it as a natural step in my new direction."

Xyp9x sees some similarities between the old Astralis team, before it began to dominate the scene, and the MOUZ squad. "They have many things going for them," he explained. "The way they are as people towards each other is just amazing. My first impression is that the team will go very far."

MOUZ will begin their Major campaign only on March 21 as they will skip the Opening Stage. This will give Xyp9x more time to observe the team and develop a bond with the players before his first event on the job. Still, he doesn't expect his imprint to be visible this fast. "You won't see my full potential before half a year or something," he noted.

Xyp9x hasn't set a timetable for a transition to a head coach role. He's too focused on the here and now, on making the most of the opportunity he has been given and developing his coaching credentials. His ultimate goal, however, is to "become the best coach" in the game.

"Taking a coaching job is a whole new level of thinking, right?" he said. "Having won four Majors as a player, you kind of defeated the final boss four times, right?

"This is about the players now. It's not about me. It's about optimising player performance. It's a whole new challenge, and it really motivates me. Every day I wake up now, I really enjoy going to work. So it really excites me."