casle: "I still have a lot of love for Astralis, but to take ECSTATIC this far is a huge win personally"

The Danish coach, benched by Astralis "right before the RMR," was proud of his ECSTATIC team for making it as far as they did.

ECSTATIC's journey at PGL Major Copenhagen ended in defeat against G2, but the Danes — the only full five-man lineup to appear at their home Major — outperformed expectations with a 12-15th placed finish.

Former Astralis coach Peter "⁠casle⁠" Ardenskjold started assisting the team for the RMR, before joining ECSTATIC as a temporary coach after his ESIC ban was cleared just before the Major.

He joined HLTV for a reflective interview after the squad's elimination, and was full of praise for his young side. "They are very good, working as a team but also individual players, so the future is bright for all of them."

Read on for more from casle, including his thoughts on Rasmus "⁠HooXi⁠" Nielsen's specific brand of trash-talk.

---

Unfortunately, elimination, but what a good run you had.

Yeah, it was a good one I would say. Pretty happy.

Do you have any regrets about the manner of the loss, with the glock round?

Yeah, of course. It's sad to lose a round like this but I don't think it's why we lost. We didn't play our best today, but still got a three-maper. Sometimes you will lose some bad rounds, we were close to winning a round similar to theirs, so yeah, it's just how it is.

How proud are you of the boys? I think it was 8-1 down on Vertigo and you still came back against a team like G2.

I'm proud, also because they're pretty new to this level. They listen a lot to what I've told them, we're building along the way, and they only needed to be reminded of the game plan and where G2 were weak. Then we made the comeback, and I'm pretty proud of them for taking a lot of initiative and doing a lot of good things mid-round.

What's it been like coming into the team before the RMR? Kraghen told me about some struggles with nades at times, do you think you've had a real positive impact?

I think so. We had a good two or three weeks after the RMR to fix some of the mistakes, and when it comes to playing the better teams normally they are a lot better at anti-stratting and finding tells, and things like that. We tried to fix all the mistakes we could with the time that we had, and I think we did pretty well. They did play super well as a team.

In the huddle after the game, I noticed you didn't let them all sit in their chairs and wallow in self-pity. What did you say to them?

In the end it was Nodios who actually said to do the huddle. It was a good run, and with a bit of luck it could have been more.

Was it a bit sweet to put G2 in their place a bit? HooXi loves a shout or two, mentioned you by name a few times, but to test them this much? He said after the game, 'fucking stressful,' so does that feel good?

I take it as a compliment that he was shouting at a coach. I would take that as a compliment. I will not say anything about the veto, and stuff like that. I could do that if I want but I'm not going to do that. At the end of the day, I think it was just banter, because I actually think we did some pretty good anti on them. That's why we could play all of those good rounds. If you look at the match, we were behind them with lurks a lot of the time, on Vertigo especially. We also did an A stack and won a force buy, stuff like that. The anti-strat was pretty good.

Read more

HooXi on struggling to close games: "Something with the Major is getting into our heads"

Being the sole full five-man Danish team, so young, five rookies, what will that mean for their futures?

Their futures will be really bright. I'm coming from Astralis, players with a lot of experience, and I can already say that there is a bright future for these players. They are very good, working as a team but also individual players, so the future is bright for all of them.

And is it a little bit sweet for you to make it, and your former team not to?

Yeah, I still have a lot of love for Astralis, so I'm not like that but of course I'm happy to be here. Getting benched right before the RMR was pretty hard for me actually, so to take another team to the Major and this far, that's of course a huge win for me personally.

Can you say anything on your future? It seemed like a short-term deal originally. What now?

I'm still in talks with some organizations, let's see what happens after the Major. It was a short-term deal with Ecstatic, but you never know. They have some sticker money now. I actually like working with them a lot, so maybe I'll stay, maybe I'll join another team. Time will tell. After the Major, there's a possibility to make a new move there, maybe.