Xyp9x interview: Evolving at MOUZ, working with sycrone, and showing "it's okay to be nervous"

The Dane spoke at length to HLTV about his career since joining MOUZ at the BLAST.tv Austin Major.

A core member of the legendary Astralis roster with four Major trophies to his name and once hailed as 'The Clutch Minister' for his late round excellence, Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth now spends his days as the assistant coach of MOUZ.

It is a role he pivoted to in March 2024, after a lengthy playing career, and he now works alongside Dennis "⁠sycrone⁠" Nielsen to bring his extensive experience to a team that, for a time, lacked much of its own.

At the BLAST.tv Austin Major, the Dane spoke to HLTV in a long-form interview about that transition, what he brings to the role, how individually-focused Counter-Strike has become, avoiding burnout, assisting Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin's transition to in-game leading, and more.

A key topic early on in the interview was around what Xyp9x does for MOUZ and how he has applied his experience to help players develop and mould their game without overloading them.

"There are two things to it," he began. "There is recognizing player behavior, and recognizing when they feel a certain way. A lot of the players don't really come forward with their feelings or they try and tuck it away, so realizing that at first, then seeing like, 'Okay this guy is actually feeling nervous. Can I go talk to him? What is the approach?'

"But what I tend to do is to bring a more easy atmosphere, like showing him that he can be nervous. It's okay to be nervous. I also got nervous when I was playing. It's not something that you can just fix overnight. It's something continuously that you as a person, as an individual, have to take control over. I cannot sit there and say, 'Hey, in my days I did this, I did this.' It's not going to work on them because we're not all equal.

"But I can try and say to them, 'Okay, I see you right now, you're maybe not at your best. Maybe you're a little bit nervous.' If he says no, he's probably not open for feedback (smiles). Maybe I was right, but there's nothing more I can do then. [They have to be receptive]. In general, there is not a recipe for saying, 'Hey, I did this. Maybe you should try that,' it's [more holistic]."

Asked about his future in MOUZ and whether he felt he had reached his full potential as an assistant coach, as he had hoped to six months after joining the team, Xyp9x said there was still lots to learn.

"I still think there is growing for me to do inside of MOUZ," he said. "I do think for me that I started to get more under the skin of the processes and also get my stuff inside of the team."

He added that this included practicing and preparation, and how he wanted to avoid "overcooking" like some teams, who he left unnamed, do when preparing their players for games.

Later in the interview, Xyp9x also gave his thoughts on Astralis' trajectory in recent years, criticism levied at Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen on Falcons. and his initial doubts about Brollan taking over as captain, among several other topics.

You can watch the full interview here.