Four-time Major winner Andreas “Xyp9x” Højsleth is currently assessing his options, he said in an interview with Dexerto today. The Danish CS:GO rifler’s contract with Astralis will run out at the end of 2020, alongside his longtime teammates Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Emil “Magisk” Reif.
Xyp9x has been an integral part of Astralis since the organization was created in 2016 and has had talks to renew his contract, but no deal has been made. “I love Astralis, but I think now is a great opportunity to look around, see my options, and see what the future brings,” Xyp9x said.
“There have been some talks with Astralis but nothing is set in stone,” the Danish pro said. “Everything is up in the air. I just know that I want to continue playing at the highest level. I can easily see myself using my skills and experience to build up a new successful unit or maybe help an established team take the next steps to the top.”
Xyp9x also claimed he had talks with other teams as well, but preferred to not comment if FaZe is one of them, despite the rumors. The rifler simply said he’s looking for a team that is professional and has the experience to take the last steps to be among the best teams in the world.
There’s a big question mark regarding the future of Astralis as Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander is the only one from the core that dominated the scene in recent years and renewed his contract with the organization. Astralis might lose Xyp9x, dupreeh, Magisk, and also zonic, who’s considering leaving the team as well.
Earlier this year, Astralis lost arguably its best player Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz to Ninjas in Pyjamas in April. After saying goodbye to the star AWPer, the team surprised just about everyone with a semifinals run at IEM Cologne in July, the last premier tournament before the summer player break. To Xyp9x, it’ll be impossible to establish another era without dev1ce.
“I thought we still could manage to win tournaments,” the Clutch Minister said. “After that, as things progressed, I just didn’t see the same era [happening] again. I’m not saying that we can’t win tournaments with this lineup, but it’s certainly tougher and contracts are running out, so we have a short window to get everything fixed. I think that when dev1ce left, that was when the era died, so to speak.”
The interview was published just hours ahead of Astralis’ debut at ESL Pro League season 14 against Team Spirit. Xyp9x has been listed as a substitute for Astralis at the $750,000 tournament and the team’s newest addition Philip “Lucky” Ewald is shown on the starting lineup. The young Danish AWPer was signed during the summer player break, and Astralis expects him to be an active part of the roster from day one, but it’s unknown if Xyp9x will actually sit out of the competition.
Update Aug. 16 11:10am CT: Astralis has confirmed Lucky, gla1ve, dupreeh, Magisk, and Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen will play against Team Spirit today.
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