After missing the last five Majors, Astralis have bombed out of the StarLadder Budapest Major.

It’s a sorry result for the organization that still holds the most Major titles, with four in their trophy cabinet, but it’s the latest in a string of results that display the incredible gulf that now exists between Astralis and the actual elite teams of the world. 

They exited the competition with a 2-3 record, losing to Team Liquid in the 2-2 bracket after clawing their way back from an 0-2 start. That makes it sound like there might be some positives, but really, there aren’t.

What Went Wrong in Budapest

Of the five maps lost at the Budapest Major, three of them came on Nuke. This wouldn’t be as much of an issue if teams had picked it against them, but it’s the map the Danish team chooses to play first more often than not. They never even looked like winning any of those games, either, and the drubbing at the hands of a disjointed Liquid side and the loss to a poor Aurora team are particular concerns.

Another concern is the form of their legendary AWPer, Nicola “device” Reedtz. Once one of the most feared players in all of Counter-Strike, the veteran Dane has endured a tough year, but his 0.93 rating during the Major is inexcusably bad for a player who is meant to be one of his team’s stars.

Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard also struggled, the former HEROIC man recorded a 0.96 rating whilst also operating within favourable roles. When Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen consistently has higher output than you, you know there’s a concern. 

Hope for Denmark is bleak

Danish CS has suffered an unfortunate decline in the past few years. The implosion of the HEROIC roster left the nation without a contender team, and the subsequent dealings from Astralis trying to capitalise on the gap left by HEROIC have entirely failed.

jabbi and Martin “stavn” Lund failed to recapture their HEROIC form, whilst Casper “cadiaN” Moller’s time with the team saw him give up what made him special – the AWP- because there was no reason to do it with device on the team. 

But what if placing trust in any of these players was Astralis’ first failure? What if they were blinded by the lights of the stars of that HEROIC team, and didn’t look past them at the real contributors to their success?

The final two players on that team, Rasmus “sjuush” Beck and Rene “TeSeS” Madsen, were always the better fit for what Astralis needed. Established role players that provide stability in both the early and late rounds, sjuush would have given Astralis security, whilst TeSeS could have formed a dangerous combination with then-IGL Benjamin “blameF” Bremer.

Instead, Astralis signed stavn, a player with a direct role clash with blameF, and jabbi, a player who would also have to adapt too much in order to fit in what was essentially a broken puzzle. And, to make matters worse, the other rifler was Victor “Staehr” Staehr, another rifler of the same mould. It wasn’t ever going to be a recipe for success. 

The domino effect of signing the wrong players has left Denmark without any hope for success. Pushed off the IGL role and out of favour thanks to the arrival of stavn, blameF was benched and eventually shipped off to fnatic. TeSeS, after impressing with HEROIC, moved on to Falcons. sjuush is now a key figure for NIP. All three of them are players who could have a huge impact for Astralis now, were they still around. 

💔

We hoped and strived for more, but ultimately being back at the Major was a huge step.

We'll do our best to be back next time and take even bigger steps.

Thank you @starladdercs for having us. pic.twitter.com/5d3Gq4ZTAp

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) December 2, 2025

The best case scenario

That said, all hope isn’t entirely lost. Astralis does have two things going for them in Staehr and HooXi. One is one of the better young stars in the nation, whilst the other is a top-class IGL. Those are decent building blocks. 

The problem, though, is how you turn that into a team. 

One of the problems in Denmark is that their two greatest national team IGLs, cadiaN and Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, both operated as the stars of their teams. A byproduct of that was the creation of a nation of roleplayers, meaning that even in the more supportive elements – roles that are typically harder to fill – it’s hard not to create clashes. 

But let’s try anyway.

For the purpose of VRS rankings, Astralis must hold onto a three-man core. This may be controversial, but we think the best third player to do so is Emil “Magisk” Reif, the man who was signed to temporarily replace Stavn. Magisk has shown there’s plenty left in the tank, and his versatility could be the key to unlocking certain other players.

You then need to address the device problem, but the lack of Danish AWPers outside of Astralis seemingly makes that impossible. That is, unless there is another AWPer already inside of Astralis. By that we mean stavn, who would be a gamble, sure, but he has shown capabilities with the big green whilst acting as a secondary AWPer.

That brings us to a fifth player. As a naturally passive player on the T side, sjuush would be the optimal choice. However, as a key figure for NIP, signing him is incredibly unlikely. But with Team Falcons almost certain to look for yet another big-name star for their roster, is signing TeSeS that far out of the question? 

TeSeS, through necessity, has become a much more versatile player during his time with the Saudi organization. First utilised as a rifle star alongside Nikolai “NiKo” Kovac, he now finds himself in a way more passive role than he is used to following the arrival of Maxim “kyousuke” Lukin, and his performances haven’t dipped at all. A player that is no longer required to be the bait in a pack purely existing to be traded, he could become a dangerous late-round threat for Astralis.

Of course, even with this roster, expectations would need to be tempered. One thing needs to be clear: this will not be a championship-contending roster. In fact, it might not even be in playoff contention. However, given Astralis’ repeated failures over the past few years, drastic changes are needed.

It’s either this, or it’s waving Denmark goodbye and going the route of NIP and Fnatic. 

We know what the Danish fans – and the Astralis shareholders – would prefer.