CS:GO: Astralis Reportedly Adding es3tag as Sixth Member
| Tags: CS2
| Author Caroline Rutledge
Es3tag may be moving to the stars.
Premier Danish CS:GO team Astralis is looking to add FunPlus Phoenix player Patrick “es3tag” Hansen as the sixth member of their roster, according to a report from 1pv. Es3tag only signed with FunPlus Phoenix last week, moving to the organization with the full former Heroic lineup. This move could cause the deal between Heroic and FunPlus Phoenix to fall through.
Time on Heroic
Patrick “es3tag” Hansen first joined Heroic in 2017, soon after reaching the semi-finals of DreamHack Open Valencia and placing second at DreamHack Open Atlanta. Later in 2018, Heroic won Games Clash Masters and TOYOTA Master CS:GO Bangkok. Es3tag remained with the team through multiple roster changes, and in 2019 the team placed 7-8th at both the ESL Pro League Season 9 Finals and ESL One Cologne. Heroic closed out the year with a win at DreamHack Open Atlanta and a semi-final appearance at EPICENTER 2019.
With the start of the first-ever Flashpoint season, the Heroic roster was bought out by Chinese esports organization FunPlus Phoenix. The team has played one game under the FPX banner, suffering a 1-2 loss to Cloud9.
Es3tag now looks to transfer to Astralis as part of a new six-man roster. The current Astralis lineup came together at the start of 2018, and quickly became known as the best CS:GO team to ever exist. They won the first Intel Grand Slam season, along with each of the three CS:GO Majors since Emil “Magisk” Reif’s addition. They currently sit as the second-best team in the World Rankings after a poor showing in the BLAST Premier Spring Series and a semi-final exit from IEM Katowice.
FunPlus Phoenix Deal in Question
This move could put the Heroic roster’s transfer to FunPlus Phoenix in jeopardy as the Chinese organization is reportedly prepared to walk away from the deal. This also puts FPX’s founding Flashpoint spot in question, though it was revealed that they were not required to pay the $2 million buy-in to join the league for the first year. Though many already believed this team transfer to already be done, their current roster may go back to Heroic should it ultimately fall through.
None of these moves have been confirmed. FunPlus Phoenix is next expected to compete in Flashpoint Season 1 on March 22nd, taking on Orgless in a best-of-three. Astralis will next play Team Spirit in ESL Pro League Season 11 on that same day.
Caroline is an esports journalist focusing on CS:GO. Starting out as a casual CS:GO fan, her interest quickly turned into a passion as she spent years studying the game. She has put that knowledge to use as a journalist, now writing about professional CS:GO for multiple websites including TheGamer.