Astralis benches CadiaN and replaces him with HooXi

The Danish Astralis is making a handful of changes as it looks ahead to the coming events in the Counter-Strike 2 competitive season. The organisation has decided to bench one of its veteran stars and instead to replace him with a talent from a rival organisation, all while also making management and staff changes.

On the player front, it's Casper "cadiaN" Møller who has been benched with the intention to replace him with ex-G2 Esports player Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen. Astralis notes that HooXi will also take over CadiaN's in-game leader duties while serving as a stand-in for the PGL Astana 2025 event planned for two weeks' time.

As for why this change has been made, Astralis CEO Jakob Hansen stated: "Casper "cadiaN" Møller has been benched, and we thank him for his time and efforts at Astralis. Casper has proven himself to be a true professional, however, in the end, neither he nor the team managed to reach the level of play we had all hoped for. We wish Casper all the best going forward."

As per the management changes, sporting director Kasper Straube has also been let go, with Hansen also commenting on this by adding: "He has been dedicated, professional, and loyal to Astralis throughout his time here. I want to thank Kasper for his hard work with the team and the organization, and I wish him the very best for the future."

It's clear that Astralis has grand ambitions to return to the CS2 mountaintop as Hansen also stated that both changes are happening "as a consequence of our lackluster results, culminating in the missed Major qualification".