Astralis’s Prospect For The Rest Of The Year, cadiaN Talks

Team Astralis have had a tough year thus far. After being embroiled in a controversy regarding their new IGL, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller, at BLAST Premier Fall Final, the team has struggled to win a single best-of-three match. On top of them, winning a best-of-three in their first game at BLAST Premier World Final looks just as unlikely as they have, unfortunately, been pitted against Natus Vincere, the #1 team in the world, for their opening match. The IGL, however, seems to have faced the grim realization head-on, expressing hope that the team would shine in 2025 in an HLTV interview ahead of day 1.

When asked about how his joining of the team hasn’t led to much success thus far, as is typically the case with teams getting a new IGL, cadiaN said

I think that the fact that the roster change happened in the middle of the season means that you don't have the same time to adjust to each other and get a decent understanding of your map pool and kind of set up the strat book a bit. You're thrown into everything with one week of practice and with Astralis struggling a little bit prior to me joining, we had some pretty tough draws. It is against the teams we want to compete against and face off with and we want to compete with, so in that sense everything is fine, but of course the circumstances surrounding everything have been a bit tough.

I'm not sure, of course you always hope for a good start, but you can feel that everyone is on the same page and we're learning day by day. The main goal was also not to be the best from one week or two weeks in, it was to have longevity, and I think we're aiming towards that. I'm not sure if I agree that the team doesn't seem to be gelling. I think that, of course, we've had losses, but to good teams. I don't think we lost to any teams that are bad.

When asked about how hard has the IGL role been for him, given that he’s averaging a 0.77 rating, cadiaN said

Yes and no. I think there are some positions that have been difficult. Sometimes it has also been on the T side, kind of getting used to... I mean, I've been in the map control [pack], but I'm in a different position in the map control [pack] now, running in first and understanding the timings of some of those situations.

I think that if you look at my POV of all of the games, my aim and the way I play is more than up to the level of a rifling in-game leader. We had some tough draws and we have way more losses than wins, and that's always going to show in the statistics. The teams that have the best statistics are the teams that are winning, so of course that's going to change when the wins start to come our way.

When asked about the pressure for his organization given that Astralis has missed the last three majors, cadiaN said:

Of course, it's something we've been debating, and we know the importance. Financially, for the organization, but also for the players individually. However, I think that as a professional player and at the level we're at and that we've all played at, pressure is something you're facing at every tournament. I've played many RMRs with stavn, I know what it takes to qualify, I know how other teams behave and handle the pressure, and how we set ourselves up the best way possible. So it's not something I'm worried about.

It's going to be tough, there's no denying that, but then again, looking at the amount of teams qualifying through Europe, if you can't qualify then it's too bad. What are you even going to do at the actual tournament? I have high hopes for how our preparation will go here. We'll play here in Singapore, we'll learn, and then we'll have a small bootcamp, so the RMR is something I'm very confident going into.

When asked about the team’s first matchup against Natus Vincere, cadiaN said

Nobody is expecting us to do much against them. They've shown to be the best team of 2024. A lot of noise, a lot of circumstances regarding their Major win, with everyone calling them a fluke, but they've proven that their system works. The entire debate about not having a star player is exactly the same debate we had when we played in HEROIC and were the world's number one. 

People were saying the same thing, but you can see how much impact each of them is able to have in their position. So, of course, it's going to be a tough matchup, but I'm expecting us to do our best, and I think it's also possible to beat them, but of course they're big favorites and they should be.