Astralis has expanded the team to six players

Team Astralis has officially announced the addition of a sixth player to their roster. He should be Patrick «es3tag» Hansen, who previously played for FunPlusPhoenix. Kasper Hvidt, the Danish sporting director, said he has been thinking about expanding the roster for a while now. He believes that this approach will result in greater efficiency for all players. Astralis coach Danny Sorensen also said the players' health was a priority in making that decision. Having a six-man roster will make their schedule less busy. In addition, he sees a certain tactical potential here.

Many experts have already shared their opinions on this decision of Astralis, and their assessments are mostly positive. For example, commentator Jason O’Toole thinks it's unlikely that such a practice will become widespread, but in any case it will have a good effect on the professional scene. At the same time, Evgeny Zolotarev, CEO of the cybersports organization NAVI, believes that adding a sixth player to the roster will not bring any improvements – previously the BIG team has already tried it, but it failed to improve its results.

It is expected that Patrick Hansen will formally move to Astralis after the expiration of his current contract, i.e. from July 1, 2020. It remains to be seen how China's FunPlusPhoenix will react to the transfer. It is possible that it will refuse to buy Heroic at all, which was discussed earlier. At the FLASHPOINT tournament currently underway, the FPP team was handed a technical forfeit, but no reasons are being reported.