Astralis Bench HooXi and jabbi Days After Barcelona Win

Winning a trophy is usually a pretty good way to keep your job. Not at Astralis, apparently.

The Danish Counter-Strike 2 organisation has moved in-game leader Rasmus "HooXi" Nielsen and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard to the bench, effective immediately. The benching comes only days after the same lineup brought home the club's first LAN title since December 2019. Sport.ua reported the move first and added that both players are near the end of their contracts.

So the exits are settled. What isn't settled is who comes in. Two names keep coming up in reports: Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek, the former Liquid captain, and Ukrainian rifler Nikita "cmtry" Samolotov. Neither signing has been officially confirmed.

A title, then a shake-up

The timing is what makes this one sting. Astralis won Stake Ranked Episode 4 in Barcelona, ending a LAN trophy drought of almost seven years. For an organisation that once defined an entire era of Counter-Strike, that was a meaningful win, and HooXi was the one calling the shots.

It also wasn't a one-off. Under HooXi, Astralis reached the grand final at PGL Astana 2025, FISSURE Playground 1 and PGL Bucharest 2026. Four finals and one trophy isn't a dynasty, but it's a far cry from a team in freefall.

HooXi's path to the role was a gradual one. He first played for Astralis as a stand-in before joining permanently in June 2025, taking the spot of Casper "cadiaN" Møller. jabbi has been around longer. He came over from HEROIC in November 2023, arriving together with Martin "stavn" Lund.

None of that history seems to have mattered much in the end. According to Sport.ua, Astralis had been hunting for replacements for both players two days before the benching was made public. In other words, the decision likely wasn't a snap reaction - the search was already underway while the Barcelona trophy was still fresh.

The leader market is busy

The reported interest in siuhy fits a wider pattern. His availability after Liquid released him has been a recurring thread in recent CS2 roster talk, and experienced in-game leaders have kept moving between teams as organisations reshuffle.

That matters because a team can survive losing a rifler. Losing the voice that runs the mid-round calls is a different problem. If Astralis want to replace HooXi with someone who already has top-level captaining experience, the list of available options is short, and siuhy's name being on it makes the reported link easy to understand.

cmtry is a more interesting case. Sport.ua reported that he could switch from the AWP to a rifling role if he joins. That's not a small adjustment. Moving a player off the sniper rifle changes how he fits into the team's structure and what's asked of him from round to round. Again, though, the organisation hasn't confirmed either potential addition.

Who's left

Right now, the active lineup is just three players: Love "phzy" Smidebrant, Victor "Staehr" Staehr and Gytis "ryu" Glušauskas. Filip "NEO" Kubski remains as coach. HooXi and jabbi are listed on the bench.

There's a detail here worth noting for anyone who remembers the old Astralis. Of the three active players, Staehr is the only Dane. phzy is from Sweden, and ryu is from Lithuania. A lineup that once leaned heavily on Danish talent now looks thoroughly international, and the two reported targets, one Polish and one Ukrainian, would only push it further in that direction.

The clock is also ticking. Astralis' next listed event is Stake Pulse Beat III, which starts on October 12, 2026. That leaves very little time to finalise signings, let alone build any real chemistry before the next match.

Our Take

On the surface, benching the captain who just ended a near seven-year LAN title drought looks strange. But the details in the reports suggest Astralis had looked at the bigger picture, and decided a single win in Barcelona didn't change it. Four grand finals with one trophy can be read two ways: proof the project was working, or proof it kept falling short when it counted. Astralis appear to have chosen the second reading.

For fans, the obvious risk is timing. With only three active players and Stake Pulse Beat III starting on October 12, it's worth watching whether Astralis can put a full, settled roster together before that event, or whether they end up relying on short-term solutions. A new in-game leader and a player possibly changing roles at the same time is a lot of change to absorb quickly.

The broader trend is that CS2's leader market keeps spinning. Captains are being treated as tradeable pieces rather than long-term cornerstones, and siuhy's situation is a good example of how quickly one team's release becomes another team's target. If Astralis do land him, it would show how fast that cycle now moves.

The other thing to keep an eye on is identity. Astralis built their name on a Danish core, and the current lineup barely resembles that. That isn't necessarily a weakness - results tend to matter more than passports - but it does mean this is a club still working out what its next era looks like. Until the signings are confirmed, that question stays open.