Legendary Danish organization Astralis has gone international, announcing the signing of former Wildcard and Ninjas In Pyjamas AWPer Love “phzy” Smidebrant and Monte’s anchor Gytis “ryu” Glušauskas.
The roster move marks the second time phzy will replace Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz on a roster, after the Swedish youngster was fast-tracked into tier one play with NIP at IEM Winter 2021 to replace a suddenly sidelined dev1ce—who himself recently moved to the new 100 Thieves project sponsored by esports betting site Roobet.
Phzy, who represented 9INE and Wildcard across multiple stints in 2025, has had a solid rise through Counter-Strike‘s tier two ever since he was unceremoniously cut from the NIP roster. The move to Astralis gives the sniper his best shot at earning a consistent place in tier one. And unlike 2021, he has amassed enough experience to replace the Danish legend, with some analysts even predicting the Swede to be comfortably better than dev1ce across 2026.
“First, I want to say thank you to Astralis for the opportunity to play for a legendary organization like this. I have been welcomed with open arms, and I am eager to show the fans and everyone else what we as a team can deliver.” — phzy
End of a Danish era for Astralis
The move marks an end to Astralis’ all-Danish era, where the organization was the de facto national team for Denmark across esports like CS2, League of Legends, and FIFA. That decision to stay Danish, however, has sometimes limited Astralis’ player pool, especially when stars like Martin “stavn” Lund struggled to deliver their best on the roster. Now communicating in English, the team will have a wider pool of players to pick from if a need for a change arises.
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This announcement comes on the heels of Astralis’ recent acquisition by Jonas Gundersen’s Fusion Esports Group after a months-long search for a new buyer.
“Since the acquisition of Astralis in the autumn, we have focused on two main areas: streamlining and cleaning up the business, and building the team with a long-term perspective, while still delivering results in the short term.” — Jonas Gundersen
How the Danish community will receive the news remains to be seen, but often nationalistic pride can be overruled by the sheer desire to win, as has happened in the North American scene with teams like Complexity/Passion UA and Liquid.
“These are our first international signings, and they are players we believe fit very well into what we are building.” — Jonas Gundersen
Ryu replaces Magisk as Astralis anchor
Looking at the five-man roster itself, phzy replaced dev1ce in Astralis’ AWP role, with ryu taking up anchor duties from Emil “Magisk” Reif. Magisk, who himself is a legend of the game, was clearly a stopgap arrangement, helping Astralis out during a period where the team was reluctant to make big signings.
However, his individual play was certainly below the level expected of a tier one anchor. ryu, who has averaged a 1.16 rating across the last three months on Monte, should serve as a solid firepower upgrade over Magisk, but will need some time to find his footing at the top level. Astralis’ IGL, Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen, has worked with a number of rookies across his career, and will be tasked with bringing the Lithuanian up to speed in his system.
“I’m incredibly excited to get started and to adapt to the new surroundings. Everyone knows Astralis and the organization’s history, and I will work hard to help the team achieve results. It will be very special to play for Astralis for the first time, but right now the main focus is on getting ready as a team.” — ryu
The new-look Astralis will debut at BLAST Bounty season one, with the team currently ranked No. 10 globally. That should make them one of the first teams picked in the Bounty format, giving us an early taste of the international roster’s play. With Budapest finally marking the end of their Major drought, Astralis will hope the new roster can keep them consistently amongst the top 10 across 2026.
