In the words of Phillip “Lucky” Ewald – “When Astralis comes knocking, everything changes”.
Danish organization Astralis have signed one of the most promising talents in the region in Philip "Lucky" Ewald. The former Tricked AWPer joins the squad as their 6th man. Lucky is expected to be part of the active roster, and set to debut at the upcoming ESL Pro League Season 14.
This marks a return to an expanded roster for Astralis, who previously had signed Jakob "JUGi" Hansen, Patrick "es3tag" Hansen, and Lucas "Bubzkji" Andersen in similar spots. The last time Astralis employed a 6 man roster was with Bubzkji subbing in for Andreas 'Xyp9x' Højsleth on Nuke. This approach was abolished due to Valve's ruling about player substitutions and RMR points.
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How Will Astralis Utilize Lucky?
As an AWPer Lucky is expected to play a majority of games for Astralis, possibly substituting for dupreeh. During his time in Tricked, he managed to impress the community with solid skills and game sense. With this opportunity to play in a Tier 1 team, he could blossom into a top talent for the future. His addition to the squad will also solve the AWP problem Astralis has faced. Recently, the role was passed between dupreeh and Gla1ve. The latter has earlier stated that they can not be the number one team without a stable AWPer.
Philip is a young player who has shown immense potential. He has not been tested at a top-level yet so it wouldn’t be fair to him or the team to compare him to anybody else. However, he has a lot of what we have been looking for and we have a strong belief, he will demonstrate his skills from the get-go.
This news comes amidst widespread speculation about the future of Astralis, as the contracts for Xyp9x, Peter 'dupreeh' Rasmussen, and Emil 'Magisk' Reif are set to expire at the end of the year, making them available for discussion starting this month. With the signing of Lucky, combined with Gla1ve's contract extension, the Danish squad has at least secured a core for their future team with Gla1ve and Bubzkji.
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Feature Image: Astralis's Twitter
