Danish organization Astralis has confirmed the signing of Patrick “es3tag” Hansen from Heroic, growing its roster to six players.
The 24-year old Dane will begin playing under the Astralis banner on July 1, when his contract with Heroic is said to expire. Astralis Founder & CEO Nikolaj Nyholm reportedly inquired to purchase es3tag directly from his contract, but opted against it in light of a $800,000 buyout fee.
“This approach is no different than in traditional sports, but it’s new to Counter-Strike, and a change like this will take time to optimize for full advantage. The players, coach and our performance team have been involved in this decision and everybody agrees it is the way to go.”
Director of Sports, Astralis, Kasper Hvidt
It’s still currently unclear from a regulatory standpoint if and how a sixth player can be injected within a tournament or league. Moreover, it’ll be interesting to see how coach Danny “zonic” Sørensen attempts to structure practices to accommodate for es3tag’s arrival.
FPS Wire 