Xyp9x out: Second Astralis player steps down for medical reasons
These last few weeks have truly been one of the craziest times in CS:GO, with three legends of the game stepping down due to burnout and stress-related symptoms.
The latest of these is Andreas ‘Xyp9x’ Højsleth. He stated: “I have sadly been feeling burnout/stress symptoms chasing me over many months. It’s time to take the necessary break to rest and find the motivation to get back to competing for Astralis.”
The clutch minister is the second Astralis player to step down so far with their IGL Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander stepping down seven days prior due to similar circumstances. Astralis picked up Jakob ‘JUGi’ Hansen for gla1ve who has had a rough start so far in his transition to the team.
In a statement on May 28, Astralis announced that they would be bringing in former Heroic player Marco ‘Snappi’ Pfeiffer in place of Xyp9x for future events. With Snappi having long-standing IGL experience, there is a chance he takes over that role for Astralis – relieving Emil ‘Magisk’ Reif of that burden.
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This problem is not exclusive to Astralis though, with legendary Swedish star Olof ‘olofmeister’ Kajbjer stepping down from FaZe with similar issues of his own.
While this is probably the best time to get some much-needed R&R, due to all matches being online and no major until November, it does raise questions about whether something needs to be done to prevent such issues in the future.