stavn and jabbi share their side on cadiaN's exit
The former Heroic Counter-Strike players Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard have shared their side of the alleged ousting of Casper "cadiaN" Møller, claiming not to have conspired against or forced the departure of the Danish in-game leader.
In the aftermath of the announcement, a report by esports journalist Richard Lewis added additional context to the situation, revealing details of the circumstances surrounding the event.
Stavn and jabbi go public
In a joint statement posted to social media platform X, the two Astralis players addressed the claims made by their former esports organisation Heroic which had first informed the public about the departure of cadiaN on October 5.
On October 25, Heroic released an explanation of the decision, claiming that stavn and jabbi had “initiated a push to replace cadiaN” and when the organisation complied, went back on their word and instead looked to be signed by rival organisation Astralis. Their statement released on December 21 paints a different picture with additional context.
According to the two, stavn initially raised an issue with “the dynamics regarding the leading of the team on and off the server” after cadiaN had to take on more leadership responsibilities amid the departure of Heroic’s former performance manager Kasper Straube Hansen, the now Sports Director for Astralis.
The two claim that these issues were presented openly to the team, including the other four players and even coaching staff, who “shared and vocally expressed that they felt the same frustrations as stavn,” leading to the decision to part ways with cadiaN.
Additionally, Heroic also looked at multiple options including rebuilding the entire team around cadiaN and releasing the other four players which the two claim to have caused “trust issues with the Heroic organisation.” The two would also leave Heroic and indeed move to Astralis as Heroic had claimed, though stavn and jabbi maintain that no agreement had been made before Heroic’s public statement.
According to an anonymous source in Lewis’ report, the two were later transferred to Astralis for “about 14 million Danish Krone [~1.9 million € / ~ 1.6 million £].”
Just one piece of the puzzle
On top of the deal's details, Lewis’ report reveals the scope of the situation. It contextualises it to the wider picture of two feuding Danish organisations fighting for their regional market and interpersonal issues that came to a head.
The report also outlines Straube Hansen as a pivotal figure, stating that the former Head of Performance at Heroic had been a “huge part of Heroic’s success,” leaving a vacuum that cadiaN tried to fill but ultimately failed to connect to the players with. Moreover, stavn had gotten close with Straube Hansen after offering “significant emotional support after the player lost his brother.”
With the departure of all three players, Heroic’s rebuild has landed on Guy "NertZ" Iluz, Nico "nicoodoz" Tamjid, and Damjan "kyxsan" Stoilkovski, on top of its two remaining players René "TeSeS" Madsen and Rasmus "sjuush" Beck.
