Two Heroic CS players allegedly forced player change, yet still want to leave
According to the esports organisation Heroic, their players Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard have communicated that they are pursuing a trade to rival organisation Astralis, despite verbally agreeing to sign a contract extension on the condition that former Heroic captain Casper "cadiaN" Møller would part ways with the team.
On Twitter, the Danish organisation disclosed that both players still have 10 months left on their contracts but were allegedly supposed to sign an extension. Due to this breach of trust, Heroic announced that stavn and jabbi have been placed on the bench while the organisation considers their next moves.
The news arrived less than an hour before their official match against Aurora in the Roobet Cup. The German organisation mouz lent their two Danish players William "sirah" Kjærsgaard and Christoffer "Chr1zN" Storgaard to fill in for the match while Heroic plans its next moves.
The issue explained
While neither stavn, jabbi, nor cadiaN have given their side of the story, Heroic has provided unique transparency in the behind-the-scenes process of their recent roster changes.
On October 4, the organisation announced the surprising departure of cadiaN from the organisation after four years with the team. The Danish in-game leader is credited as one of the largest contributors behind Heroic’s rise to the top of the esport, remaining a constant for the organisation during various rebuilds.
Citing "differing visions for the future," Heroic now alleges that it came to the decision to part ways with cadiaN after "stavn and jabbi initiated a push to replace cadiaN" and was "brought to an ultimatum where Heroic had to choose between cadiaN and the rest of the team."
On October 23, Heroic announced the signing of the five-time major winner, Peter "dupreeh" Rasmussen to seemingly fill the hole cadiaN left.
Heroic claims that both stavn and jabbi agreed to a contract extension on the condition that cadiaN would be let go, though on the day of being presented their new contracts, they "communicated having made future plans with Astralis."
The organisation shared that both players still have 10 months left on their contracts and intends to bring them back to the team. Alternatively, it is "open to discussing transfers to organisations with a professional approach and an understanding of our players’ market value."
Complicated timings
The timing of the announcement does not just complicate the upcoming matches in the short term but also shrouds the Danish Counter-Strike scene in a veil of uncertainty for its future less than five months before the PGL CS2 Major in Copenhagen.
While both Astralis and Heroic are incentivised to be on their best form for their Major at home, a united long-term vision for the development of both squads could be seen as crucial to managing the volatility of both the situation and the new Counter-Strike version.
With 10 months remaining on the contracts, Heroic is also steadily losing expected trade value for stavn and jabbi, on top of an unclear vision for the future, putting time pressure on a solution.
