Astralis Golden Boy Kjaerbye Heads To The North In Surprising Move

Markus ‘Kjaerbye’ Kjaerbye was one of the driving forces behind Astralis' dominating 2017 in professional CS:GO that saw the team place in the top five at multiple events with three first place finishes. This included being crowned champions at the ELEAGUE Major in Atlanta. This made the sudden news of the star player deciding to take his talents to North very surprising, especially to his teammates on Astralis. They were not notified of Kjaerbye's decision, until two hours before the press conference where North announced the signing of the young talent.  Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander and Peter ‘dupreeh’ Rothmann both expressed their shock and disappointment on Twitter when they found out about how Kjaerbye was leaving.  

Less than 2 hours before the press conference, we found out Kjaerbye has signed with North. Speechless. And more motivated than ever!

— Lukas Rossander (@gla1ve_csgo) February 2, 2018

In a statement to Slash Esport Kjaerbye expressed his thoughts regarding the whole situation. 

"It’s a tough answer to give, because this is not the way I wish it to be. It’s not the farewell I wanted, and I hope I haven’t burned too many bridges – though it does look like it. 

I’ve let some people down but I’ve done my job and fought right up until my contract ended at Astralis. Now I look forward to my time with North. 

I hope both parties can put this behind us, because when we meet at tournaments we may be rivals in battle, but outside the game we’re all friends." 

Twitter posts by some of his former Astralis teammates and the organization itself seems to confirm that there are no hard feelings between both parties, but there is sure to be some intense competitive fire between North and Astralis now whenever they meet on the virtual battlefield.

I've had a lot of great moments with Markus and I will always enjoy his company whether it's on the server or out shopping. I hope you will find happiness at @TheNorthIsHere ! Much love even though the circumstances from me.

— Nicolai Reedtz (@dev1ce) February 2, 2018

Kjaerbye will not be in a foreign environment when he joins North, as he will be playing with former teammates of his from his time as a player on Team Dignitas. North's newest player told Slash Esport that he is confident in his new teammates, especially Mathias "MSL" Lauridsen.

"I've got great trust in MSL's abilities. Both as in-game leader and team captain. I look forward to being his right hand man and be a part of devloping our play style. We've got great communication and we're able to solve problems at they pop up. And he's a good friend."

North's contract with Kjaerbye is for two years and he has already started to compete with the team in the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2018 European Qualifiers. Time will tell if this was the right move for Kjaerbye and North, while Astralis will have to find a suitable replacement for their departed team member.

Have an itch for more CS:GO roster news? Check out who Team EnVyUs signed to their roster recently.