Roster moves being leaked are part of the course in esports, but rarely do they leak as early and drag on as long as Victor “Staehr” Staehr’s move to Astralis. Jaxon reported that Astralis were interested as early as October 2022, with Staehr’s then-team Sprout rejecting any advances.
Nearly one year later, the move materialized along with the restructuring of the Astralis organization and the departure of legendary IGL Lukas “Gla1ve” Rossander. We asked Staehr about newly appointed IGL Benjamin “blameF” Bremer, the team’s structure, and Ancient.
Sebastian “Horizzon” Lalic, BLIX: So far, in this event, you and the team have played really well; how has it been on your side of the server?
Victor “Staehr” Staehr: “It’s been very nice; we’ve been practicing a lot in the time we’ve had together. I got the positions from my older team, Sprout, which means I didn’t have to adapt too much. Of course, it’s a different kind of playstyle for me, how we play the game and think about it. But the same positions really do a lot for knowing what to do and being confident.”
BLIX: Do you feel that confidence from blameF that he gave you those spots and trusts you with them?
Staehr: “Yeah, for sure, since when I came in, they told me I’d get the positions that I have and that I shouldn’t be afraid to say or do anything because I am equal to them. Which is a confidence boost, knowing we’re all equal.”
BLIX: Coming into this event with that, have you guys set specific goals?
Staehr: “As I said in other interviews, we’re not here for the results. If we win the tournament or if we end last, it doesn’t really matter. Of course, we want to win, but we’re focused on improving both on the server and outside the server. We need to be closer to each other and see each other as friends, not colleagues, which is very important. When you get closer to each other and have a nice bond, it also transfers to the game; you trust each other more and believe what the others are saying. I think we’ve done a good job at that.”
Staehr with fellow Astralis newcomer Johannes “b0RUP” Borup (Image Credits: Michal Konkol/BLAST)BLIX: Is that also what blameF likes to call, very together, loose, and trust-based, or is it more structural?
Staehr: “Both, I would say, it depends on the opponents how we want to play, but everyone gets to say what they want to do based on what we’ve seen on the opponents. He trusts in everyone, and we’re kind of free unless we call some strats we know we have. Other than that, everyone is free and can say what they want, which is very important. Everyone has a voice.
BLIX: I hate to ask this, but what is your secret on Ancient? How have you unlocked the map the way you did?
Staehr: “I kind of think we made our own meta. We know how we want to play the map. I don’t want to go into detail about how we do it, but we have a very nice game plan, and in most of the matches we play, we know how to abuse different things, and I think that’s why we’re pretty consistent on it. Even if it went pretty badly on our T-side against NAVI, we still came back, right? So I believe we’re one of the top teams on Ancient right now.”
