Astralis continues to use HUNDEN services

According to Dexerto, Danish esports organization Astralis maintains a working relationship with HUNDEN, despite the fact that the specialist is still suspended from competition due to a series of scandals last year. In addition, the club hopes to sign the coach on a permanent basis after his ban ends next August.

The organization said the 31-year-old has been working with players to create a series of training materials in partnership with the Aim Lab training program. However, some sources have clarified that HUNDEN actually worked with the team in a role that he would not have been able to fill under the terms of a suspension from the competition.

What happened to HUNDEN in the past

We share a brief chronology of events that happened to the Danish specialist last year:

1. Before IEM Cologne 2021, the Heroic team made a collective decision to go to the tournament without HUNDEN due to serious trust issues.
2. After that, the specialist blocked access for team members to the strategies folder.
3. The coach shared confidential information with one of the key employees of a major competitor (as it turned out later, with Astralis).
4. The organization considered this action illegal and in violation of contractual obligations.
5. In Denmark, a trial has begun in this case.
6. This issue has been reported to ESL and ESIC.
7. Heroic's contract with HUNDEN was terminated unilaterally.
8. The 31-year-old Danish specialist will receive a two-year ESIC ban for handing over a strategy folder to a competitor.

Note that the scandal was another serious blow to the coach’s reputation, which was already undermined after he received an eight-month ban from ESIC at the end of 2020 for using the infamous “camera bug”.

HUNDEN and Astralis - to be continued

Immediately after "revealing all the cards", the Astralis organization decided to continue cooperation with HUNDEN. According to anonymous sources, the club thanked the coach for his loyalty with the opportunity to work with the main team, albeit unofficially.

As soon as the ban was issued, they[Astralis]knew that HUNDEN would need a job and he showed them loyalty. So they found a way to pay him to work there without being a coach so they wouldn't have to say anything. He has been working with the players and they will give him an official job once his ban is over.

The source also said that the 31-year-old Dane was seen interacting with players in the Astralis office as what they thought was a coach or analyst.

Another source indicated that HUNDEN's participation in the organization was forged through strategic partner Aim Lab, with whom Astralis entered into a deal in November 2021, in which they will "jointly develop a new tool to help players improve using the Playerbase Aim Lab platform" and "will launch a series of video tutorials to help players improve their skills."

However, the parties to the deal have opaquely hinted that they had no direct connection to HUNDEN. However, the Astralis organization confirmed that they were working with Heroic's former mentor, HUNDEN himself was not anyone associated with the team's coaching staff.

Astralis also added that the organization would never have announced the participation of the suspended coach publicly due to the nature of his work:"We never announce the hiring of temporary contractors. Freelance resources and independent contractors are part of our daily work, and so far this year we have worked with over a dozen different contractors without announcing any of them."

While HUNDEN's reputation leaves a lot to be desired, Astralis would be delighted to have him work in a more direct capacity with players when his suspension expires on August 24, 2023.