Astralis player Lukas “Gla1ve” Rossander decided to take a step back from competitive CS:GO for three months. Astralis have since taken in more players to fill both the spot left by Gla1ve’s time off as well as the spot of Andreas “Xyp9x” HØjsleth, who has also been struggling with stress and burnout symptoms. As many admire the big brain plays we so often see from Gla1ve, we’ve looked for five of his best plays from recent years.
1. Sometimes aim is just a secondary factor
First of all, let’s take a look at how his movement brings him into favourable positions on multiple occasions in this one-versus-two clutch against Ninjas In Pyjamas at the BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen 2019.
Gla1ve’s patience rewards him with the first kill, leveling the playing field. He was able to plant the bomb and get in towards Water to get a closer angle against the long range favoured AWP. By moving to Graffiti he made it easier to hold off a possible rotation from twist whilst still holding the angle to take down a possible jump out from Heaven. A great showcase of his in-game knowledge and clutch potential. Unfortunately for Astralis the match still went in favour of NiP with a 7-16 score.
2. Anti-eco-round monster
Gla1ve isn’t always about slow play however, as a bit of aggression suits him just fine from time to time. In the following clip you see him do what every player loves to do; going aggressive against an eco-round.
Just a masterclass of controlling the spray of his M4A4, not even having used his entire magazine to take out the Terrorists. With Astralis not losing any players and not having to expend too much utility, they were able to get some well needed reserves going into the later stages of this map. Gla1ve and his team were able to close out the game with a 16-11 score, only dropping one more round when they were already on map-point. Astralis would go on to win the ESL Pro League Finals Odense 2018 with a 3-1 map score against their rivals of Team Liquid, giving the Danish crowd what they came for.
3. Immovable object
Map pressure and utility usage have always been the most important factors when it comes to the succes of Astralis. One clip that instantly comes to mind was Gla1ve’s triple kill against MiBR in their match at the BLAST Pro Series São Paulo 2019.
Getting the early control of the Fountain area, whilst having a teammate cover Playground, gave Gla1ve the possibility to fully focus on one position. He makes MiBR waste a lot of time and utility before they manage to kill him, taking down three of his opponents in the process. Once more he showed his confidence in these kinds of situations as he plays calmly while transitioning into different angles to make it harder to be pinned down. Creating advantageous positions really shows what makes Gla1ve a world class player. Astralis went on to win the match 16-10 but lost the same map against MiBR with a 2-16 score less than a month later.
4. Crusher of dreams
Sometimes it just feels as if Gla1ve is an one man army. The way he turns around certain situations is mesmerising and often even mind-blowing. In the following clip he takes a round out of the hands of Cloud9 against all odds.
Time was a big factor working against Cloud9 but a one-versus-four situation should almost never work out this well. Gla1ve works around the smokes of his opponents as if he was already planning them to be there. The first player gets taken out and from that point onwards there is only one more opponent that can freely move in towards the bombsite. Gla1ve was already standing by however, also pre-placing an HE-grenade to increase his odds of winning another one-versus-one fight. His spray through the smoke after the audio cue of the bomb plant just sealed the deal and left Cloud9 hopeless. This round enabled Astralis to go on and get a massive streak going on their Counter-Terrorist side: they lost only one more round until halftime, winning the match with a 16-10 score.
5. Calm and collected
What really makes Gla1ve such an amazing player is his ability to use the information given to him in a round. In the following clip he destroys his fellow Danes over at OpTic Gaming to show them Astralis are the strongest team of their nation.
Anchoring in the Pit area, Gla1ve does what he needs to do. He gets two kills and hopes that the rest of the team carries the same amount of weight. Unfortunately OpTic Gaming turns it around by getting some good angles with their flankers making it a one-versus-two situation. He does not play over-aggressive as many would, as he knows the bomb is dropped on the short Catwalk which means his opponents don’t have the time to move to the B-bombsite. He reloads, gets ready for the fight and eventually takes them both down getting another round in for his team. Astralis went on to win this map convincingly with a 16-1 score and taking the series 2-0 as well. They would however fall short to Evil Geniuses in the grand finals of ESL One: New York 2019.
Which of these plays was your favourite? Make sure to let us know by joining the discussion on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our Discord!