Astralis add Snappi as stand-in for Xyp9x

Former Heroic rifler Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer will stand in for Astralis during Andreas "Xyp9x" Hojsleth's leave of absence, the team announced Thursday. "Andreas @Xyp9x is in the need of a pause from competing," Astralis director of sports Kasper Hvidt said in a statement. "The timing isn't optimal, but we can't compromise when it comes to giving the players the best possibilities to maintain a healthy mental balance and to perform in the long term.

"We have been very clear on our wish to give the players better conditions and the possibility to sit out from specific tournaments. That's the reason we have signed two additional players for the roster, however, as Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen will only join us in July, I am happy that Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer has agreed to step in immediately." Snappi tweeted a clarification that he will only stand-in during the upcoming BLAST Premier Spring Showdown and DreamHack Masters Spring playoffs while Xyp9x is out.

"Hopefully i can soon enough reveal more about what my upcoming team will be," he added. "But for now, it's time to shoot some headshots and try to copy the clutch minister as good as i can!" Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Xyp9x was stepping away. Xyp9x confirmed the decision Thursday, calling it "a very hard decision to make."

"I have sadly been feeling burnout/stress symptoms chasing me over many months," the 24-year-old said in a statement. "It's time to take the necessary break to rest and find the motivation to get back to competing for Astralis. "Everyone around me has done a great number of things in order to avoid it, and there is nothing that I would rather do than keep on playing without a break, but the time has come to take care of my health and therefore I have given in a sick note to Astralis."

It was the second major departure from Astralis recently, after in-game leader Lukas "gla1ve" Rossander said earlier this month he would take at least three months off, citing burnout. Snappi, 29, was benched by Heroic in April and hasn't competed since. He also spent time in recent years with FunPlus Phoenix and OpTic Gaming.

Patrick "es3tag" Hansen is set to join Astralis when his contract with Heroic expires at the end of June.