Astralis to hire Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski as head coach

Astralis will appoint Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski as head coach after releasing Casper ‘ruggah’ Due following the team’s Stage 2 exit at the IEM Cologne Major. CEO Jonas ‘calc’ Gundersen said the club plans an international coaching hire to refresh its performance culture and added that the organization wanted a more international approach while keeping its Nordic roots, ‘We got complacent,’ he said, ‘and we’d like to try a more international performance culture while keeping our Nordic roots.’

NEO, 39, left FaZe in March after the organization moved on amid a run of weak results. During his time with FaZe he reached three Major finals and helped the team win IEM Sydney 2023, CAC 2023 and IEM Chengdu 2024. His departure from FaZe occurred before Major invites were finalized.

Astralis expects to keep its current five-player lineup for the next season: Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen, Love ‘phzy’ Smidebrant, Jakob ‘jabbi’ Nygaard, Victor ‘Staehr’ Staehr and Gytis ‘ryu’ Glušauskas. The club says NEO will work with the roster during preparations for upcoming events; no official start date or contract terms have been released.

Finn ‘karrigan’ Andersen, speaking at the time of NEO’s exit from FaZe, commented that NEO was not the only problem and that the team had underperformed. Rasmus ‘HooXi’ Nielsen has pointed to tactical issues during matches and observed, ‘When we discuss the rounds outside of the game, everyone knows what’s right to do, but we’re just not doing them in the moment.’

Astralis reviewed the coaching role after the IEM Cologne result and decided to pursue an international coach to alter internal dynamics while maintaining the club’s Scandinavian identity.