DeKay Mailbag Part 3: Astralis, The Playing Schedule, and Conflict of Interest

This is Part 3 of DeKay's monthly mailbag series covering questions asked via Twitter.

I have not heard anything about them on the search right now, I still think they are surviving this era just like everyone else is. They will probably keep an eye on some decent players, but no movement from what I've been told right now.

CSPPA has a good amount of leverage because no one wants to get blasted for not listening or taking their suggestions into account. I do think they should mandate something that gives teams a choice not to have to play over a certain amount of Counter-Strike in a specific period. This is tough though because it is a balance of obligations on all sides, including organizations.

Either way, it just isn't okay and should be worked on even if we get playing back to normal.

I don't expect the team to just up and leave, it would be an incredibly expensive effort to make that happen. However, I do think it is possible that a core group of players could leave at some point before their contracts expire at the end of next year. It could equally as much not happen, I'm just saying that based on my feeling at the moment.

No chance that this happens. The team and players have so much inherent brand power that I think they will have a place in that organization for as long as they like. Out of all the teams in the world, their performances can slack and it wouldn't be as much of an issue compared to others. Sure, the organization prefers they improve, but they have a ton of slack.

Nothing I have heard, too far off the radar for me. I would have to ask around.

Nothing recently about that, but I do know they are looking. FLASHPOINT are still encouraging organizations to show up with even better teams next time, so that has an impact too. I can only imagine they are exploring everything.

This is a great question. If I had to guess, he returns to play with a Swedish team later this year. It almost happened a couple times while he was with FaZe so I can only imagine he wants to do that one more time. The issue then becomes if he feels okay about playing for NiP or not, because I don't see him going to FNATIC or DIG.

At this point, his offers will just be limited to within the European region. It's not that none of those teams are interested, but if he could play in North America he would probably have more offers. Therefore, it's up to him to take any offer he gets now or to wait it out and see what he gets when everything opens back up. I know he said he had a Top 10 offer at one point, but I never heard that. I will still assume it's true though, since he would know more about himself than I do.

I'm happy you brought this up because it allows me to once again clarify what conflict of interest is and isn't. Fifflaren commentating a tournament he is coaching has no impact on the competitive integrity of Counter-Strike being played. He cannot change outcomes or influence people based on his relaxed casting. This is not a real conflict.

At the most, you could argue he has a bias towards his team and against the others. Even then, it's a very relaxed event atmosphere and I bet most people wouldn't even notice.

I'm someone who puts almost no stock into online play, but I would still say G2 at this point. They look like they really have something figured out. That said, ZywOo could just completely smash that idea when LAN play resumes. It will make it extremely exciting when it does eventually happen.

In cases like leaf, I do think some sort of repercussions are necessary for Gaules and others whose behavior resulted in leaf getting attacked for something there is no proof of. I don't expect TOs to do it though, most would prefer to look the other way because of the viewership.

It feels disingenuous to work in a field I don't enjoy personally. I was never even motivated to try Valorant personally and I don't find it enjoyable to watch. Therefore, I probably won't be following it closely outside of what former CS players are doing.

The Hiko & Skadoodle EU super-team.