In the recent talk with Danny “zonic” Sørensen, currently the coach of the best team in the world - Astralis, we found out more the team's priority, schedules and plans with many events coming up.
About the recent on-going talks about team Astralis favoring BLAST pro series tournaments over other big events, the coach stressed that the team was not doing it. They were thinking of the best way to arrange their schedule with enough time for each event. The accusation pointed out the influence of RFRSH — Astralis and BLAST’s parent company on the decision of the Esports team. It may very well be the case that the owner of RFRSH, also the most influential figure in Astralis' CS:GO team would like his team to play in the event they organize.
However, Steen Laursen, vice president of communications and brand at RFRSH, has confirmed that is not the case. He told that the agreement Astralis, as well as other teams, made with BLAST is no different from the attendance most teams do with ECS and ESL Pro League.
For further information, Astralis has gradually earned the title of the best team in the world ever since their victory in DreamHack Masters Marseille in April 2018. Since then, Astralis often skipped some tournaments to prepare their best for selective events.
The coach of Astralis - zonic, as well as their close friend and manager, told that the team treated BLAST pro series the same way like other tournaments. They distribute the same time for preparation, travel time and every other factor that affect the team and players. To prove it, he said they would skip BLAST Los Angeles to go to ESL One Cologne. They could attend both, but they prioritized Cologne wouldn't get too ambitious trying to win both tournaments only to come up short prepared.
Also, Astralis has every good reason to worry about traveling. The team member Nicolai “device” Reedtz has bad traveling experiences. He suffered a severe gastrointestinal problem in November 2017 and had to leave the team for quite a time. That was the result of a tight traveling schedule. To avoid this, Astralis managed their schedule this year much better.
Better travel planning—in addition to other treatments— would help to improve device’s medical condition, according to zonic. Astralis is actually prioritizing each member's health rather than rushing to many events.
For zonic, BLAST helped to make health issue easier to deal with by offering a professional setup and hospitality.