Astralis sign HooXi on permanent basis

Astralis have announced the signing of Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen on a permanent deal. The 30-year-old IGL comes in as the new team captain, replacing cadiaN who was benched from the Danish lineup back in April.

Impressive PGL Astana 2025 performance bags HooXi a permanent gig

HooXi’s permanent signing comes one month after he led Astralis to the Final of PGL Astana 2025 during a one-event stand-in period. This was the organization’s first significant LAN Final since 2019, marking its best result in years, despite the lack of preparation time for the event.

Welcome @HooXiCSGO 🔥 Our new IGL pic.twitter.com/8PxJtYoryW

— Astralis Counter-Strike (@AstralisCS) June 18, 2025

In a statement on X, HooXi said:

“Thrilled to finally be able to call myself the IGL of Astralis and to be back in business with both new and familiar faces. It’s been a dream of mine to play for Astralis for quite some time, the glory days of the organisation speaks for itself but also to play for a full Danish lineup again feels special. With time and hard work I hope and believe we will be able to continue what we started in Astana, to give something back to the fans that has already shown immense support.” 

Rumors of financial crisis at Astralis have been circulating for some time, with some suggestions that the legendary four-time Major-winning organization could cease operations if a buyer is not found. After five missed Majors in a row, sticker money has been virtually nonexistent for a while now, and it was unclear what the next step was for the team.

The permanent signing of HooXi could go some way to allaying those fears. Given Valve’s cancellation of the MRQs for the StarLadder Budapest Major, it seems almost certain that Astralis will be in attendance. With that comes a much-needed cash injection for the team, so long as they can stick it out for the rest of 2025.

On the server, HooXi should continue to be a big positive for Astralis. He has previously worked with and got the best of jabbi in Copenhagen Flames, while we saw him immediately get a better tune from stavn at PGL Astana 2025. Meanwhile, dev1ce and Staehr are high-performers by themselves, so HooXi should only be a benefit to the pair.