Straight after Astralis tremendously defeated Heroic in the insane Quarter-final match at the IEM Cologne 2023, we spoke with the Head Coach of Team Peter ‘casle’ Toftbo Ardenskjold to sum up the game and discuss his upcoming stand-off against G2.

Congratulations on such a victory. It was an amazing performance. Before the tournament, we discussed how this event could establish Heroic as the top 1 team, but you crashed that dream. How does it feel? After the victory, you are number 1 in Denmark, one of the most competitive regions in CSGO. What do you think about that?

I would say we're still a pretty new team. We just, as you said, completed a new roster. Of course, it's nice to beat Heroic, but it's too early to say that we're the best team in Denmark because they are still pretty good.

I think we come in here in good form. We started early, so we have a little edge right now. I'm just super proud of the team and how they handled everything we discussed. So, yeah, so far so good.

What factor allowed you to come out on top in a game such close as this one? What helped you tip the scales onto your side? The BlameF thinking, or the taps from Buzz?

Yeah, I think it's the biggest reason why we won was because of the game plan, I think. We had a pretty good idea of how we wanted to play against Heroic.

We have watched them a lot, so we know how they like to play.. And I think we just nailed that, pretty much. So, the T-sides on both maps were pretty good for us because we know everything they did. So, of course, when Buzz hits shots like that, that also helps. 

What do you think about your next Open in G2?

I actually like the matchup versus G2. That's the one team we lost against. And I think in that game, we forgot a lot about the things we are good at and somehow made us make a lot of mistakes. We have talked a lot about that and learned a lot from that game, so we are just looking forward to playing them again.

READ MORE: “I don't think Heroic is top-1. No one is top-1 right now”. Breaking down the CS:GO shuffles, and IEM Cologne 2023 with Kassad

You have two new players. How difficult is it for them to reveal themselves, playing in front of such a large arena, a cathedral of Counter-Strike, or does it only add energy?

I think the team is in that mood that it's just a lot of extra energy. I think they did pretty well with the crowd and stuff like that. Also, Dev1ce helped with his lots of experience, so we can lean a little bit towards him, and we just did it as a team, I think.