After Astralis fell to G2 in the Round of 16 of the CS2 event at EWC 2026, Insider Gaming interviewed the team's in-game leader HooXi about how the changes made during the off-season have shown on the server, the addition of former FaZe coach NEO, and the team's thoughts on losing to G2 in the playoffs.
Q: What are your thoughts on this match?
HooXi: I think the first map was played very cleanly and very well, with some clutches in the middle. The overall momentum was really strong, and our plan was solid too. Dust2 was almost the complete opposite. We lost all the close rounds we had a chance to win, and I think they played better than us on this map.
Without rewatching the footage, I'm not quite sure exactly what happened, but it felt like they kind of ran over us. Then we tried to catch up, but unfortunately, it was too late.
Coming into the third map, we had a chance to get off to a really good start by winning the pistol round. Instead we lost the second round on B, which was obviously a huge blow. Especially on Inferno, the economy and everything is very tough. So I think if we had won that round, it would have been a different story. After that on the CT side it was back and forth, I think we played pretty evenly after that. On the T side, as I said, although we won a round with a hero AK, it felt like we couldn't capitalize on the momentum quickly enough, and then they pulled away. So very unfortunate, and I think very disappointing as well.
Q: On Dust2 and Inferno, from a tactical perspective, was there anyone who didn't do their part?
HooXi: Yes, like I said, I'm not really sure what happened on Dust2, especially on the CT side. We'll have to go back and watch the replay.
On Inferno, I think maybe we could have done a better job with preparation to get everyone more on the same page.
For example, figuring out how to use all the information we have. Maybe Staehr and I should come up with a better way to deal with the trick they used on us—the one they used twice, and it worked both times.
I think on the T side, like I said, we never really found our rhythm. Maybe we played a bit too aggressively, and that style doesn't really suit us when we don't have momentum. Maybe we could have played more default and slower, but it's hard to say without watching it back.
Q: You signed NEO as coach in the offseason. What will he bring to this lineup that you didn't have before?
HooXi: I think it's new ideas, a new perspective on the game. His understanding of the game is very smart, and I think he knows what it takes to win a championship. He's been a player for 20 years and won several championships with FaZe. So I hope he can bring some new ideas and new perspectives, and I also hope we can improve a lot on the fundamentals so that we can keep up.
I think fundamentals are the most important thing in CS right now so we can keep up with tier-one teams, because sometimes that's exactly what we're lacking, and it's what we're working on at the moment. I think we're on the right track. We just need to play more official matches, have a bit more time, and hopefully the results will show.
Q: How do you think NEO's judgment differs from the way you played CS before?
HooXi: Yes, I think the whole team will change its style, even if we continue working with Ruggah. So we're playing more freely now, not afraid to change our playstyle from match to match. During matches, we also come up with all kinds of specific ideas and stuff like that.
I think this is definitely very different from the end of last year. I think Ruggah is perhaps more system-oriented than NEO, and that feels a bit different as well. But we're still figuring out how to do things, because he's only coached one team. And it's quite difficult to come in as a coach to an already established team. So he's just figuring out how everything works, and then slowly bringing in his own stuff.
Q: You also seem to be someone with very strong ideas about what good CS is. So how do you deal with those crazy situations in those chaotic rounds?
HooXi: I mean, most of the crazy stuff on the T side at least comes from me. No, I think everyone is contributing ideas, saying what they like.
We have this philosophy: if players enjoy what they're doing, they'll play better too. So I'd say everyone is contributing to this chaos.
Q: We saw some frustration from you at the end of last season. From an internal perspective, why do you think the decision was made at the time not to make changes and to stick with this roster?
HooXi: I think we got caught in a vicious cycle of adding more and more tactics because we were making too many mistakes, and we thought the tactical system might solve the problem. But it just led us to make just as many mistakes without the reward of actually winning by taking risks.
So now we're back to a state with less of a tactical system, letting everyone make their own decisions—sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. That's a trade-off you have to deal with. And I think that frustration largely comes from a good place.
We had expectations for each other, and I feel our performance at the time was worse than what we expected of each other. I think when it comes to controlling the roster and things like that, that's obviously what management does. So I can't comment on that. But I think with this roster, we can play better than we are now, and none of us have shown our best yet.