ryu: "Consistency has been a struggle"
Astralis took a big gamble at the beginning of the year, following in the footsteps of FURIA and switching to an international roster having always been Danish before that.
The gamble paid off, though, and the HooXi-led team have been in stellar form so far in 2026, making deep runs at both ESL Pro League and PGL Bucharest.
With their sights now set on BLAST Rivals Fort Worth, we sat down with ryu to discuss Astralis strong start, his step up to tier one, and how the pressure has increased as a result of their deep runs.
“I would prefer to have some of my old roles”
How are you feeling coming into the event?
It's great to be here. We started the event in the top 20 or 15, and now we've built it up and have the opportunity to play at a higher-tier event like this; it's nice.
You've been climbing all year, as you've said, but how are you feeling about your own individual levels in that time?
It's been pretty up and down; there's a lot of inconsistency. The start was good, but I had a bad event at EPL, so I've been trying to improve off of that and see how it goes.
Overall, it's different when I'm coming from tier two. In tier two, you have easier opponents, but here they're more ready for you and have better staff, so I need to bring that consistency up to tier one.
Would you say you're struggling with the step up?
The consistency is a struggle; I can have really good games and bad games. I know from that I have what it takes to play well; I just need to always do it.
Do you think that's because you're playing better individual players? A lot of people who make the jump say that tier two is different because of the various styles people play, whereas tier one is more similar. In that sense, is it a playstyle thing or the actual opponents?
It's a mix. For example, when I came from Monte, I had a big change of roles, especially on the T side, where there are a lot of positions I didn't play before, so I need to improve on them and play well as a team.
I'm also playing better players and teams, and their staff also help them a lot, so that's something you need to be ready to play. It can be a big surprise at times, and then you have a slow start and need to come back from a bad game, but that's not always the case.
How are you feeling about those roles now that you've had time in them?
I'm not sure, really. Some of my new roles I would prefer to have the old ones, but some of the new ones I would like to keep. It's a mix and a new experience, so I need to think about it that way. I did a different role in Monte than I do in Astralis, so I just need to improve. I don't think about it much more than that.
There was likely a lot of pressure when you joined an org like Astralis, but has that level of pressure risen because of how much success this roster has had at the start?
I think we have more pressure as we've gone on and the results have improved. Making the playoffs in Bucharest or EPL, it should be a normal goal, but as you keep going deeper, you get closer to winning and the pressure increases.
Of course, it shouldn't be something that changes how we play, and we're working with staff to deal with it, but the pressure has for sure risen.
Looking back on the Bucharest final, it didn't go your way. What did you take from that game?
I guess you could say we got rekt in that final, we won one map out of four, and the other ones were pretty one-sided for FUT. We have to learn to play under pressure and stick to our game. FUT played with a lot of confidence, and it showed; they played really well.
Given the results, has it changed the expectations for this tournament and the run up to the Major?
I don't think it's changed too much. For example, EPL was a good run, and there were strong teams, but Bucharest wasn't as competitive an event, as you could tell by looking at the favourites to win it. I don't think our expectations have changed, we're still just trying to improve.
