Astralis has restored Jakob ‘jabbi’ Nygaard to its active roster as it aims to avoid a nightmare scenario that would make its roster ineligible for an invite to the PGL Singapore Major.
The Dane returns to Astralis’ Counter-Strike roster less than three weeks after he was originally benched to make way for Astralis’ new signings.
Astralis seek to avoid missing out on the PGL Singapore Major
Astralis announced the restoration of jabbi to the roster, despite being benched less than three weeks ago after Astralis’ additions of Nikita ‘cmtry’ Samolotov and Kamil ‘siuhy’ Szkaradek.
The issue for Astralis is that FUT has not played an event since the departure of cmtry from their roster and the addition of Álvaro ‘SunPayus’ García to FUT.
FUT has played only one event since cmtry’s departure, PGL Masters Bucharest 2026, where FUT has qualified for the playoffs after a 3-0 Swiss Stage.
The roster’s speedy advancement means that they have not yet played the five required games to replace cmtry on the roster with Sunpayus in the official Valve snapshot.
A quarter-final exit in the competition would make it impossible for FUT to reach that five-game threshold before the November 2 VRS cutoff date for Major invites.
Valve’s rules state that a player cannot be listed in two rosters for Major invites, with the higher-ranked team taking the spot if a player is present on two rosters.
That means that Astralis were at risk of missing out on the PGL Singapore Major if cmtry were to officially become part of Astralis’ VRS roster upon the invite date.
HLTV Editor-in-Chief Milan ‘Striker’ Švejda received further clarification that cmtry would be ineligible to be a substitue for Astralis if he was still present on FUT’s VRS roster, meaning the Ukrainian could miss the Major regardless of his spot being filled by SunPayus on FUT.
Due to the clash, jabbi has returned to the roster, playing Stake Ranked Episode 5 for the Danish organization. The move ensures that jabbi will be present in Astralis’ VRS roster for November 2, removing cmtry from the official roster and guaranteeing Astralis’ place at the Major.
Astralis paid tribute to jabbi’s professionalism in the post announcing his restoration, sharing, “jabbi stepping up to help at this pivotal moment shows exactly the kind of professional he is. Nothing but respect.”
The restoration is ultimately understood to be temporary, with jabbi set to return to the bench, with the timing uncertain and likely dependent on the outcome of FUT’s Bucharest run.
jabbi could theoretically play at the Major if cmtry is locked out of the Major if FUT are eliminated at the PGL Masters Bucharest quarter-finals, but could play as a substitute if FUT make the semi-finals and beyond.
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Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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