The new Copenhagen Wolves Counter-Strike division has slowly come together over the last week. But it wasn’t until Tuesday, January 2, that it got finalised with the signing of trace as a new head coach.

As one of the more experienced CS coaches, trace will be in charge of leading a lineup headlined by Hubert “szejn” ?wiat?y, and work closely with Copenhagen Wolves’ in-game leader Victor “vigg0” Bisgaard, whom trace will reunite with from his time at Astralis Talent.

Trace is a retired Counter-Strike player who started his esports career in 2007. Over the next 14 years, the Dane has played for several high-profile Counter-Strike squads, including SK Gaming and Fnatic, before transitioning to coaching with Team Singularity in 2021.

Following a short stint with Singularity, trace joined Lyngby Vikings and spent the last month of 2021 as a head coach of ECSTATIC before joining Astralis’ academy division. In March 2022, trace got promoted to the main lineup as a replacement for Alexander “ave” Holdt and, after a rough start, found some success at the top level.

With Astralis, trace claimed silver medals from BLAST Premier: Spring European Showdown 2022 and Pinnacle Cup Championship and made the semifinals of Roobet Cup 2022 and Intel Extreme Masters XVII �C Cologne. Unfortunately, internal turmoil and disappointing results in the second half of 2022 led to trace’s departure from Astralis.

The Danish coach found a new home with Into the Breach in August 2023 but left two months later by mutual agreement.

Trace joins the iconic Danish esports brand, which was revived by Jared “Outback” Habib in late December. While the team doesn’t have an official match on their schedule yet, the Copenhagen Wolves are expected to debut in the upcoming European Open Qualifiers for the Copenhagen Regional Major Rankings tournament, set to kick off on January 8.

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The fact that the squad did not qualify for the IEM Rio Major is almost certainly one of the primary drivers behind the massive roster overhaul that was recently implemented. After suffering defeat at the hands of forZe, the Russian team, Bad News Eagles, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, the team finished their run in Europe RMR A with a record of 1-3. It is the very first time in the history of the franchise that they have failed to qualify for a CS:GO Major.

According to a statement released by the organization, the first step toward revitalizing the squad is to find a new head coach.

The CEO and President of Astralis, Anders H?rsholt, noted that the outcomes achieved in the Counter-Strike unit of the organization have been below standards. He also noted that all hands have been on deck to make a positive turn around on the organization��s CS:GO team.

“We have not lived up to our own expectations at all in terms of results in the Counter-Strike division. In the coming weeks and months, we will work on modernizing and developing the organization around the Counter-Strike team, where our Director of Sports will be looking at all current and potentially new roles and needed upgrades on and around the team,” said H?rsholt.

“We have set the bar incredibly high with what we achieved in 2018-19. No one will ever reach that level of dominance, but that does not change the task on hand: We must restore clarity in the way we do things, and we must return to a position where we are in the fight for titles and top positions. It won’t happen overnight, but the work has begun.”

The outgoing coach, Trace, has been working for Astralis ever since March 4, when he was given an upgrade from his previous position as a coach in the organization’s academy, Astralis Talent. Since then, his greatest accomplishment has been guiding Astralis to a semifinal finish at the IEM 2022 in Cologne, where they were ultimately eliminated by Natus Vincere.

Other changes in the organization include Astralis parting ways with player Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke on October 10, after the player testified to his participation in a physical fight that took place in Malta.

It has been speculated that there is a very good possibility Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz may make a comeback to the lineup. According to the most recent sources, Ninjas in Pyjamas and Astralis have already come to an agreement over the price of the player, which is �600,000 ($589,000).

The squad is moving down a different path as a result of the recent release of k0nfig and the availability of a new head coach. It is not clear at this time whether the squad will keep its other four players on their roster. At the moment, the full-time roster consists of Asger “farlig” Jensen, Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, Andreas “Xyp9x” H?jsleth, and Benjamin “BlameF” Bremer, with Mikkel “Mistr” Thomsen serving as the substitute for the Blast Premier the next week, where Astralis will be playing against Eternal Fire on October 19, with $1.42 odds and the latter with $2.73 with the top esport betting sites.

Fans should anticipate hearing several more revelations in the run-up to the event, as there is only one week left until it takes place.

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