Magisk and Astralis reunite after nearly four years

Counter-Strike Editor

Publish Date: September 1, 2025

Magisk playing for Astralis at the PGL Stockholm Major 2021.

Astralis have announced the signing of veteran Emil “Magisk” Reif on September 1. The deal sees Magisk return to Astralis nearly four years later after his departure to Vitality, alongside other Astralis legends Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen and Danny “zonic” Sørensen.

The 27-year-old will step in immediately, as Martin “stavn” Lund has left the lineup due to “personal circumstances” and will focus on his health.

This reunion also means that Magisk will get to play with Nicolai “device” Reedtz once again. The duo played a crucial part in Astralis’ dominance between 2018 and 2019, a period they won numerous tournaments, including three CS:GO Majors. This is what Magisk had to say about joining Astralis again:

Astralis means a lot to me, so of course I’m happy to be able to help. It’ll be fun to pull the jersey with the star over my head again and I’m extremely motivated to contribute to the team together with the guys.

And lastly, my thoughts are with Martin – I hope he gets the time he needs.

Neither Astralis nor Magisk informed how long his contract is, but given that Astralis paid so much for jabbi and stavn back in 2023, the young rifler will likely return to the active lineup at some point.

Nonetheless, it will be fun to watch Magisk play again after his spell with Falcons ended on a sour note in June, following their disastrous CS2 Major run. The three-time Major winner joined the ambitious Saudi project ahead of the 2024 season, but only won one tournament — PGL Bucharest in April 2025.

What can Magisk add to Astralis besides experience?

Magisk playing at the BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025 for Falcons.

Falcons benched Magisk for kyousuke after the BLAST.tv Austin Major in July 2025. Credit: Stephanie Lindgren | © BLAST

Even though Magisk is reaching a point in his career where he doesn’t get multi-kills as often and plays more sacrificial roles, it doesn’t mean that he’s only bringing more experience to Astralis.

The move will most likely see Magisk taking all of Astralis’ anchor spots, thus freeing Jakob “jabbi” Nygaard to play more aggressively and go more for opening duels. The veteran is also known as someone quite vocal and who chimes in with mid-round calls.

This will possibly allow device, jabbi, and Victor “Staehr” Staehr to focus way more on just their crosshairs, as Magisk and the IGL Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen will be the ones coordinating their plays.

We’ll see if adding Magisk will be enough to put Astralis, one of the top CS2 teams, on an upward trajectory again. The team showed promise after the Summer player break, as they were runners-up in FISSURE Playground 1 in July.

But, since then, Astralis haven’t done much besides reaching the playoffs of BLAST Bounty Season 2 on August 9. Magisk will make his debut next week at the 1.25 million Serbian tournament, FISSURE Playground 2.

Feature image credit: © PGL