Former Astralis pro Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke will play for Heroic as a stand-in at the BLAST Premier World Final, sources told Dexerto. The move has now been confirmed by the organization.
The 25-year-old has been called in as a substitute for Heroic at the year-end event, replacing Martin ‘stavn’ Lund in Abu Dhabi.
k0nfig has been without a team since October, when his contract was terminated by Astralis. The decision came as Astralis began to rebuild their squad in the off-season after it had failed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major — a huge blow for the winningest team at CS:GO Majors.
k0nfig steps in for Heroic, replacing stavn
The move was confirmed by the org itself on December 4, with k0nfig replacing stavn as expected.
Their statement read: “Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke will be replacing Martin “stavn” Lund for the BLAST World Final 2022. The decision has been made a while ago to give Martin some rest after a long year and a 2023 season where we as a team wish to start our preparation for the year early.
“We believe Kristian is the best possible replacement when exploring our options. Despite not having stavn with us for the World Final, we hope to continue our good form and Kristian is a great player that is hungry to show the world he has a place in the absolute top of CS:GO.”
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We believe Kristian is the best possible replacement when exploring our options. Despite not having stavn with us for the World Final, we hope to continue our good form and Kristian is a great player that is hungry to show the world he has a place in the absolute top of CS:GO.
— HEROIC (@heroicgg) December 4, 2022
k0nfig played no part in the European qualifier for the Major after being involved in an altercation with a nightclub promoter in Malta during ESL Pro League Season 16. The incident left the player with a complicated ankle fracture.
In a November 11 exclusive interview with Dexerto, k0nfig said that he felt ready to return to action and that he had been working on his personal problems with the help of a therapist. “I want to play,” he said. “I feel like my life, right now, is the perfect situation. I’ve messed up. I’ve forgiven [myself]. I definitely think that it’s the right call.”
Heroic are one of the most in-form teams in the world right now and are in prime position to end the year as No.1 in the rankings after finishing runners-up at the IEM Rio Major and winning the BLAST Premier Fall Final.
The BLAST Premier World Final will take place in Abu Dhabi from December 14 to 18, with eight teams in attendance and a $1 million prize pool. The tournament, which will bring the curtain down on the season, will be the first tier-one LAN event to feature Anubis, the community-created map that has been added to the Active Duty map pool instead of Dust2.