Astralis to play the Major with Anlelele as the five-match rule also rules out cmtry

Astralis have found their solution for the Singapore Major. The Danish club has completed the loan of Anton "Anlelele" Huynh, a 25-year-old Vietnamese player contracted to Sashi, on a short-term deal for the final event of the season.

Why cmtry can't play

Anlelele's arrival is a direct consequence of the same rule that left SunPayus without a Major sticker. For a new signing to count on a team's official roster in Valve's Regional Standings (VRS), he has to play five matches with that team. FUT were knocked out in the quarter-finals of PGL Masters Bucharest after only four matches with Álvaro "SunPayus" García, so their official roster still lists Nikita "cmtry" Samolotov, the player he replaced.

cmtry, a 19-year-old Ukrainian, already plays for Astralis, but as he remains registered with FUT he cannot play the Major for another team. FUT, for their part, have registered SunPayus as their substitute.

What about jabbi?

Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard is still on Astralis' roster and had already stood in for cmtry in three Stake Ranked Episode 5 matches. However, according to HLTV's sources, the Dane will not play in Singapore, and the club has not explained why. Anlelele is listed as the substitute in the registration, but everything points to him completing the starting five.

A name tied to the region-swap controversy

Anlelele is no stranger to the controversies of recent weeks. His Vietnamese citizenship was a key part of Sashi's plan to move to the Asian VRS region, along with the signings of TjP and Hatz. The plan fell apart when Valve introduced a rule requiring a three-month wait before a region change takes effect.

Valve did grant BC.Game an exception after they signed Australian player asap, which Sashi CEO Claus "D0KT0R3N" Nielsen criticised as preferential treatment. Sashi have since parted ways with TjP and Hatz. With the Danish side, Anlelele holds a 1.04 rating over 61 maps, according to HLTV.

Astralis in Singapore

Astralis, the twelfth-ranked European team in the Valve standings used for the 2 November invites, will start the Major in Stage 2, which kicks off on 28 November. Their expected five: Victor "Staehr" Staehr, Love "phzy" Smidebrant, Gytis "ryu" Glušauskas, Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek and Anlelele, with Filip "NEO" Kubski as coach. NEO, incidentally, is one of the ten nominees for this year's HLTV Hall of Fame.

Source: HLTV, Dust2.us.