The drama surrounding FLASHPOINT, ESL, and those involved in the battle continues as Astralis CEO and Founder of Astralis Group Nikolaj Nyholm and Duncan “Thorin” Shields take shots at one another over claims made.

After claims by Thorin that Astralis had told FLASHPOINT that they “plan to work with them” when the organization “in reality never planned to,” Nyholm decided it was time to respond.

Ever notice how many plebs imagine lying is fine? As if the law defined morality and was the only set of principles worth living by.



To lie is a literal crime against being, for my money. Saying "it's just business" simply means you consent to evil. — Thorin (@Thorin) February 17, 2020

Opening up with “I can live with @Thorin’s whining, but” already told fans this wasn’t going to be pretty. The man behind Astralis Group claimed Thorin’s lies crossed “one line too many.”

I can live with @Thorin's whining, but his lying crosses just one line too many.



For the record: (bare w my tweetstorm) https://t.co/LtgvHjYWXj — Nikolaj Nyholm (@nikolaj) February 17, 2020

He then begins a flurry of seven tweets providing his recollection of the situation between Astralis and FLASHPOINT. Explaining that the organization had never dealt with Thorin during these negotiations, he went so far as to say that a member of the FLASHPOINT executive team said: “Thorin is an unstable and deeply troubled character but a key to winning over the core and has nominally good ideas.”

He followed it up with another tweet where he mused that Thorin may have been oversold Astralis’ commitment by the executive team behind FLASHPOINT.

ii) Where Thorin has his ’truths’ from is beyond my understanding. Of course, ECS and B Site execs may have oversold our commitment (see iv, below) and Thorin thus led to believe that we were fully committed, when we were indeed not. — Nikolaj Nyholm (@nikolaj) February 17, 2020

Citing discussions between Astralis and the entities behind FLASHPOINT, Nyholm claims that the organiation had brought up “two main concerns.” These were the failures of ECS (product execution / falling viewership) and the lack of top-level teams (outside of MIBR).

He goes on to admit that Astralis did in fact sign a term sheet, but that it was contingent on FLASHPOINT signing two other top tier teams “to give the league some weight.”

iv) We overcame these concerns and Astralis signed a term sheet with B Site on Dec 8. The term sheet was explicitly CONDITIONAL upon B Site signing two other top teams to give the league some weight. — Nikolaj Nyholm (@nikolaj) February 17, 2020

It was at the meeting held by ESL in Paris at which Nyholm says it became apparent their conditional term sheet would not be met. He follows it up by expressing Astralis’ “obligation towards our shareholders to make the short- and long-term financially best choices.”

vi) Astralis Group has an obligation towards our shareholders to make the short- and long-term financially best choices. This will always include an unequivocal commitment towards our employees including our many players, our partners, our fans, and the ecosystem at-large. — Nikolaj Nyholm (@nikolaj) February 17, 2020

While nothing is official yet, with this information we can assume FLASHPOINT will not be bringing in any of the top-level teams which would have seen Astralis also join the fray and give the league at least three tier 1 squads and potentially more given the benefit that would have brought.

He concludes with one last tweet wishing B Site (FLASHPOINT) all the best and taking a final jab at Thorin.

I wish B Site all the best. I do understand that Thorin – however disconcerting an image – mirrors himself in UFC fighters and will cont this lampooning. While he entertains himself we’ll strive to provide world-class CS and serve our fans and shareholders as we can best. — Nikolaj Nyholm (@nikolaj) February 17, 2020

While Thorin hasn’t directly responded to the story bit by bit, he did release a video with a jab of his own. In his own humor, Thorin made a play on Nyholm’s first name, citing its pronunciation as Nik-oh-lie and therefore “lie” itself is part of his name.

A prominent esports journalist and friend of Thorin’s, Richard Lewis, has put out a couple of tweets of his own regarding Nyholm. Calling the Danish CEO “one of the most prolific liars to grace our scene,” Lewis rips on the CS:GO subreddit for believing the information shared by Nyholm.

And today the CS:GO subreddit has decided that Nikolaj Nyholm, one of the most prolific liars to grace our scene, is actually a pretty trustworthy guy. Idiocracy was too generous a view of the future. — Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) February 18, 2020

In a tweet several hours later, Lewis drew attention to a time in which his target had attempted to start talks with

Gabriel “FalleN” Toledo regarding forming a players union which Nyholm himself would fund. The tweet goes on to say that this “was his first play for scene control before he started owning multiple teams and lying about it.”

Never forget that in an alternate and terminally dark timeline Nikolaj Nyholm persuaded Fallen to help found a Nyholm funded player union. That was his first play for scene control before he started owning multiple teams and lying about it. pic.twitter.com/AzZYbvYUvI — Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) February 18, 2020

It doesn’t seem like this will be the end of the road for this tale of drama as we get closer to the reveal of the full team lists and the figureheads for the parties involved continue to take their frustrations and disagreements to Twitter.

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