Finn "karrigan" Andersen has been benched by Astralis and will be replaced by Anton "notaN" Pedersen for their upcoming matches in ESL Pro League, according to a release on Astralis' website.

The short statement says Danny "zonic" Sørensen made the decision to bench karrigan. Further details on the decision and whether karrigan will return to active status in the future were not available. karrigan has played with Astralis since the team formed in January.

Im benched in astralis🎈 pic.twitter.com/VOgkvNBjh6 — Finn Andersen (@karriganCSGO) October 11, 2016

notaN has previously played for über n00bz and Geekunit. Since he has never played in an ESEA league, he is eligible to join Astralis mid-season.

Astralis recently placed 9th-12th at the WESG European Finals and 7th at ESL One: New York. At WESG, karrigan had a 1.07 HLTV average player rating, third on the team behind Nicolai "device" Reedtz at 1.43 and Markus "Kjaerbye" Kjaerbye at 1.13. At ESL NY he was also ranked third on the team, with a 0.97 average rating.

Olivia Da Silva is a news editor at theScore esports. She likes piña coladas, getting caught in the rain and dank no-scopes. You're eligible for free high fives if you follow her on Twitter.