The Hunden Files 1: The Many Contracts Of Hunden

Despite seemingly being under contract with Heroic until May 2022 Petersen seemed to agree to multiple contracts sent to him by Astralis while he was still bound by another contract

It is our understanding that Nicolai “Hunden” Petersen was under contract with the Heroic organisation from May 2020 until May 2022. However it seemed that he no longer wanted to wait this contract out before joining Astralis and instead entered into a dispute with his organisation while also agreeing to join Astralis. The management of Astralis, aware of his contractual term with Heroic, still persisted in sending him contracts to sign as they looked to bring him on board and facilitate him leaving Heroic as soon as possible.

From reading the mobile phone text exchanges and the subsequent emails that were sent out it was clear that Astralis courted Petersen to join the organisation for some time before his contract with Heroic had expired. In fact, it was agreed in principle as early as March 2021 that he would sign a contract with them and begin working for Astralis while the remainder of his contract with Heroic was under dispute.

On the 8^th March 2021 we see an official offer for the coaching role made from Astralis Director of Sports Kasper Hvidt.

In text conversations with Hvidt on the 19^th March it was stated a contract would be sent to Petersen to review. The only contingency seemed to be the ongoing issue with Petersen’s ESIC ban and communications with ESIC’s commissioner, Ian Smith.

On the 22^nd March Hvidt requested Petersen’s address so they could send him a physical copy of the contract to sign.

The next day Petersen said he had received it, read through it and said it appeared good to sign. Again, the only issue delaying the signature related to the outstanding talks with ESIC.

On the 31st March a Hellosign document was sent to Petersen containing an employee contract.

On the 2^nd April that Hellosign document appeared to have been signed by Petersen and Astralis CEO Anders Hørsholt.

On the 7^th April Hvidt states that it’s nice to have the contract signed.

Towards the end of April an “Astralis insider” sent information to Heroic advising the organisation that Astralis were in contract talks with Petersen. It isn’t clear who sent this or who at Heroic received it but it seems all parties were now aware of what was happening behind the scenes.

On the 31^st May Hvidt once again says they are revising the contract and sending it across for Petersen’s attention.

On the 1^st June Hvidt says he will send the now revised contract to Petersen for signature. Petersen says he will hold back on signing until he has seen what the Norwegian owners of Heroic offer.

All the evidence contained within the extensive documentation shows that, regardless of the contract status, Petersen firmly believed he was working for Astralis and undertook multiple tasks on behalf of the organisation despite still being a Heroic employee. This would all lead up to his decision to attempt to leak tactical documents to Astralis coaching staff ahead of the two teams playing each other at IEM Cologne in July 2021. It is reasonable to conclude, as many did at the time, that Petersen was looking to prove his allegiance to his future employers and to provide his future team with a greater degree of success at the expense of the team he currently worked for. The documentation also shows that he was attempting to have his contract with Heroic voided at this time and Astralis had referred him to legal representation to help him in this endeavour.