Richard Lewis Releases Third Batch Of The HUNDEN Files

The veteran journalist presents more evidence of Nicolai ‘’⁠HUNDEN⁠’’ Petersen’s wrongdoings during his Heroic stint 

Richard Lewis had stunned the esports community with the first two editions of “The Hunden Files,” a running series of articles that exposes illegal communications between Astralis and Nicolai “HUNDEN” Petersen while the latter was under contract at Heroic. The Welsh reporter is back with the third edition of his findings. The latest batch shows that HUNDEN played an active role in Astralis’ roster, despite being a Heroic employee at that time.

Latest for Substack: Continuing the Hunden Files, the court filings show that despite working at Heroic Kasper Hvidt tasked Hunden with helping Astralis build the best team possible. https://t.co/QJuwSfqN3q

— Richard Lewis (@RLewisReports) March 29, 2023

Lewis revealed a group of messages between HUNDEN and Astralis' Director of Sports, Kasper Hvidt. The interaction between the two parties proves that HUNDEN was deeply involved in Astralis’ recruitment process, even though he had legal obligations at Heroic. 

The first batch of documents brought HUNDEN’s illegal Astralis contract to light. The Dane had signed the contract on April 2, 2021. He had more than a year left on his Heroic contract at that time. In the new release, the documents show that HUNDEN was already working as a part of the Astralis staff without giving up his Heroic position. 

According to the new documents, HUNDEN collected the phone numbers of potential Astralis recruits and gave them to Hvidt. He also talked about the contract terms Astralis would offer to them and suggested taking sick leave from Heroic so that he could commit more time to Astralis’ player hunt.

HUNDEN identified Frederik “⁠acoR⁠” Gyldstrand as his primary choice for the AWper position at Astralis. Astralis could not land the player as MOUZ signed him for 2 million Danish Krone ($290,000 USD). HUNDEN was furious to miss out on acoR and made no attempt to hide his discontent from the Astralis top brass. HUNDEN brought up Asger “⁠Farlig⁠” Jensen as a potential replacement and asked Hvidt to get in touch with his representatives and get a quote. HUNDEN and Hvidt both agreed that the AWPer needs to be the priority signing. 

The messages also show that Hvidt picked HUNDEN’s brain about using Benjamin “blameF⁠” Bremer as an entry fragger instead of an in-game leader. blameF was still playing for Complexity then. HUNDEN’s list of targets included Patrick “es3tag⁠” Hansen, who is currently a bench player at Ninjas in Pyjamas. 

Hvidt messaged HUNDEN on April 16 to tell him that he likes Philip ‘’⁠Lucky’’ Ewald and asked him to negotiate a transfer fee for him with Tricked. Hvidt, however, told HUNDEN not to disclose that Astralis is interested in signing the player. He also sought HUNDEN’s opinion regarding the player later.  

On April 22, Hvidt gets in touch with HUNDEN again to tell him that es3tag and Kristian ‘’k0nfig⁠’’ Wienecke did not feel confident about a move to Astralis. HUNDEN said he was busy with Heroic all day and expressed his concern that es3tag might talk to Casper ‘’cadiaN⁠’’ Møller and Martin ‘’⁠stavn⁠’’ Lund about Astralis approaching the player. 

There had been more than a month of silence afterward. HUNDEN and Hvidt’s next communication centered around the signing of blameF. Hvidt asked whether or not HUNDEN had talked to the player. HUNDEN replied he did talk with him and things progressed as he wanted. After HUNDEN confirmed that blameF is ready to wear the Astralis shirt, Hvidt said he would draw up a contract soon. 

Hvidt inquired about stavn’s prospects of signing for Astralis. HUNDEN replied that the rifler-cum-AWper is not likely to extend his stay at Heroic and would love to join a ‘’stable’’ team. 

On June 20, HUNDEN told Hvidt that he had a meeting with Heroic’s Lukas ‘’gla1ve⁠’’ Rossander about a move to Astralis. Hvidt revealed that Astralis had just completed the signing of Lucky. 

Their next correspondence took place a week later. Hvidt asked HUNDEN whether Heroic players knew. It’s not exactly clear what the duo was talking about, but it was likely regarding HUNDEN’s covert work for Astralis. HUNDEN replied that he was on sick leave, and he asked them not to talk about Astralis.

HUNDEN told Hvidt on July 2 that he has returned to work, but Heroic are not allowing him to talk to players. In the following two weeks, the two exchanged messages regarding potential transfers. HUNDEN told Hvidt about blameF’s hesitations to join Astralis after the signings of Lucky and Lucas ‘’Bubzkji⁠’’ Andersen. blameF, however, was happy to get k0nfig and gla1ve as his Astralis teammates, with HUNDEN involved in the coaching staff. 

Overall, the article leaks HUNDEN’s repeated breach of his Heroic contract as he intently participated in player scouting for Astralis. Hvidt had full knowledge of the illegal nature of HUNDEN’s actions, and he was heavily involved in the proceedings.