He’s one of the best earning CS players of all time and his team has been one of the all-time greats. Today we’re taking a look at none other than Nicolai ‘Device’ Reedtz, the legendary Danish AWPer and star player.
Source of his career
As with many of the great players of this day and age, Nicolai ‘Device’ Reedtz has been at it for quite some time. Starting as a teen, he quicky became fond of gaming as he played with his brother. Now he’s known for his shots in-game with the AWP but at an early age he was known to be a great badminton player. A career he turned down due to a knee injury and a greater passion for video games.
Device entered the Counter-Strike franchise with Source, rather than the 1.6 version as many other Legends have. There aren’t many titles and big achievements linked to his time playing this game, yet when CS:GO was released he was quick to pick up the game and join some notable teams. In 2013 he was able to win some Danish LANs against some of the greatest players of the region, including the 2012-2013 line-up of Fnatic. At this time, Device was already playing alongside one of the other Danish greats, Peter ‘Dupreeh’ Rasmussen. A teammate he would be particularly close to in his career.
Major mishaps
Of course it was hard to get some big titles in at the early stages of CS:GO. Ninjas in Pyjamas was dominating the scene and their challengers were already at a high level themselves as well. Device struggled a bit to get a grip on the international scene but was able to qualify for the first Major of CS:GO. He’d go on to top out groups, as Device and the rest of the Copenhagen Wolves seemed strong and capable of getting a top placement. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, as they finished in 5th-8th place.
The Danish national team, of course including Device, was able to best France in the European Championship and were already looking ahead to the early Major of 2014. Device had since moved homes and joined Dignitas, of course together with Dupreeh. At the first Major of 2014 they were able to take 3rd-4th place which was already a great step up from last time.
With some wins under their belt and other very good placements during the year it seemed as if the team was able to continue that growth, looking towards the second major of the year ESL One: Cologne 2014. Once more, Device and his team came up short and had the same result as in the Major earlier that year, only to drop back to where they started at the third one of DreamHack Winter 2014. With all the Major attendances and Device’s impact, he was acknowledged as the 20th best player in CS:GO of 2014.
Consistently amazing
With another new organisation in the form of TSM, Device was able to win some big titles, yet the Majors still eluded him. The year 2015 was the start of an incredible consistent streak, however. His great performance was awarded the third place on the HLTV best player of 2015 list, something he would repeat in 2016, 2019 and 2020 as well.
TSM didn’t hold on to the roster long though. At the end of the year they dropped the team and Device started anew with Astralis, a now legendary brand. They won their first Major in 2017, at the ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta. This win did seem to come at a cost though. The performance of Astralis was not enough for more titles during the year, which Device explained later on was partially due to his physical condition. He had stress-induced acid reflux, which was a new and constant worry for the incredibly valuable player.
Current dominance
He did seem to get his illness under control in 2018 though, as Astralis showed the world what the Danish dreamteam could do. Winning the FACEIT Major (and so much more throughout the year), it seemed as if there was no stopping the powerhouse that was years in the making. 2019 Turned into a majestic double Major win and despite not being as dominant as they were in 2018, they were again the best team at the end of the year.
That brings us to today. Astralis has showed some drops in quality at times, with play mainly being online and some teammates taking medical leave. Yet the team was ever so strong the moment they regained the full squad and they haven’t shown any signs of slowing down since.
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