Device leaves Astralis’ CSGO team after five years; moves to NiP

April 23, 2021 | 0 | 81|  Share |  Tweet

#Astralis #CSGO #Device #Ninjas in Pyjamas

To kick off the weekend, Astralis and NiP announced a shocking roster move between the organizations as the Danish team sees device leaving after having him for five years.

The move couldn’t have been more shocking for fans. Nicolai “device” Reedtz, one of the core members of the Astralis roster founded in 2016, is leaving the team. In an even more surprising turn, the legendary player is now going to Ninjas in Pyjamas.

This certainly is one of the biggest rosters moves in recent times in CSGO, and it certainly deserves to be discussed. To fully understand it, let’s take a look at what it means for device, Astralis and Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Device – one of the most accomplished players in CSGO history

Before going further into explaining the move itself, it’s worthy to mention device’s history as a player.

The 25-years-old Danish player started his CSGO career back in 2013, with Copenhagen Wolves. It was there that the Astralis core was formed: device, “dupreeh” and “Xyp9x”.

The core went on through the years having plenty of success, but it’s undeniably that they accomplished the most alongside “gla1ve”, Astralis captain, and “Magisk”.

As for device himself, during these years he managed to lift four Major trophies. He has also been featured on HLTV’s “Best Players of the Year” list since 2014. In the past three lists, he has been a top 3 player, even. An impressive feat, to say the least.

Of course, it’s impossible to ignore other achievements from device. He has won two Major MVP medals from HLTV and over 18 “normal” MVP medals.

Issues with Astralis

Astralis hasn’t been the same accomplished team they once were before the pandemic. The issues within the squad were becoming more and more common since earlier this year.

The situation reached a breaking point recently. During BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, Astralis finished in last place after getting beaten by OG. It was clear that something was going to happen with the team.

Then, during last weeek, Astralis also started teasing roster changes in their official channels. “S1mple”, Na’Vi’s star player, also teased that the change would “surprise” fans.

Still, all signs pointed to either “Magisk” or “gla1ve” being removed in some form from the main roster, at least. Not many had thought that Reedtz would be the player leaving.

Device leaves

As just announced, Device will be leaving Astralis immediately. According to rumors, his transfer costed NiP over USD$1.000.000. Whether this is true or not, one can be sure that buying out device didn’t came out cheap.

As for the remaining of Astralis, with this move, here’s their current roster:

• gla1ve
• Magisk
• dupreeh
• Xyp9x
• Bubzkji

This squad will be playing DreamHack Masters Spring 2021, which starts in less than a week. While Astralis still is a capable team, there’s no doubts that device leaving will take a toll on the team. The DreamHack event will show what can be expected of this new Astralis.

Also, it wouldn’t be a surprise if more changes are underway. It’s hard to believe that having device leaving will fix Astralis internal issues.

NiP’s newest player

As for NiP, device will be joining the team and will play for the organization in the next event they are taking part of: Flashpoint 3.

It’s no exaggeration that NiP and its fans have immense expectations for device. The player resume alone is enough to make this change one of the biggest in the organization’s already long history of roster moves. Jonas Gundersen, NiP’s COO / CGO, further commented on this matter of what device means for the team:

Moreover, it was also revealed that device will be replacing “nawwk”. The 23-years-old Swedish player is being move to NiP’s transfer list after being with the organization for a bit over a year.

What device brings to NiP?

With device in their ranks, the Ninjas now have one of the best awpers in the world on their side. With “Plopski”, NiP’s entry fragger, improving consistently lately, it will be very interesting how him, device and REZ will work together.

This trio have a lot of potential. Having them shine together would be great for NiP fans that just saw the team go through a rough slump before finishing 3^rd-4^th in ESL Pro League Season 13 earlier this month.

Taking in consideration the aforementioned event, this move will definitely build some momentum for the Swedish organization. Having such an accomplished player in their ranks will help them in many ways, even outside the game. For example, he certainly can help some of talent with less experience in the roster, such as “ztr”.

What’s to come next?

If there’s one thing that this roster move proved is that the CSGO scene can take everyone by surprise at random times. In order to keep up, there’s no better way than following our news page!

MJunior

The author

My name is Marcos, I have been following the CSGO pro scene since 2015 but really got into in following games and pro teams in 2016. Used to bet a lot, stopped a bit but never stopped following the esports scene. I'm a student right now so I got a lot of time to keep with it and discover new things.

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