Nikolai Dev1ce Reedtz gets back to the professional scene. At the beginning of December, the Danish sniper will play with Astralis in the playoff of CCT North Europe Season 2. The player was inactive for more than a year. So, where did dev1ce disappear?
Leaving Astralis And Joining NIP
Dev1ce's journey to inactive began with his departure from Astralis. During 2020 and most of 2021, most tournaments in CS:GO went online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And in 2020, Astralis were a strong tier-1 team that not only regularly got into the top 5 major tournaments but won three events and also lost the BLAST Premier Global Final 2020, which took place at the beginning of 2021.
However, the team began to show lousy performance when the new season started. First, the failure at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2021, in which Astralis did not qualify for the spring finals. After that, two medium-level events: 5th-6th places at IEM Katowice 2021 and ESL Pro League Season 13, and the beginning of the season ended for Astralis with a loss after the first match at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2021.
And after that dev1ce left the team. At the same time, it's not true that the other four players of the Danish team did not want to play with a sniper. The Dane still showed excellent individual performance.
Therefore, the obvious conclusion was the voluntary departure of dev1ce from the Danish club, where he spent more than five years and won 4 majors. Yes, Astralis began to show worst results but did the sniper not believe in the roster so much that after a couple of unsuccessful tournaments, he decided to leave? Was there any other motivation for this?
Immediately after leaving Astralis, dev1ce joined NIP. NIP is based in Sweden, and of course, there were rumours immediately that dev1ce moved to the Swedish club to be with his girlfriend, who lived in Stockholm. In the end, it turned out that way, given the continuation of the story.
Because of the girl, dev1ce lived in Stockholm for four years before NIP. Having reached this mark, the sniper decided to completely change his residence and stop going to boot camps in Denmark.
And the deal to buy him has become one of the most expensive in the history of CS:GO. According to insiders, the cost of the sniper was about €875,000. However, how did he perform for the Swedish club?
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NiP Period
To understand what level dev1ce showed in NIP, let's look at the Major events in which the team participated. Recall that the online era had not yet ended at that moment, so there were no LAN events.
Dev1ce's first tier-1 tournament with NIP was IEM Summer 2021. And it turned out to be a failure for the team. At that tournament, the team did not leave the group, and dev1ce showed an average rating of 6. This is not only not his level but also a rather average performance among NIP players at that tournament.
The next event was BLAST Premier Spring Final 2021, where NIP took the top 4, and dev1ce again performed mediocrely, even compared to his teammates. The sniper finished the tournament again with a rating of 6. This is not a problem of adaptation but the difficulty of playing in a specific lineup. Although, the roster has already changed after Dane's arrival. LNZ has replaced Ztr.
All ended with a total failure at IEM Cologne 2021. At the main tournament of July 2021, NIP took 9-12th place. At the same time, Astralis, who had problems with the sniper, reached the top 4. dev1ce performed much better and got a rating of 6.4, but this did not help the team.
IEM Cologne 2021 was the first major LAN tournament after the online era, which is even sadder for NIP because the roster was not ready to return to such events.
The first success for NIP with this roster was BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2021. The Swedish club left the group in first place, defeating BIG and G2. However, what about personal statistics? Dev1ce is suddenly doing well. The Dane rested during the Player Break and showed an excellent rating of 6.7, becoming the tournament's third-best player. But what happened next?
After that, there was an excellent RMR tournament performed by NIP, which they won and received their slot at the PGL Major Stockholm 2021. Their performance at the Major cannot be considered a failure either. The Swedish club made it to the playoffs but was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Top 8 is an excellent result for the year's main tournament, considering that NIP lost to the finalist. Of course, the average rating of dev1ce could be more impressive (6.1), but the team lost too many maps, which affected the rating.
After the major, a turning point occurred: NIP changed its composition. At the same time, dev1ce is directly related to this transfer. Then the Swedish club signed Patrik es3tag Hansen, with whom the Danish sniper previously played in Astralis. At the same time, dev1ce said that the club should consider players outside of Sweden. It was possible to say confidently that the Dane settled into the new team.
Inactive
After that, there were two more tournaments. During IEM Winter 2021, NIP even took second place, and, suddenly, dev1ce went inactive before the final tournament of the year - BLAST Premier World Final 2021. This is how he explained his departure back then:
My mental health has been severely shaken this year for personal reasons and due to the pressure associated with professional performance. <...> I am taking active steps on the road to recovery, and I look forward to returning to work <...> Thank you for your understanding, and I look forward to a brilliant 2022.Nikolay dev1ce Rydtz
Then it seemed that the player was about to return to the team. After all, every player needs rest, especially if he is connected with health problems. However, the rumours appearing before the dev1ce's explanations are worth considering.
Several publications immediately reported that the Dane had broken up with his girlfriend, who became one of the reasons for his transfer to NIP. And from this, many concluded that he would leave the team. And this rumour was also confirmed by the mental problems dev1ce spoke about. However, there were no official reports about this.
Doubts were completely dispelled when dev1ce explained the situation, and fans expected to see the sniper in the main team of NIP in the next season.
However, the season began, and the Dane did not return to the team. Despite this, NIP wasn't rushed to say goodbye to dev1ce and openly talked about giving him time to recover and waiting for his return.
But time passed, and the sniper remained inactive. All this time, the Dane was replaced by Love Phzy Smidbrant from the NIP Academy. But at what point did the Swedish club realize that dev1ce was not worth waiting for?
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Returning Home
Most likely, this happened before PGL Major Antwerp 2022 and RMR. At that moment, NIP removed phzy from the main squad and signed Ludwig Brollan Brolin. By the way, with the departure of dev1ce, NIP had a problem with a sniper, which they can still solve.
After the Major, rumours began to appear that dev1ce was already talking to Astralis about his return. However, insiders said NIP requested about a million dollars, so the transition was delayed.
And in October, after long negotiations, the parties reached an agreement: dev1ce returned to Astralis, who paid €600,000.
The player will play for Astralis on December 4 as part of the CCT North Europe Season 2 playoffs.
What's Next?
Having considered the history of dev1ce, you can criticize him for his blatant unprofessionalism and start worrying about the current Astralis. After all, on paper, everything looks like a Dane chooses a team based on the place of residence of his girlfriend.
However, dev1ce could not have known that everything would turn out exactly like this. Most likely, the Dane really believed in the relationship and took a serious step, changing the team and place of residence. And parting became painful for the player, which could affect his mental state.
Sniper lost motivation for a very long time. However, now there is hope that dev1ce will rest and return to the scene with new strength.
What will happen to the Danish sniper next? We will find out very soon.
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