- The 27-year-old AWPer is finally home
- Astralis hopes he will help the team out of its bad season
- It now has a world-class AWPer in its roster again
After almost a year after he said he wants to come back and play for Astralis, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz’s wish came true.
Dev1ce Returns
Danish esports organization Astralis hasn’t had a good run this CS:GO season. The team failed to qualify for the IEM Rio Major, a situation so severe that even CEO Anders Hørsholt, who normally stays in the background, commented on it. But the latest news from the organization may point to a tide shift in Astralis’ fortunes as the superstar Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz is going to rejoin the roster.
“I can’t describe how happy I am to be home again,” the 27-year-old AWPer said in a statement. “Astralis is very close to my heart and everyone who has been here for a period of time knows that it is a very special organization with great values, lots of internal support, and I am more than ready to help build Astralis’ future!”
The CS:GO superstar comes back to the Danish team less than 18 months after he left Astralis to join the Swedish organization Ninjas in Pyjamas. The deal, which was reportedly worth $700 000 didn’t seem to satisfy dev1ce as just months after entering his new contract with NiP, the AWPer expressed a desire to return to Astralis. Details on the current deal have not yet been released, but, likely, the sum for dev1ce’s transfer was also quite high.
Astralis Is Lucky
Dev1ce’s re-signing is something like a small miracle for Astralis. The organization has been struggling quite a lot this year and it was clear that there needed to be change. Fortunately for the Danish organization, and the AWPer’s personal wishes, last month rumors started floating around that NiP is planning on selling dev1ce. The Swedish organization was hoping dev1ce would usher in a new age for the team, but after that failed to materialize, NiP put him up for transfer.
With dev1ce’s return, Astralis solves one of its biggest issues – the lack of a good AWPer. The Danish organization tried to fill the void left behind when dev1ce parted ways with the organization last year. The team first tried Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen, but after he failed, Astralis called in Philip “Lucky” Ewald, and Farlig. However, neither of them could reach dev1ce’s level.
Having stayed on the sidelines for quite a while, dev1ce may be somewhat rusty returning to Astralis and may need a few months to go back in shape. But Elisa Masters Espoo, a small event in November in Finland with a prize pool of $200K might be just the thing Astralis needs to put dev1ce back up to speed.
