Top 20 players of 2021: device (11)

Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz lands the 11th spot in the Top 20 players of 2021 ranking by GG.BET with high impact performances and success in opening duels throughout the year.

Top 20 players of 2021: Introduction

device started out in Counter-Strike: Source as a teenager, playing his first local LAN at the age of 13 before making his way up the ranks until he was teamed up with Henrik "⁠FeTiSh⁠" Christensen for a brief period before the launch of Global Offensive. Having become a consistent force over the years, his early days were far from it, as device was unable to hold a team for long due to a lack of focus, leaving or getting kicked as commitment levels waned.

His CS:GO career started in 2012 with CPH Wolves, in a squad the likes of FeTiSh and Steffen "⁠3k2⁠" Markussen, as well as a young Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen, although he was let go and it wasn’t until his return in 2013, with Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth also on the roster, that he started to make a name for himself. His early days in 2013 didn’t end up in any personal accolades, but by 2014 and under the banner of Dignitas he made the top 20 players of the year list for the first time, in 20th place, as he and his teammates made several deep playoff runs during the year, including at all three Majors.

device at DreamHack Summer 2013 with CPH Wolves

Things only went up from there as in 2015 and now under the orders of Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen the team soared to new heights under the TSM banner, winning the CCS Kick-Off Finals with device picking up his first ever MVP award in Romania. TSM went on to bag four more trophies before the end of the year and device started to become better in the high-pressure matches, which he had struggled with and disappeared in the year before. His total of four MVPs that year were good enough to jump all the way up to third place in the player ranking behind Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer and Ladislav "⁠GuardiaN⁠" Kovács.

Big changes came for device in 2016 as he picked up full-time AWPing duties in Astralis, something he built on from times in which he was a hybrid player. Despite the growing pains and changes in the team, with Markus "⁠Kjaerbye⁠" Kjærbye and Lukas "⁠gla1ve⁠" Rossander coming on board for René "⁠cajunb⁠" Borg and karrigan, device remained consistent and won his fifth MVP medal at the ECS Season 2 Finals. Astralis rose to the top and device landed another third place in the player ranking, this time behind the skyrocketing Brazilians of Luminosity, Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David and Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo.

"I watched demos of all the top AWPers and tried to develop my own style, I made a google doc with which moves I needed to try on specific maps and sides, and then I evaluated which worked for me, and that would be my go-to. Then in the latter part of the year, I used a program that shows an overview heat map and then shows my tendencies and I tried to become more diverse, especially on the CT side." - device about his role change

Astralis won their first Major in early 2017, lifting the first ELEAGUE Major trophy in Atlanta, but the year would soon get tougher as SK and FaZe were the two teams fighting for hegemony while the Danes struggled to keep up, dropping down in the team ranking. Despite that, device still showed his best with 12 EVPs and a 1.13 Big Event playoff rating, but unfortunately he had to miss the end of the year due to a hiatal hernia, ending as the fifth best player of 2017.

device and his teammates would go on to make history in 2018 becoming the most dominant side to ever grace the game, winning ten events — including a Major — with Emil "⁠Magisk⁠" Reif taking over for Kjaerbye in the starting five. The Danish squad counted on their star AWPer and he delivered, winning seven MVP trophies and seven EVP mentions out of 17 events and ending the year with an outstanding 1.24 rating. Despite the amazing performances, he would have to settle for second place as an outlandish Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev topped the year’s player ranking.

device with one of his seven MVP medals of 2018

The story repeated in 2019, as device stayed the path, even winning two Majors as Astralis became the first team to have four Major trophies in their cabinet as well as the only team to only team to win three consecutively. The team continued to break records and remained on top of the world, but the first place in the player ranking eluded the Danish AWPer as this time around not only s1mple, but also a young French phenom by the name of Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut placed ahead of him.

The year 2020 brought with it many challenges, starting with the coronavirus pandemic and the move to online CS, and Astralis started to unravel, with Xyp9x and gla1ve taking leaves citing burnouts while the likes of Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen, Jakob "⁠JUGi⁠" Hansen and Lucas "⁠Bubzkji⁠" Andersen stepped in at different times. Despite the chaos and lack of stability and a gruelling calendar filled to the brim with no travel to pace the time between events, device turned up and claimed three MVP medals and six EVP awards, but had to settle for another third-place behind s1mple and ZywOo. By this time device linked six top 5 player of the year awards in a row — rightfully earning the "Mr. Consistent" nickname.

"I would love to be No.1 on this list before I am done with CS, but if you talk about goals for 2021, the fifth star on the jersey is much higher on that list." - device in 2020

device

2021 Tournament stats

TournamentEvent	Team (place)	Rating 2.0 (in team)	ADR	KPR	DPR	Impact	KAST	Award
BLAST Global Final	(2nd)	1.09 (2nd, +2%)	72.3	0.67	0.63	1.20	69.9%
IEM Katowice	(5-6th)	1.25 (1st, +17%)	77.0	0.76	0.56	1.29	76.4%	EVP
EPL S13	(5-6th)	1.21 (1st, +17%)	80.6	0.80	0.63	1.29	72.0%	EVP
Flashpoint 3	(2nd)	1.12 (1st, +10%)	76.5	0.75	0.66	1.19	70.0%	EVP
IEM Summer	(7-8th)	1.00 (3rd, +2%)	70.6	0.62	0.63	0.98	65.8%
BLAST Spring Final	(4th)	1.02 (3rd, 1%)	67.7	0.67	0.65	1.10	65.5%
IEM Cologne	(9-12th)	1.09 (2nd, +7%)	71.9	0.67	0.62	1.03	71.9%
EPL S14	(5-8th)	1.03 (3rd, +4%)	74.7	0.66	0.67	1.07	66.1%
IEM Fall EU	(1st)	1.35 (1st, +17%)	85.5	0.85	0.57	1.47	75.1%	MVP
PGL Major	(5-8th)	1.04 (2nd, +10%)	72.8	0.70	0.65	1.09	68.7%
BLAST Fall Final	(7-8th)	1.00 (1st, +9%)	77.6	0.69	0.72	1.21	59.7%
IEM Winter	(2nd)	1.27 (1st, +16%)	89.2	0.81	0.61	1.39	71.5%	EVP

5%+ above average

5%+ below average

Closer than 5% to average

device started out 2021 quietly, with a VP mention in his first event of the year, the BLAST Global Final, where Astralis fell to a Natus Vincere that was already starting to show a powerful display of what was to come throughout 2021 early on. The Danish AWPer ended with a good 1.09 rating and 1.20 impact. At the BLAST Premier Spring Groups the Danes floundered with a 7-9th place finish following losses to Ninjas in Pyjamas and BIG, while device had a similar showing with a 1.10 rating and 1.26 impact.

The Dane popped off at IEM Katowice and ESL Pro League Season 13, two of the biggest events in the opening months of the year, getting EVP mentions and putting on vintage performances with 1.25 and 1.21 ratings in boths of Astralis’ 5-6th place finishes.

device left Astralis for NIP at the beginning of the year

Then came the biggest news of the year, as device left his longtime team and teammates to join Swedish side Ninjas in Pyjamas in a massive mid-season transfer. He started off with a bang as he and his new squad had a great Flashpoint 3 tournament, coming in second place with device becoming EVP thanks to his 1.12 rating, 1.19 impact, 76.5 ADR and 70% KAST.

"I think I will leave a better legacy and mark in Counter-Strike history if I can actually [win a Major and create an era] in another team rather than becoming the best player in the world, which is always going to be subjective in some way" - device upon signing with NIP

Things quickly cooled down, though, and the Ninjas finished in 7-8th place at IEM Summer as device and company were stopped in the Group B lower bracket final by Virtus.pro after an opening loss to OG and victories against fnatic and Heroic in between. device ended with a 1.00 rating, low for his standards, which was followed by a similar result at BLAST Spring Final, where he averaged a 1.02 in the team’s fourth-place finish.

The return to LAN at IEM Cologne saw device once again show his best side at the Play-In, where the Dane smashed through LDLC and MOUZ topping the board on both occasions while averaging a 1.42 rating in the tournament’s preliminary stage. He wasn’t able to keep such a high standard at the main event as Ninjas in Pyjamas ran into struggles and an early victory against Liquid was followed by losses to Gambit and Virtus.pro, with the Swedes going home in 9-12th place.

Ninjas in Pyjamas couldn't shake the jitters and ESL Pro League Season 14 was also a difficult tournament for device, where Ninjas in Pyjamas lost two matches in the group stage although it was still enough for a third-place finish to make the playoffs. OG came out on top in the quarter-final against Ninjas in Pyjamas with a comfortable win in the series’ decider as device floundered, ending the match with a 0.82 rating and the tournament with a 1.03. Luckily, Ninjas in Pyjamas's form was about to take a turn for the better.

device shined in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where Ninjas in Pyjamas beat BIG twice and G2 once in their three matches. The Dane dominated and ended with a 1.25 rating, 1.27 impact and 80.3 ADR. Ninjas in Pyjamas followed their BLAST group stage with their best tournament finish of 2021, IEM Fall, where device got his only MVP medal of the year as he put on a display throughout the ten maps his team played. The AWPer ended the tournament with a 1.35 rating in 15 maps as Ninjas in Pyjamas soared to victory over Movistar Riders, Vitality and ENCE in the playoffs.

The Major in Stockholm, Ninjas in Pyjamas’s home, was a big goal for the Swedish team when signing device and early wins against MOUZ and Astralis showed promise, but two losses to Natus Vincere and Gambit left the Swedish-Danish squad hanging on the balance, although they were finally able to secure a spot at the Avicii Arena in front of their fans with an overtime victory against Copenhagen Flames in the deciding Swiss match. Ninjas in Pyjamas were then overwhelmed in the quarter-finals by G2, however, with device unable to put on a big performance as he ended the series with a 0.92 rating in the playoff match and a 1.04 for the whole tournament.

After the Major Ninjas in Pyjamas made a change, this time bringing on device’s countryman es3tag on in lieu of Young Ninjas’ Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng, who’d stood his own during his time in the first team. Ninjas in Pyjamas flew to Copenhagen for the BLAST Premier Fall Finals, the second and final arena event of the year, but they were taken out by the new-look Astralis before being eliminated in the lower bracket at the hands of an unraveling Liquid. device ended the event with another average rating, exactly 1.00.

device distraught after the team's loss at the BLAST Fall Final

Back in Sweden, device had one last hurrah, leading the team at IEM Winter, where he earned an EVP award thanks to a 1.27 rating and 1.37 impact as well as a year-high 89.2 ADR across 11 maps. Unfortunately, he had to cut his tournament short due to medical issues and he stepped away from the starting roster after a quarter-final victory over GODSENT, with Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant taking over the AWP for the final matches of the season, including the IEM Winter semi-finals and grand final as well as the entirety of BLAST Premier World Final.

"NIP and my teammates have been very understanding in letting me work on my mental well-being for the end of the year. I have been taking active steps toward recovery and am looking forward to putting in the work that will enable me to get back to the top of my game and be the best version of myself"

Why was device the 11th best player of 2021?

Although his streak of top 5 finishes in the top 20 has ended after six years, device was still one of the most impactful players in 2021, although he lacked the world-class consistency he was known for in previous years, particularly in big matches. The Dane was the seventh most impactful player, with a 1.21 rating, largely thanks to his 58.7% success in opening duels, 18.6% of rounds with multi-kills and in smaller part his 59 clutches won, making him 9th, 11th and 13th in the three aforementioned categories, respectively.

device picked up several convincing awards, including an MVP performance at the medium-sized IEM Fall Europe, and four EVP awards with two of them coming from Elite level events at IEM Katowice and IEM Winter. The 26-year-old never had a bad event, but there were several in which he was merely decent, meaning he could always contribute but also there were times in which he wasn’t playing at the star level he has accustomed everyone to.

A hectic year took a toll on device, who will hopefully be back and ready in 2022

Other notable statistics for device in 2021 were his K-D difference (+455, #8), opening kills per round (0.13, #10), rating and rating at Elite events (1.14, #15 and #10, respectively), kills per round (0.73, #14) and AWP kills per round (0.33, #15), all of which contributed to his placing just outside of the top 10 best players of the year.

That said, a lack of world-class performances was mostly felt in important matches, where he disappeared in a way no other player of his stature did as he averaged just a 1.02 rating in the 34 maps classified as Big matches compared to his 1.17 in all of the other maps, which is what ultimately prevented him from breaking into the top 10.

Stay tuned to our Top 20 players of 2021 ranking and take a look at the Introduction article to learn more about how the players were selected. This year's ranking is supported by:

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