Denmark’s top Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team will be forced to compete on home soil without its star player due to illness.
Astralis’ Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz fell ill after the team’s attendance at IEM Oakland on Nov. 15. Facing an early exit from the event, dev1ce promptly returned to Denmark, where he has been advised to not compete in any games or events in the near future, according to Astralis.
This means dev1ce will not appear in the remaining games of the Esports Championship Series fourth season, which are played online, or the opening week of the Blast Pro Series.
The Danish superstar has been pivotal in Astralis’ success. Noted for consistently as an AWPer and rifler, dev1ce has held on to his title as the strongest player out of Denmark for close to three years.
As a result of his medical leave, former Team Liquid rifler Jacob “Pimp” Winneche will be used as a stand-in for the seventh and eighth week of the ECS group stage. Sitting at the top end of the table, Astralis look likely to attend the league’s LAN finals in Mexico on Dec. 15.
Pimp will, however, not be competing at the Blast Pro Series this weekend. Instead, Swedish pistol star Dennis “dennis” Edman will be filling in for that event. Dennis is currently benched from GODSENT having moved across from Fnatic in August.
