dev1ce: The Inside Story of the Astralis Dynasty

Joe Craven
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Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz is considered as one of the best players of all time in Counter Strike: Global Offensive. We sat down with him to discuss how he helped build the Astralis dynasty.
When video game fans think of the most dominant teams in esports history, there are a few that come to mind. Arguments can be made for the OpTic Gaming roster that dominated Call of Duty for nearly three titles, or the G2 Roster that continues to command Rainbow Six Siege’s professional scene.
However, one team that should be on everyone’s list is Counter Strike’s Astralis, who have been the most dominant team of the past two years. Among their victories are 2019’s BLAST Pro Series, StarLadder Berlin Major and IEM Katowice. They won all of these grand finals without dropping a map.
Astralis celebrate winning IEM Katowice 2019.
To find out what it takes to build such a staggering esports dynasty, James Banks sat down with Astralis AWPer ‘dev1ce’, who gave us an insight into what it’s like to be a member of such an esteemed esports organization.
Among other things, dev1ce revealed how important minimizing roster changes has been to the team’s success, describing how they have “stuck together”. The core three of himself, Dupreeh, and Xyp9x have played together since 2013.
Similarly, dev1ce shed some light on the physical fitness routines Astralis have famously pioneered, keeping all their roster members in excellent health.
The interview highlights just how hard players work to get to the top of a game as popular as CS:GO.
It doesn’t look like Astralis are going anywhere anytime soon.