NIP hampus casts doubt over dev1ce’s return to CSGO team

NIP captain Hampus ‘hampus’ Poser has indicated that he still doesn’t know when or if Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz will return to the team.

The Danish AWPer, widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of the Counter-Strike franchise, has been out of action since December as he continues his recovery from mental health issues.

NIP have remained tight-lipped about dev1ce’s situation, which in itself has contributed to speculation about his return to action. Last month, former 100 Thieves and Cloud9 coach Aleksandar ‘kassad’ Trifunović said it was “messed up” that NIP were “casually pretending nothing is happening” with their star player, signed only last year from Astralis for a reported $700,000 fee.

With the new tournament season just around the corner, hampus expressed relief that the team has been able to pull itself together after losing dev1ce, and noted that morale in the camp is high.

“It felt like we never really knew who to play with when dev1ce was gone,” he told Expressen. “Now we get to play with the same team and everyone is here and happy. Everybody wants to be here.”

NIP will play their first match of the season on August 19, against Astralis, in the BLAST Premier Fall Groups. But the buzz is all about the IEM Rio Major in November.

Questioned about the team’s lineup for the Brazilian event, hampus all but ruled out dev1ce’s return in time for the event, and stressed that they are not thinking about the Danish AWPer.

“This is the team we have now and I hope it stays that way,” hampus said.