Dev1ce leads Astralis to dominant performance at IEM Chengdu
Astralis' Counter-Strike team is flourishing under Nicolai "dev1ce" Reedtz in-game leadership. Currently on a roll even against top teams, the four-time major winner is still putting up incredible numbers too.
On a run
In 2024, Astralis has not lived up to their expectations. Failing to qualify for the PGL Copenhagen Major by losing to 9Pandas in the RMR, the team had to find itself again, benching long-time member Benjamin "blameF" Bremer in the process.
Bringing youngster on Alexander "br0" Bro, the team switched up its roles and put both Martin "stavn" Lund and Jakob "jabbi" Nygaard in more comfortable positions. Moreover, dev1ce moved to the in-game leader position, which he had previously not extensively inhabited.
In its first event in this new constellation at IEM Chengdu, Astralis has been playing lights out, trouncing Copenhagen Major-runner up, FaZe as well as Virtus.Pro in dominant fashion. They've never let their opponents even come remotely close to double-digit round scores in any of the five maps played at the event.
On top of jabbi finding form again and impressing on the server, dev1ce is still firing on all cylinders despite his IGL duties, currently sitting at a +39 kill/death differential over these three matches.
Now firmly locked in the top 4 of the event, the team is awaiting the winner of the match Team Liquid against FaZe Clan, both teams they should be capable of handling if their form were to persist.
Honeymoon or comeback?
The honeymoon phase is an often-observed phenomenon within the Counter-Strike space, allowing teams that have just made roster changes to play at a much-improved level in part due to fewer expectations leading to less pressure on the server.
Unfortunately for many teams, as the form becomes the norm against which the team is judged, many fail to maintain their trajectory, regressing to an extent. If this version of Astralis were to succeed, it would once again reinforce the question mark behind the feasibility of so-called "super teams," rosters of some of the best players in their respective roles teaming up under one organisation.
Astralis had rebuilt its core roster in late 2023, assembling arguably the best Danish players in each position to prepare for Counter-Strike 2 and possibly even win a Major in their home country, a mission it thoroughly failed to accomplish.
On Saturday, April 13 Astralis will be playing in the Semi-Finals of IEM Chengdu at approximately 12:15 pm CET / 11:15 am BST.
