The life and times of device – Part 1

Life and times of device part 1
Image credit: ESL

If you are a huge esports fan and you tend to watch a lot of CS:GO professional matches, then you must have heard about Nicolai “device” Reedtz. The Danish superstar is leaving a huge mark on the CS scene and we can without a doubt say that Reedtz is one of the best CS:GO pros of all time. This week, in our two-part series, we take a look at the Astralis AWPer.

Nicolai Reedtz in brief

Nicolai Reedtz was born on September 8 1995 in Vejle, Denmark. Surely in his early years, he never imagined that he would become one of the best CS:GO professional players out there.

At the time of writing, Reedtz is a part of Team Astralis where he plays alongside other Danish players. So far in his career, he’s played for four teams in total. The Danish AWPer started his career in the Copenhagen Wolves as “device”, where his results were fairly mediocre and no one would have guessed what he was capable of.

In 2014, device was brought in to refresh a very solid Dignitas lineup. However, he never found his footing there and not long after that, he was on the lookout for a new CS:GO team.

Device csgo awper
Image credit: ESL

The breakout year for device turned out to be 2015 as he was finally able to put himself on the map. Team SoloMid were already an established organization and the only thing they lacked was a quality AWPer. They finally got that in Nicolai who quickly topped the charts.

However, management problems occurred during his time in Team SoloMid, and in 2016, device joined an all-Danish CS:GO roster: Astralis, where he found his family. If we forward to 2020, we can see that Reedtz still proudly represents the Danish stars and Astralis are considered the best CS:GO roster out there.

Personal life

Just like every other professional player, Nicolai started gaming early in his life. His main influence back then was his brother.

Despite his mother saying that he was not a straight-A student, he still got the job done when it comes to school. Back when he was 5 years old, Nicolai also got into sports – he played badminton and was very good at it.

At one point, young Reedtz was approached by the best badminton team in his town but he refused to sign with them. Later on, he injured his knee and that sealed his badminton career.

Like most on the competitive gaming scene, Nicolai did not get the support he needed when he was still a teenager. Who listens to a teenager talking about going pro into gaming?

At the time of writing, Nicolai is in a happy relationship with Emilia Hult, a popular Swedish Twitch streamer. The Danish AWPer also adores his dog, Ace.

Device’s social media profiles and Twitch

Just like most popular CS:GO pros, device has a large following across all social media. If you’d like to check out what he’s all about, you can follow his profiles here:

  • Twitter – @dev1ce – followers: 303,000
  • Instagram – @devveking – followers: 238,000
  • Twitch – @device – followers: 170,000

If we are to talk about activity, you will not see a lot of Nicolai on Twitch. However, he is very active on both Instagram and Twitter where you will be able to find pictures from events and an insight into his personal life.

On top of that, you can also follow him on Twitter where he often talks about the game and new CS:GO updates, so if you’d like to pick up some tips from the best, that’s a golden opportunity.

But this is just device, the human, one side of the coin, and we intend to expand more on his esports career. In the second part of our series, we talk about his achievements in CS:GO, so do not miss out!

And if you would like to learn more about the esports elite, check out our pieces on xQc and Forg1ven:

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