device to skip first tournament with Astralis following return

Astralis will play with Kristoffer “⁠Kristou⁠” Aamand instead of their star AWPer at Elisa Masters Espoo.

The return of Nicolai “⁠device⁠” Reedtz to Astralis was a highly anticipated move that had been rumored ever since the AWPer decided to step back from the game due to mental health reasons on Ninjas in Pyjamas late last year.

For both Astralis and device it presented an opportunity to return to the top of competitive Counter-Strike, after the organization missed out on a spot at the IEM Rio Major and after the AWPer was sitting on the sidelines for nearly a year.

However, device‘s first official appearance under his old banner will now have to wait until 2023, as Astralis has announced that the star AWPer will not be playing at Elisa Masters Espoo, their last tournament of the year.

In their official statement, Astralis said that device “has immediately become a central part of the team,” and “even though we’re all eager for him to play his first tournament, we have time to do things right without forcing anything.”

Standing in for the AWPer is Kristou, who has spent the last two and half months as a part of Astralis Talent. The 20-year-old Dane becomes the second player from the academy team to step up to the main squad as Mikkel “⁠MistR⁠” Thomsen will continue to play following the departure of Kristian “⁠k0nfig⁠” Wienecke.

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k0nfig and Astralis part ways

Following the announcement, Astralis‘s lineup for Elisa Masters Espoo is as follows:

Andreas “⁠Xyp9x⁠” Højsleth
Lukas “⁠gla1ve⁠” Rossander
Benjamin “⁠blameF⁠” Bremer
Mikkel “⁠MistR⁠” Thomsen
Kristoffer “⁠Kristou⁠” Aamand (stand-in)

Peter “⁠casle⁠” Ardenskjold (coach)