The post-Major transfer shuffle is in full swing, with Astralis being the next team to make changes. The Danish organization has decided to remove Nicolai “device” Reedtz and Emil “Magisk” Reif from their active roster.
device is rumoured to be joining the new 100 Thieves project, sporting the AWP alongside Havard “rain” Nygaard, who also recently departed his long-time team in FaZe Clan.
In the case of Magisk, he was brought in to replace the unavailable Martin “stavn” Lund, but Astralis chose not to renew his contract into 2026.
device’s second Astralis tenure comes to an end. Credit: © Astralis
The legendary AWPer has a storied history with Astralis, winning four Majors, lifting numerous tier-one trophies, and earning the title of the best Counter-Strike team of all time.
However, some people might not remember that he left the organization for a brief period when he joined Ninjas in Pyjamas in 2021. His NIP stint was nowhere near as successful as he had hoped for, and he returned to Astralis a year later.
Unfortunately, device’s second run with the Danes was frankly even more disappointing than his time on NIP. His individual form has been dropping off with each year, and the whole wasn’t functioning well at all.
It was only at the StarLadder Budapest Major that they finally ended their three-year non-qualification streak. However, the result itself was underwhelming, as people became used to with Astralis.
Hopefully, a change of environment is just what device needs to get back into his groove and show everyone why he’s one of the most decorated and best Counter-Strike players of all time.
Will HooXi lead Astralis to former glory? Credit: © PGL
At the time of writing, it is unclear what replacements Astralis have in mind for device and Magisk. They’ll obviously need a new AWPer and probably an anchor player to round out their existing roster.
In their statement, Astralis hinted that a transition to an international roster is a real possibility. This would follow in trend with most other top teams that want to have a bigger pool of players to acquire talent from.
The best examples of successful transitions from a regional to an international lineup would be Vitality, when they changed from a French lineup by bringing in Magisk and Peter “dupreeh” Rasmusen, and more recently, FURIA.
It would be great to see such a historic Counter-Strike organization like Astralis return to the top of the competition in 2026.
Feature image credit: © StarLadder
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