On December 10, Swedish team NIP announced that Nikolaj «device» Ridtz will not appear in the roster at the final stage of IEM Winter. He will be replaced by Love «phzy» Smiderbrant, a sharpshooter on Love's youth roster. He will play already in the semifinal match against G2.
The cybersport organization explains that device «felt bad the day before, and the doctor advised him to rest and recuperate». Its representatives specified that the test for COVID-19 was negative, but despite this, the player was given time to rest.
The prospect of playing without a device will make things much more difficult for NIP, as Ridtz was previously third in the individual rankings at IEM Winter, behind only Nikola «NiKo» Kovacs and Jame «Jame» Ali, who played significantly fewer cards. Now NIP can only hope that phzy will be back in action in time for the last tournament she will compete in this year – BLAST Premier World Finals kicks off just two days after the end of IEM Winter.
Meanwhile, nineteen-year-old phzy will face the most significant challenge of her career. He has posted an average rating of 1.11 over the past three months, but has never played against top-20 opponents during that time. Thus, the match against G2 will be his first performance at this level.