Quick Stats:
- Full Name: Andreas Franck Nielsen
- Age: 21
- Current Team and Position: Evil Geniuses, Support
- Country of Origin: Denmark
- Top 5 Best Hair on a Pro Player
- Twitter Account
- Twitch Channel
Team Monkey Business [OG] and First Lan Wins
Cr1t joined unsigned team Monkey Business in 2015 when Fly and N0tail started the team. He was a relative outsider to the pro scene, having made a name for himself playing in FPL, an in-house league. Monkey Business enjoyed the notoriety that comes with being a dark horse: they emerged out of nowhere with two unknown players (Cr1t and Miracle) and smashed through the Lower Bracket at the Frankfurt Major to take the championship title. After that, all eyes were on Monkey Business. The team was signed to the OG franchise and won a second Valve Major (Manila) as well as ESL One Frankfurt immediately after. Cr1t and Fly were named best support duo by GosuGamers in 2016.
The Evil Geniuses Era
Unfortuately, team OG finished a disappointing 9th-12th at TI6 and reshuffle madness set in. Cr1t joined EG. Fear retired, PPD moved on to an administrative role in the organization, Arteezy came back (again), and we all collectively didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Cr1t had the difficult job of living up to PPD’s legacy as captain, drafter, and top notch support player.
Since joining EG, Cr1t has enjoyed a number of top-tier placements, but hasn’t won two Major tournaments like he did during his stint on OG. Some have speculated that it’s challenging to play around SumaiL and Arteezy together, as they’re both greedy carries who need lots of assistance from the supports. Cr1t is also a newcomer to a team of really popular players. Some EG fans believe that Cr1t’s given an unfair share of the blame when the team loses, like during TI7.
Now that Fear has pulled a Brett Farve and come back to competitive play, Cr1t has moved over to position 4 and potentially turned over captain responsibilities to Fear.
Playstyle and Position History
I’ve seen people mix up Cr1t and JerAx, at least initially when they joined Tier 1 teams. They both play roaming support and came from the fringes of the professional scene to stand in the spotlight during 2016. JerAx would later replace Cr1t on OG. The odds are stacked against support players when it comes to standing out in games. The carries can make a lot of flashy plays that look good on highlight reels and smash GPM records. The support role is naturally less flashy. It takes more effort for a viewer to appreciate the difficult and complicated positions 4 and 5 and how they impact games. Cr1t made his position 4 a flashy role, pulling off crazy plays and making a huge impact on games that couldn’t be ignored.
On EG, Cr1t moved to position 5 to take over for PPD, letting Zai play in the 4 position that he excels at. If you’re unfamiliar with the distinction, the short version is that the number corresponds to farm priority, so position 4 supports tend to have a little more money to spend on items. Position 5 is the famous poverty player or “ward bitch.”
Moving from 4 to 5 means learning to make do with less, and this is made more difficult on a team like EG where PPD used to be a playmaker with “position 6” amounts of gold. Cr1t tested out a few unconventional heroes in the 5 role, most infamously Puck. Cr1t consistently plays well with EG, but it seems like he hasn’t had the game-changing impact that he used to when he was a position 4 teaming up with Fly.
Now that Cr1t has moved back to position 4 (and zai is playing with PPD’s team The Dire), I think we can expect him to really shine again. It seems like he might be more comfortable playing support heroes in that farm position, and he’ll have trusty veteran Fear to back him up.
At age 21, Cr1t should have several years of competitive play left ahead of him. He’s definitely one of the “new generation” of pros and will likely be shuffled around Tier 1 teams in the years to come.