IDK if people will like this post or not but Counter-Strike's Dev1ce and League of Legends' Caps are 2 of my favorite esports players ever. And both of them are Danish.
So while I was walking home today, I was struck with some food for thought. Who is the Danish GOAT of Esports?
Both Dev1ce and Caps were considered 2 of the greatest prodigies in their respective games at around their times of debut. Both are also considered 2 of the most clutch players in their respective games.
Dev1ce was considered the pinnacle of consistency and reliability during his prime on Astralis from 2017-2019, winning 4 Majors and 2 Major MVPs, tying Coldzera and ZywOo for the most ever. He was one of many moving pieces in the greatest Counter-Strike team of all-time, equipped the best AWP any IGL could ever ask for. Astralis innovated many different setups and strategies (such as their gameplay on Inferno or Nuke) that are still standard to this day, and their team success would've not been possible if not for Dev1ce's ability to never miss the easy shots, ones that flashier players might've choked more often than desired. In 2018, he peaked at a higher level than any previous HLTV #1 winner. And he established himself as the face of the greatest dynasty in CS history. But even before he gained fame AWPing, he was still one of the best riflers in the world early in his career. His consistency as a Top 10 player in the world in his esport completely dwarfs Caps'. And while he is most definitely in the twilight of his career today, he sits firmly somewhere on most everyone's top 5 CS players of all time.
Caps, on the other hand, broke through the LoL scene via individual innovation and mechanical skill expression on Fnatic and G2. He was known for his unique champion picks (Wukong, Vayne, Aurelion Sol), his unpredictable roam timing during the laning phase, and his relentless sidelane pressure in the mid-late game. League of Legends is an esport dominated by the Koreans and Chinese, and Caps plays in what many consider to be the lesser region of Europe. However, his dominance of domestic competition is unparalleled by anyone else in League, even in other regions. And internationally, he has proven to be by far the most consistent challenge that the top tier Korean and Chinese players such as Faker, BDD, and Knight face. In his individual peak in 2019, he made a stronger case to be the best player in the world than any year of Dev1ce's career, even 2018. Surrounded by great teammates on G2, he nearly completed the greatest team achievement in league of legends: the Golden Road. But outside of that year, his teammates have largely been lackluster, much more so than Dev1ce, or even s1mple. Even so, Caps has carried multiple such lackluster rosters much further domestically, or internationally, than any analysts could have ever predicted. Any League of Legends fan that does not hold blind hatred towards western players will have Caps placed as a Top 15 player of all time.
Dev1ce's accomplishments include 4 Majors, 2 Major MVPs (at London 2018 and Berlin 2019), 19 HLTV MVPs, 7 HLTV MVPs in a single year (2nd most ever), and 6 consecutive years of Top 5 on HLTV, including 5 finishes in the Top 3 and 1 finish at 2nd place.
Caps's accomplishments include 1 MSI with MSI MVP, 2 Worlds Finals appearances, 15 LEC Championships, 3 LEC Split MVPs, 1 LEC Season MVPs, and if League of Legends ranked their Top 20 players end-of-year like Counter-Strike did, Caps would have 4 finishes in the Top 10 (2018, 2019, 2020, 2024).
On the on hand, Dev1ce's resume far outclasses Caps's, but on the other hand, Caps is most definitely considered the more culturally significant esport player as by far the only western player to truly rival the eastern greats in League of Legends.
At the end of the day, though, I think Dev1ce is the greater esport player than Caps, and it's not really that close. The point of this post wasn't to put down the loser, though, and I do think Caps is the Second GOAT of Danish Esports players, also by a wide margin to 3rd place.
What are y'all thoughts?