NiP change their roster again

The situation doesn’t look good for Ninjas in Pyjamas. It’s been a long time since they set out to become a top team again but the goal still eludes them.

Since 2017, NiP has won a single tournament and it was an A-tier one. Six years of mediocre results, and let’s not forget that this is the team that established the first era of dominance in CS:GO.

Now, at the start of CS2, it’s understandable why they want to achieve more. It’s a new game, the strongest teams in the world have a lesser advantage than they had in CS:GO, and the time is perfect for an epic comeback.

We’ve seen teams like ENCE, MOUZ, and others performing really well all of a sudden in 2023. In NiP’s case, they’ve gone from getting poor and mediocre results to not even qualifying for important tournaments. Right now, they’re not even a top-20 team anymore.

Meanwhile, lots of other competitors, who have no business being in the top 20, are actually there and are participating in S-tier LAN events.

.@THREAT_CS on why @es3tag is the perfect fit 👀 pic.twitter.com/5lEQsDKVgp

— Ninjas In Pyjamas (@NIP) October 25, 2023

The roster change

Hampus was benched after almost three and a half years. This decision couldn’t have come sooner. Because he was the IGL, NiP will have the opportunity to make massive strategic changes. And to be fair, a lot needs to change if this roster is to succeed.

Apart from k0nfig and REZ, who have been playing reasonably well, everyone on this team is struggling. But that’s not even the biggest problem.

At the highest level of Counter-Strike, the individual differences between players are not that big. What makes the real difference in most cases is strategy. A solid strategy will carry you far. A poor strategy will cause you to lose key rounds that end up deciding the fate of the map.

Now that NiP’s IGL was replaced by es3tag, the team will need at least a few months to adjust and find a success formula. Therefore, very little should be expected from them at the ongoing Roobet Cup.

Even Natus Vincere, after they changed their roster, needed several months to adjust. And they have some of the strongest players on the planet.

The only realistic expectation is to see NiP competing in the biggest events next year. Until Spring, they simply cannot do much better than that. But after that point, if the new roster is stronger than the previous one, they might start getting top-8 and top-6 results.

Header: NiP