Ninjas in Pyjamas failed to qualify for CS2’s first Major, and that has forced Counter-Strike 2’s most disappointing team project to click the reset button.
The report of NiP’s dissolvement got out on Monday stating that the organization will drop three players—Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke, and Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov. This is coming just days after their failed attempt to qualify for the PGL Copenhagen Major.
The squad’s next appearance is expected to be at the BLAST Premier Spring Showdown in early March, but they will evaluate their competitive position ahead of the competition.
There’s a possibility that NiP may pull the plug on CS2 altogether, considering that they failed to qualify for a top-eight finish at the BLAST Paris Major last May, which led to captain Aleksib’s departure for NaVi, almost leaving the Swedish organization for doom.
In September, the team failed to deliver during the ESL Pro League Season while also getting eliminated from several tournaments against mixed-level opposition.
2024 hasn’t started well either, with embarrassing performances at IEM Chengdu open qualifiers and back-to-back demolitions at the hands of G2 at BLAST Spring Groups. After the humiliation at the BLAST Spring Groups, they then failed to qualify for RMR, which was the final decider.
However, despite all the ups and downs, Frederik “REZ” Sterner will remain NiP for his seventh year at NiP alongside Spanish in-game leader Alejandro “alex” Masanet, who only joined the team last November.
NiP’s last tier-one CS trophy is almost three years old, but with their RMR defeat last week, the org will miss its fourth Major in history.
If the organization wants to participate in the next BLAST Spring Showdown, NiP will have to build a team before March 6. That team may be built around its academy, with Max “maxster” Jansson and a returning Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin, who has been on loan to MOUZ since early January.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
