Ninjas in Pyjamas
Hicham Chahine
Emil "HeatoN" Christensen Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg Faruk "pita" Pita
Ninjas in Pyjamas is a Swedish eSports organization which was founded in 2000. The team competed in Counter-Strike 1.6 until their dissolution in 2007. In 2012, the team returned with a now heavily renowned Counter-Strike: Global Offensive squad.
History[edit]
Founding and early history (2000-2002)[edit]
In June 2000, Tommy "Potti" Ingemarsson and Tootzi founded NiP as a LAN-based clan. Over time, more players joined and NiP begins making their mark on the Swedish Counter-Strike scene. Several wins in online and minor offline competitions and leagues ensured their reputation as the top Swedish clan. The early NiP clan changed several names at times and played in a multitude of offline LANs. Their first notable LAN event was at CPL Cologne in December, placing a respectable 4th despite having some players unable to attend and needing several replacements. After winning major Babbages CPL tournament in Dallas, Texas, several players left and new players joined afterwards, most notably, Emil "Heaton" Christensen and Jørgen "XeqtR" Johannessen. A sudden split of the team that spread the top NiP players across two rival teams followed. The two rival teams faced each other in Amsterdam for CPL Holland 2001, where both teams reached the finals of the tournament. After the event, a new NiP was formed consisting of HeatoN, Potti, MedioN, Hyb and XeqtR. Soon after XeqtR was kicked and Micheal "ahl" Korduner plus Vesslan were picked up. After they won CPL World Championships, XeqtR, rejoined the team. NiP had a short-lived 7-man lineup, as Vesslan was soon kicked, followed by MedioN retiring and Hyb going inactive. With their new 5th ScreaM and 6th Dracula, NiP would win two more events before the final Birdie LAN in which afterwards, several players left and HeatoN, Potti and XeqtR went to join SK Gaming, thus ending NiP.
Reforming of NiP (2005-2007)[edit]
Contract disputes in SK Gaming lead to the entire line up of the team leaving. Potti then reformed NiP at the start of 2005 along with HeatoN, Hyper, ahl, SpawN and fisker. NiP had their first tournament since reforming but placing only 3rd at CPL Barcelona. Potti then returned to the main lineup. Soon after several players went back to SK, leaving the current line up at the time to be Potti, HeatoN, walle, zet and ins. Eventually, Potti and HeatoN started to become inactive, being subbed by SpawN and RobbaN. NiP went on to play a few more tournaments, placing 2nd against Polish team Pentagram before the team finally disbanded again.
Domination of the CS:GO scene (2012 September - 2013 April)[edit]
Ninjas in Pyjamas announced their return with a new team for the latest Counter-Strike title, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. NiP signed Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund from SK Gaming, Richard "Xizt" Landström from Fnatic and two players from CS:Source, Adam "friberg" Friberg and Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson. NiP obtained their first victory in Global Offensive online in the Go4CS:GO Cup #6. They then attended and won their first LAN event at DreamHack Valencia 2012, taking the final over VeryGames. The Ninjas then next played at Electronic Sports World Cup 2012, whose Nordic qualifiers saw NiP win it in convincing fashion, not dropping a single map, therefore qualifying and having their trip fully paid for. NiP eased past their group without dropping a single map against Area 51 Gaming, mousesports, ProGaming.TD and LowLandLions. Their trend of being undefeated would continue in the rest of the event, wrapping up with a 2-0 finish against VeryGames. In ESL Major Series Winter Season 2012, NiP sped to the top of their group with a win over every team except for ASES Club, against which they drew. The next LAN event would be DreamHack Winter 2012, where they went undefeated, once again going head to head with and beating VeryGames in the finals. NiP continued with their winning streak through 2012 with Northcon 2012 being their last LAN event of the year. Being placed in a group consisting of CPLAY,MaxFloPlaY and LowLandLions, NiP eases through undefeated and proceeds to the playoffs, where they would get a walkover in the round of 8 before going yet again undefeated to win the tournament over ESC.
In 2013, after several won competitions, NiP would be delivered their first online loss in the EMS One Season Cup #1 after losing to n!faculty in the quarterfinals. Throughout the season, NiP sped past the SLTV StarSeries V online qualifiers, which they finished as the top team with 13 wins and only one loss against Virtus.pro. After few won LAN events such as TECHLABS Cup Moscow 2013 and Copenhagen Games 2013, the StarSeries V Finals was up next. Coming from a strong performance at Copenhagen Games 2013, NiP were looking to continue their LAN streak here as well. NiP eased past ESC with a 2-0 victory before finally being delivered their first international LAN loss and map loss to Virtus.pro, ending NiP's LAN streak and map streak at 87-0.
Continued success (2013 April - 2014 June)[edit]
Following their first loss at SLTV StarSeries V Finals, NiP would attend another LAN at the Raidcall EMS One Spring 2013 Finals where they would go undefeated to win, notably beating VeryGames in the quarterfinals and Fnatic in the finals. NiP would move on the play at the ESEA invite season 13 global finals where they would also take the win versus Quantic and again, notably beating VeryGames at the upper bracket finals. NiP fell to eventual winners Copenhagen Wolves online in the semi-finals of the RaidCall EMS One Summer 2013 Cup #1. NiP would then proceed to win the SLTV StarSeries VI finals and ESEA Invite season 14. A loss in the MSI Beat it! 2013: European finals to VeryGames online in the semi-finals 2-0 would result in NiP unable to attend the MSI Beat it LAN finals. Notably, this loss to VeryGames would be NiP’s first in the rivalry. NiP would then proceed to win a string of online tournaments which are the RaidCall EMS One Fall 2013 Cup #1 online tournament, FACEIT Cup 2013 August, and the RaidCall EMS One Fall 2013 Cup #2. During that period, NiP also proceeded to win DreamHack Summer 2013 and DreamHack Bucharest 2013. The next significant offline tournament ESWC 2013 saw NiP crash out in the semi-finals to VeryGames 2-0 placing them 3/4th. NiP would head in the most significant Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament to date, DreamHack Winter 2013, due to the $250,000 prize pool and as still the significant favourites. Despite being able to overcome VeryGames they were unable to take the win over Fnatic and finished 2nd place. NiP then proceeded to win another online tournament, the Fragbite Masters 2013 and the Svecup Grand Finals 2013, marking the final tournament NiP would win in 2013.
2014 started off with the Dreamhack Stockholm SteelSeries CS:GO Invitational 2014, however NiP were unable to clinch the title from Titan (ex-VeryGames), finishing off in 2nd place. NiP’s first win in 2014 would come from the Counter Strike Forever: London which they would take from Fnatic over a 2-0 win. With a loss in the Game Show League Egamingbets Cup 1 online tournament, NiP would then head into the next CS:GO major, EMS One Katowice 2014. Following significant wins over then Complexity and Dignitas, NiP would lose out the title to Virtus.pro 2-0, taking a 2nd place finish. A 2-0 loss to Titan in the quarterfinals of the Fragbite Masters 2014 and a win in the FACEIT March championship 2014 would round up the period before Copenhagen Games 2014 where NiP would take the title beating Virtus.pro 2-0 in the finals. NiP would win the ESportsventure Cup I before heading into the SLTV StarSeries IX Finals where despite beating Titan to reach the grand finals, they would lose to Natus Vincere and take home 2nd place. Losing out in the FACEIT Spring League 2014, NiP would then win the Mikz Challenge. DreamHack Summer 2014 and the ESPORTSM 2013-2014: Finals would be the next offline events NiP would play in where they would win the first, beating notable teams Titan, HellRaisers and Natus Vincere, but lose in the latter to Fnatic in the grand finals. An online tournament, the Team Dignitas CS:GO SCAN Invitational, would see NiP lose out to Dignitas 2-1 in the finals.
The Decline and changes (2014 June - November)[edit]
NiP would look to take the ESEA Invite Season 16 Global Finals. The tournament proved to be a disaster as NiP would be first knocked down to the lower bracket by Complexity 2-1 in the round of 8 and despite a win over Manajuma, would be eventually knocked out 2-1 by Virtus.pro. This would signify the first offline tournament where NiP has placed outside of Top 4 since the start of the lineup. Shortly following ESEA Invite Season 16 Global Finals, Gfinity 3 would also see NiP continuing their poor performance. Significant losses in the group stages to Epsilon, Fnatic and iBUYPOWER would see them make it out of the group in the last place where they would then lose 2-0 to Dignitas. The 2 offline losses signified the lowest point for NiP. The next CS:GO Major, ESL One Cologne 2014, soon followed. Expectations for NiP to win were questionable due to their prior offline losses. Despite a shaky start in the group stages due to a 16-6 loss to Epsilon, NiP was able to defeat HellRaisers to compete in the main bracket. There, NiP took on Cloud9 (ex-Complexity) where they barely edged them out 2-1 to be able to proceed against LDLC. LDLC were unable to stop NiP, with NiP winning 2-1 to yet again reach the grand finals of a Major. The tournament saw NiP edge 2-1 over Fnatic to take their first Major. NiP would continue to participate in online tournaments such as Caseking of the Hill 5 and Caseking of the Hill 6 which they would win and the CS:GO legends series 1 where NiP would be unable to win over Virtus.pro. More online tournaments and leagues followed such as Caseking of the Hill 7, FACEIT League EU Season 2, SLTV StarSeries XI and the Hitbox Arena Championship 3 all of which NiP would not win nor qualify for the main event with the exception of the SLTV StarSeries XI where NiP would not attend. The next offline event would be the DreamHack Stockholm CS:GO Invitational 2014 where NiP would repeat their poor performance before ESL One Cologne 2014 by being unable to exit the group stages. NiP then participated in the online tournament, Fragbite Masters - Season 3 where they were knocked out in the first stage of the upper bracket and were knocked out by Fnatic shortly after. The next offline event would be ESWC 2014, again NiP displayed a poor performance by being unable to exit the group stages, losing to Platinium, HellRaisers and Titan.
With the string of poor performances both offline and online, Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson would announce his departure from NiP, signifying the first roster change since NiP’s CS:GO inception.
A new NiP 5th and partial recovery (2014 November - 2015 April)[edit]
A day after the official departure of long-standing NiP player Robbin “Fifflaren” Johansson, Mikail “Maikelele” Bill is announced as the stand-in for the roster. The next major, DreamHack Winter 2014 soon approached and the new line-up would be put to the test. NiP would make it out of the group stages only losing to LDLC, they then beat HellRaisers 2-0, Virtus.pro 2-1 to meet LDLC in the grand finals. However they unable to secure the tournament as LDLC won 2-1. NiP started 2015 with the Caseking King of Kings online tournament where NiP, despite making out of the group stages in first, would be knocked out by Virtus.pro 2-0 in the semi-finals. The SLTV StarSeries XII league would also not go well for NiP as despite finishing first in part 1 of the group stages over Dignitas and Epsilon, they would place last in part 2 of groups where teams like EnVyUs* (ex-LDLC), Titan and HellRaisers were present. The next offline event for NiP would be MLG X-Games Aspen 2015. NiP would exit the group stages in first place with wins over Dignitas and KaBuM.TD and a loss to Cloud9. NiP would then beat Fnatic 2-1 to contest the finals against LDLC. LDLC however, took home the tournament with a 2-1 win over NiP. Asus ROG Winter 2015 followed where NiP would be able to take first place. Another offline event followed which would be the Inferno Online Pantamera Challenge. NiP however would not be able to make it out of the round Robbin groups suffering losses from Titan, EnVyUs, Virtus.pro and Fnatic. NiP would then announce that Mikail “Maikelele” Bill would be substituted by Marcus “Delpan” Larsson for the King of Majors I online tournament that followed. NiP would win 2-0 over EnVyUs but lose 2-0 to Fnatic and drop to the lower bracket where they would lose to Virtus.pro for a third-place finish. NiP would then participate in the FACEIT League 2015, where they announced that Aleksi “allu” Jalli would be standing in to replace Marcus “Delpan” Larsson. Soon after NiP announced that Aleksi “allu” Jalli would be signed on with NiP. NiP then played in the SLTV StarSeries XII league online qualifiers where they would take wins over Copenhagen Wolves and FlipSid3 Tactics which allowed them to qualify for the offline finals. NiP then bootcamped in preparation for the next CS:GO Major ESL One: Katowice 2015. NiP would head into ESL One: Katowice 2015 by placing first in their group stages containing CLG, Keyd Stars and HellRaisers. NiP would then face Team SoloMid in the quarterfinals which they would defeat 2-1. Next NiP faced EnVyUs which they would beat 2-0 before facing Fnatic in the grand final. Fnatic however would deny NiP the championship and NiP finished off the event with a 2nd place. NiP moved on to play the Gfinity Spring Masters I where they would finish 2nd place after losing 3-1 to EnVyUs. NiP then headed into the SLTV StarSeries XII league Lan finals where wins over Titan, Virtus.pro and later Team SoloMid would pit them against EnVyUs. However, NiP was yet again unable to clinch the title from EnVyUs and took home 2nd place. On the 27th of April 2015, it was announced that Joona "natu" Leppänen would replace Faruk "pita" Pita as the coach for the organisation. NiP would then attend the CS:GO Championship Series. NiP was able to take down EnVyUs before falling to Team SoloMid and dropping to the lower bracket where they faced Fnatic and lost 2-0 to get a 3rd place finish. NiP will then attend the FACEIT League 2015 Stage 1 Finals finishing at 2nd after losing to Team SoloMid 2-1. NiP would then attend two online qualifiers, the ESL ESEA Pro League Season I Europe and the CEVO Season 7 Professional. NiP would be unable to qualify for the finals of the ESL ESEA Pro League Season I due to their 5th placing with a 14-8 score but will be able to attend the CEVO LAN finals as they placed first in the standings, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, NiP would opt to not attend the tournament.
- * LDLC was acquired by EnVyUs only after MLG X-Games Aspen 2015
Continued fall off (2015 April - 2015 September)[edit]
NiP would go into their next significant offline event, the Gfinity Spring Masters 2 where they were eliminated in the group stages. NiP then participated in the ESPORTSM 2015, a domestic competition, where they would proceed to take 1st place. NiP's next event would be DreamHack Summer 2015 where despite making out of group stages in 2nd place consisting of Natus Vincere, Team Dignitas and Team Kinguin, they would lose 2-0 to Fnatic and finish in 3rd/4th place. The Gfinity Summer Masters 1 was up next and NiP would proceed to make it out of their group in 1st place which contained Team Dignitas, Titan and SK Gaming. They then beat Mousesports 2-0 before losing to EnVyUs 3-0 to take 2nd place in the event. Their next offline event would the ESWC 2015 where despite making out of the group stages in 1st place, they would then lose to Flipsid3 Tactics 2-1 to finish 5th/8th place. During the span of offline tournaments, NiP would simultaneously participate in the FACEIT League Stage 2 Europe qualifiers where placing 4th they were able to attend the FACEIT League Stage 2 Finals. However NiP did not make it out of the group stages consisting of Fnatic, Team SoloMid and Team Liquid due to losing to both Team SoloMid and Fnatic. Following this event, the next CS Major ESL Cologne 2015 would be attended by NiP. NiP would be placed in a group consisting of Team SoloMid, Counter Logic Gaming and Renegades a win over Counter Logic Gaming and a loss to Team SoloMid allowed NiP to receive a high seed which put them later against Renegades where they will win and proceed to the playoffs. In the playoffs, NiP would be unable Virtus.pro and would proceed to lose 2-0, taking 5th/8th place for the first time in a CS Major. However, due to NiP's placing, they would automatically qualify for the next CS Major, Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca 2015. On August 28th, natu announced that he had left his position as coach of NiP, just after a disappointing finish at ESL Cologne 2015.
NiP's 2nd partial recovery and roster change (2015 September - 2016 May)[edit]
NiP's next event would be ESL Dubai 2015 where they will be placed in a group consisting of EnVyUs, Virtus.pro and Cloud9. Wins over Cloud9 and a significant 2-0 win over EnVyUs in the group stages would allow NiP to proceed to the semi-finals where they will then fall to Team SoloMid 2-1 to finish 3rd/4th place. The next event, where NiP would participate was Gfinity Champions Of Champions, where the 4 teams with major wins, would battle it out in order to win $50,000. NiP would finish 3rd/4th (last) after losing 2-3 to Fnatic. The final and last major NiP would participate in 2015 would be Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca where NiP would proceed to the playoffs after placing 2nd in the group stages by losing 13-16 to Titan, then winning 16-11 against Team Liquid and later on beating Titan 2-0. NiP's next opponent would be Team SoloMid who were at that point the favourites. NiP would, however, defeat Team SoloMid 2-0, allowing them to then face Natus Vincere in the semi-finals. Natus Vincere would proceed to defeat NiP 2-0 knocking them out of the tournament with a respectable 3rd/4th finish. Due to NiP making out of the group stages, they would automatically be invited to the next major; being MLG Columbus 2016. After Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca NIP would be invited after coming 4th in FACEIT League Stage 3 2015 Europe to Dreamhack Open Winter 2015, where they will be put in group stages, facing Fnatic, Luminosity and Team Envyus. NiP would start off by beating Team EnVyUs 16-8, then losing to Fnatic 4-16. NiP would later on face Luminosity and lose 1-2 in a Bo3 decider series. The loss would mean that NIP would fail to get out of group stages, finishing 5th-6th. Following the disappointing loss, NiP attended the Fragbite Masters Season 5 Finals where they would see better results with wins over SK Gaming and Fnatic. Fnatic would ultimately defeat NiP 2-1 in the grand finals. This tournament marked the final event Aleksi "allu" Jalli played with the Ninjas.
Rumours went around as to who the next player would be and after much speculation, NiP released a day by day reveal of their new 2016 roster. Following the reveal, NiP would continue to field 4 of their players with the new NiP 5th revealed as Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi. Adding on to supplement the roster, Björn "THREAT" Pers was announced to be their new coach on the 1st of January. Their first tournament with Jacob "pyth" Mourujärv would be an online one, the Global eSports Cup Season 1 where they would make it out of groups before falling 2-0 to Ex-Titan and not qualifying for the offline event. The first offline event NiP would then attend with pyth would be IEM Katowice 2016. Despite wins over The MongolZ and more significantly Luminosity, NiP was unable to proceed to the playoffs due to losses against Mousesports, Fnatic and Natus Vincere exiting the groups in 4th/5th with a 2-3 record.
Despite the poor showing at IEM, NiP would start to focus on preparation for the next Major, MLG Columbus 2016. However, a large setback would put NiP on the backfoot, that being Jacob "pyth" Mourujärv's inability to attend the event due to visa issues. NiP's group consisted of Luminosity, Mousesports and FlipSid3 Tactics. The first game versus FlipSid3 Tactics would see a shaky start, however in overtime NiP would take the map 19-17. Luminosity was their next opponent and promptly shut down NiP 16-5. To proceed to playoffs and ensure their Legend status, NiP would need to win a best of three against Mousesports which they did 2-1 to then meet Natus Vincere in the Quarterfinals. Natus Vincere handed NiP a 2-0 loss, knocking them out of the Major. 2 weeks later, NiP would then attend another offline event, DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 where they would be placed in a group consisting of Team Dignitas, Astralis and Lounge Gaming. A significant loss to Team Dignitas 2-16 saw NiP needing to play Lounge Gaming where they won 16-8 and then had to face Astralis. NiP would proceed to win 2-1 and make it to the playoffs bracket. Significant wins over Virtus.pro and GODSENT would see NiP in the grand finals against the team that knocked them out at the previous tournament, Natus Vincere. This would not deter NiP as they took the win with a 2-0 to obtain their first LAN championship in 2016.
Since the introduction of NiP's new 5th, NiP has been continuously playing in the ESL Pro League Season 3 where they ended the season in first place with an impressive 19-3 record, qualifying them for the ESL Pro League Season 3 Finals. This would be the next offline event NiP would attend. After getting out of groups in first with key wins over Team Liquid and Fnatic, NiP would again face Luminosity in the semifinals where they would lose 2-1 and finish in 3rd/4th.
Varied results (2016 May - 2016 November)[edit]
ELEAGUE Season 1 Group Stage would be NiP's next endeavour, requiring them to attend their group matches offline in the Turner Studios at Atlanta, USA. The format of ELEAGUE is similar to that of the GSL groups where 2 wins are needed to progress, however instead of a best of one, all games were best of three and in the Round-Robin format. NiP would win 2-0 over OpTic Gaming and then proceed to lose to G2 Esports requiring them to win one more set in order to qualify for playoffs. NiP's final set would be against Selfless Gaming where they would win 2-0 to proceed to playoffs. Due to the nature of the groups, NiP would have time to attend several offline events, the first being Dreamhack Summer 2016 where wins over Epsilon eSports in the first game and group elimination set allowed NiP to contest in the playoffs against Astralis. A 2-1 win saw NiP proceed to the grand finals where they fell to Immortals 2-0. NiP would then attend the ECS Season 1 Finals after being able to qualify via the ECS Season 1 Europe League. They will not perform well, losing games to Luminosity and a best of three to G2 Esports to be eliminated in the group stages.
NiP would continue the poor showing in the next Major, ESL Cologne 2016, where they would initially win the opening group stage match against OpTic Gaming but lose to Natus Vincere and critically to FlipSid3 Tactics in a best of three to be knocked out of the Major in groups, losing their Legends status as a result. Again, NiP would continue to show poor results when they lost 2-0 to Virtus.pro in the ELEAGUE Season 1 playoffs and be eliminated.
NiP would then announce that Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi would be replaced by Mikail “Maikelele” Bill a previous stand in with NiP due to the former sustaining a wrist injury. They would then compete in the StarLadder StarSeries Season 2 where wins in the groups against HellRaisers and GODSENT saw them face off Astralis in the quarterfinals. NiP would play well and take the series 2-1 before continuing their run against Cloud9 2-0 in the semifinals and G2 Esports 2-0 in the grand finals to win their second offline event in 2016.
NiP would be unable to maintain their form as they head into EPICENTER 2016 with stand-in Mikail “Maikelele” Bill. Unable to obtain more rounds than Natus Vincere, G2 Esports and Team Dignitas despite having a 4-way tie in map score, NiP would be eliminated from the event in the last place. Meanwhile, NiP had also been participating in the ESL Pro league Season 4 Europe online league. Similar to the previous season, NiP would finish strong, tied with Fnatic with a 19-7 score in maps and thus qualifying for ESL Pro League Season 4 Finals. NiP would finish with a decent result, after scraping through groups with wins over SK Gaming, NRG eSports and FaZe Clan. Another win over Team EnVyUs 2-0 will see then obtain 3rd/4th after then losing to SK Gaming in the semifinals. 2 weeks later, NiP would attend IEM Oakland with Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi back from his injury, where they would be able to make it to playoffs with wins in the group stages against Mousesports, Cloud9 and Heroic. They would then face Immortals in the quarterfinals and beat them 2-0 to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, NiP would take a 2-1 win against FaZe Clan before getting revenge against SK Gaming by beating them 2-1, taking their third and final offline tournament win of 2016.
Freefall & Further Changes (2016 November - 2017 July)[edit]
ELEAGUE Season 2 would be NiP's next offline event. Having finished Season 1 in the top 8, NiP would qualify and be placed into the main offline event in group B along with Virtus.pro, G2 Esports and Echo Fox. Despite a loss to Virtus.pro, NiP made it to the playoffs with wins against G2 Esports 16-5 and later 2-0. However, their run would be cut short as Astralis would eliminate them 2-1.
Following ELEAGUE Season 2, the ELEAGUE 2017 Major Qualifier would be the final event of 2016 for NiP and an important one, as previously they had lost their Major spot at ESL One: Cologne 2016. NiP had to obtain top 8 at this event in order to qualify for ELEAGUE Major 2017. In round 1, NiP would enter the Round 2 high seed match after winning 16-9 against Renegades. In the round 2 high match, NiP would lose against HellRaisers forcing them to face OpTic Gaming in the round 3 low match. There they would lose significantly, 9-16 and be on the brink of elimination where they needed to win the round 4 low match in order to stave off exiting the major qualifiers. However, in a shocking upset, NiP would lose 2-16 to CIS Minor qualified team Vega Squadron. This loss meant that NiP would not attend a Major, breaking their streak of attending every Major thus far. NiP would continue their streak of less than expected results with a 5th-8th in Dreamhack Masters Las Vegas 2017 which was the first tournament of 2017, followed by a 9th-10th place in IEM Katowice 2017.
NiP then announced that Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi would be benched as they sought to recover from the lowest slump they had ever been in. William "draken" Sundin was announced as their new 5th and main AWPer. Despite NiP's change, results continued to be sub-optimal as in their first offline event since the change, StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 3, NiP did not make it out of groups and finished 9th-11th. This trend continued in cs_summit and online in the ESL Pro League Season 5 Europe where NiP placed 5th-6th and 10th respectively. NiP would then head into the 2017 PGL EU Minor Closed Qualifier to try to qualify for the main EU Minor that would then lead to the Major qualifier and then eventually PGL Major Kraków 2017. NiP's disastrous form critically continued here as they would lose 3 games to iGame.com, Red Reserve and Space Soldiers. Despite winning a close game 16-14 against Epsilon eSports, NiP's final loss to Space Soldiers meant that they were eliminated, marking the lowest point in their history so far.
Following the string of abysmal results, NiP made a monumental roster change, benching Adam "friberg" Friberg - one of their longest-standing core members - and adding Fredrik "REZ" Sterner to complete their roster.
The Next Generation (2017 August - 2017 December)[edit]
With the new roster complete all eyes were on NiP to deliver at their first major event in ESL One Cologne 2017, despite going 3-0 in the Group Stage they would be upset by Cloud9 losing in the Quarterfinals 2-1. However at Dreamhack Valencia 2017 their fortunes soon changed only losing one map in the Semifinals to EnVyUs to eventually win the whole event; beating former-NiP member Maikelele's Red Reserve squad and claim their first Major Trophy in eight months; their first with the revamped lineup. Mixed results soon followed however with a Semi-Final exit at DreamHack Masters Malmö 2017 and losses in the qualifiers for ESL One: New York and EPICENTER. A win over mousesports in the Hellcase Cup #6 should've have given the team some encouragement for the upcoming European Minor Qualifier for the Boston Major, but with losses to TEAM5, Heroic and Pride Gaming, NiP would fail to make a Valve Major for the third time in succession. Despite this blow, the team arrived at IEM Oakland with new-found confidence and would go on to defeat FaZe Clan in a thrilling 3-2 bo5 Grand Final and claim back-to-back Oakland titles. However, NiP would go on to have a rather poor finish to the year, placing last at BLAST Pro Series: Copenhagen and 9-10th place at the ESL Pro League Season 6: Finals.
The End of the Longest-Standing Core in CS:GO (2018 January - Present)[edit]
NiP began the year with cs_summit 2 as their first LAN, having missed ELEAGUE Major: Boston due to failing to qualify in 2017. However, the event turned out to be a great disappointment for the Ninjas, as they were taken down 2-1 by Team Liquid in the upper-bracket before being eliminated in last place by Heroic, also with a 2-1 score. This result prompted NiP to bench Xizt and to make way for Dennis "dennis" Edman, and therefore ending the run of the longest standing core in the game, leaving only f0rest and GeT_RiGhT from the original NiP roster.
The decision of benching draken was taken in June. Thanks to an interview from Fredrik "REZ" Sterner for HLTV.org in StarSeries i-League Season 5, we have learned that the team coach pita asked draken to become a support player/AWPer. REZ clarified earlier that NiP had a lot more freedom in the game, giving him and draken the main roles. REZ mentioned that they could have solved a lot of problems by achieving that. But probably because draken couldn’t adapt to the new system, giving up after a few tries, or he just refused to accept the rules, he left the team to deal with problems all by themselves. After Fnatic benched Jonas "Lekr0" Olofsson and replaced him with the ex-NiP player Xizt, NiP took the chance and got Lekr0. After replacing a primary AWPer with a rifler, NiP started transforming into what people would call "Liquid 2.0", a team without a player who specializes in AWPing. However, there is almost no sense in this discussion, as the intrigue was stopped by pita who published an AWP-highlight from dennis on his Twitter.
For the first time in two years, the Ninjas returned to the Major cycle by qualifying for the FACEIT Major in London. They went through the New Challengers stage 3-0, but were knocked out 2-3 in the New Legends stage after losses to Natus Vincere, Team Liquid, and MIBR in close fashion. They followed up the Major with a third place finish at BLAST Pro Series Istanbul, but then a disappointing 5-6th finish at EPICENTER. When they made their way to BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen, they showed dominance, beating teams like Astralis, MIBR, and Cloud9 and tying with FaZe. However, once they reached the finals versus Natus Vincere, they lost 0-2 (10-16, 12-16).
Timeline[edit]
Player Roster[edit]
CS:GO
CS 1.6- Show All
Active[edit]
| Active Squad | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | |||
|
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f0rest | Patrik Lindberg | 2012-08-10 [13] | ||
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GeT_RiGhT 
|
Christopher Alesund | 2012-08-10 [13] | ||
|
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REZ | Fredrik Sterner | 2017-06-12 [30] | ||
|
|
Lekr0 | Jonas Olofsson | 2018-06-05 [35] | ||
|
|
draken (Substitute) | William Sundin | 2019-03-11 [37] | ||
|
|
pita (Coach) | Faruk Pita | 2018-02-01 [32] | ||
Inactive[edit]
| Inactive Players | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Inactive Date | ||
|
|
dennis | Dennis Edman | 2018-02-13 [33] | 2019-03-11 [37] | |
Former[edit]
| Former Players | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
|
draken | William Sundin | 2017-03-13 [28] | 2018-06-17 [36] |  Fnatic
| |
|
|
Xizt | Richard Landström | 2012-08-10 [13] | 2018-04-01 [34] |  FaZe Clan (Substitute)
| |
|
|
THREAT (Coach) | Björn Pers | 2016-01-01 [24] | 2018-02-01 [32] | Retired
| |
|
|
friberg | Adam Friberg | 2012-08-10 [13] | 2017-07-31 [31] |  OpTic Gaming
| |
|
|
pyth | Jacob Mourujärvi | 2015-12-29 [23] | 2017-05-19 [28][29] |  Enyoy
| |
|
allu | Aleksi Jalli | 2015-02-24 [18] | 2015-12-07 [22] |  ENCE eSports
| |
|
|
natu (Coach) | Joona Leppänen | 2015-04-27 [20] | 2015-08-28 [21] | ENCE eSports (Manager)
| |
|
|
pita (Coach) | Faruk Pita | 2014-08-13 [14] | 2015-04-27 [20] |  Counter Logic Gaming (Coach)
| |
|
|
Maikelele | Mikail Bill | 2014-11-04 [17] | 2015-03-18 [19] |  LGB eSports
| |
|
|
Fifflaren | Robin Johansson | 2012-08-10 [13] | 2014-11-03 [16] | Retired
| |
| Reformed NiP Squad (2005-2007) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
|
walle | Dennis Wallenberg | 2005-05-28[4] | 2007-08-30 |  SK Gaming
| |
|
|
miniwalle | Jonathan Wallenberg | 2007-01-17[10] | 2007-08-30[12] | ||
|
|
Tentpole | Kristoffer Nordlund | 2007-03-14[11] | 2007-08-30 | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
face | Johan Klasson | 2007-03-14[11] | 2007-08-30 |  Meet Your Makers
| |
|
|
GeT_RiGhT | Christopher Alesund | 2007-08-14[12] | 2007-08-30 | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
HeatoN (Coach) | Emil Christensen | 2007-08-14[12] | 2007-08-30 |  Stockholm Magnetik (Manager)
| |
| Former Players | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
|
HeatoN
|
Emil Christensen | 2007-01-17[10] | 2007-08-14[12] |  Ninjas in Pyjamas (Coach)
| |
|
|
Bullen | Björn Wall | 2007-01-17[10] | 2007-03-14[11] | ||
|
|
KF3 | Øyvind Magnestad | 2007-01-17[10] | 2007-03-14[11] |  Team Convention
| |
|
|
ins | Oskar Holm | 2005-06-15[5] | 2007-01-17[10] |  Fnatic
| |
|
|
zet | Marcus Sundström | 2005-06-15[5] | 2007-01-13[9] |  compLexity Gaming
| |
|
|
RobbaN | Robert Dahlström | 2006-03-06[6] | 2007-01-08[8] | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
SpawN | Abdisamad Mohamed | 2006-08-14[7] | 2007-01-08[8] | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
Niko | Niklas Johansson | 2007 | 2007 |  Begrip Gaming
| |
|
|
HeatoN
|
Emil Christensen | 2005-01-01[1] | 2006-08-14[7] | Ninjas in Pyjamas
| |
|
|
Potti | Tommy Ingemarsson | 2005-01-01[1] | 2006-03-06[6] | Retired
| |
|
|
vilden | Christian Lidström | 2005-02-24[2] | 2005-05-26[3] | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
ahl | Michael Korduner | 2005-01-01[1] | 2005-05-26[3] | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
Hyper | Daniel Kuusisto | 2005-01-01[1] | 2005-05-26[3] |  Raw Gaming
| |
|
|
SpawN | Abdisamad Mohamed | 2005-01-01[1] | 2005-05-26[3] | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
fisker | Christer Eriksson | 2005-01-01[1] | 2005-05-26[3] | SK Gaming
| |
| Temporary stand-ins | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Replacing | ID | Name | Tournament(s) | |||
|
|
blomstar | Fabian Åkermark | ||||||
|
|
azl | Max Höög | ||||||
| Original NiP Squad (2000-2002) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Join Date | Leave Date | New Team | ||
|
|
HeatoN
|
Emil Christensen | 2001 | 2002-06-14 |  SK Gaming
| |
|
|
XeqtR | Jørgen Johannessen | 2001 | 2002-06-14 | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
Potti | Tommy Ingemarsson | 2001 | 2002-06-14 | SK Gaming
| |
|
|
Potti | Tommy Ingemarsson | 2000 | 2001 |  Eyeballers
| |
|
|
Hyb | Johan Carlund | 2000-10-01 | 2001 |  GameOnline
| |
|
|
Medion | Erik Engström | 2000 | 2002 | ||
|
|
Tootzi | Christoffer Olsson | 2001 | 2002 | antiheroclan
| |
|
|
Vesslan | Johan Ryman | 2001 | 2001 | Nordic Division
| |
|
|
Dracula | Issa Chebaro | 2002 | 2002 | ||
|
|
ScreaM | Patrick Roth | 2002 | 2002 | Nordic Division
| |
Organization[edit]
Active[edit]
| Organization | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | |||
|
|
Hicham Chahine | CEO | 2016 | |||
|
|
HeatoN | Emil Christensen | Manager | 2012-08-10 | ||
|
|
Jens Hofer | Sports Psychologist | 2017 | |||
|
SCREAM | Oleksandr Manziura | CIS Community Manager | 2015 | ||
Former[edit]
| Former Organization | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ID | Name | Position | Join Date | Leave Date | New Organization | |
|
|
yzn | Yacine Laghmari | Streamer | 2015 | 2016 |  GrabbarnaGrus
|
|
|
per | Per Lilliefelth | CEO | 2013 | 2015 | |
|
|
Fiskoo | Niklas Fischier | CEO | 2012-08-10 | 2013 | |
|
|
BUDAK | Anton Budak | Manager | 2014 | 2015 | |
|
|
Patric Jönsson | Interim CEO | 2015 | 2016 | ||
Trivia[edit]
- GeT_RiGhT has played for the team in both Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
- From 2012 September to 2013 April, NiP went on a record-setting streak of 87-0 in LAN tournament map wins that was only stopped by then Virtus.pro containing kUcheR, AdreN, ANGE1, Dosia, Fox.
- Before ESL One: Cologne 2015, NiP had made five straight CS:GO major finals. The CS:GO Majors are DreamHack Winter 2013, EMS One: Katowice 2014, ESL One: Cologne 2014, DreamHack Winter 2014 and ESL One: Katowice 2015.
- NiP has placed top 4 and above consecutively since their inception for every single LAN tournament they attended till the ESEA Invite Season 16 Global Finals.
- The initial lineup consisted of 3 Counter-Strike 1.6 players: f0rest, GeT_RiGhT and Xizt, and 2 Counter-Strike Source players : Fifflaren and friberg.
- Had a strong rivalry with VeryGames and then later on Titan.
- They also had a strong rivalry with Fnatic, previously first appearing when they played under Epsilon Esports.
- NiP are noted for their humour at times such as crab walking with Dual Elites in an official match, buying negevs and recently their "military style" communication during the warm-up phase of a match.
- NiP at times have unexpected tournament runs and wins over opponents that under normal circumstances they would lose to, such runs have been coined by the analyst Duncan "Thorin" Shields and later collectively adopted by the community as "NiP Magic."
- At ESL One: Cologne 2016 they failed to make it out of the group stage at a Major for the first time after losing to FlipSid3 Tactics.
- NiP are the first team in CS:GO to win a large tournament with a stand-in (with Maikelele at SL i-League StarSeries Season 2). SK Gaming later overtook prize money won from winning an event with a stand-in, with boltz at EPICENTER 2017 - winning $120,000 more than NiP did from their tournament win.
- NiP attended every CS:GO Major until ELEAGUE Major: Atlanta 2017. They were required to qualify after being knocked out in the group stage at ESL One: Cologne 2016 but were eliminated in shocking fashion by Vega Squadron.
- They have their own team song, "Standing When It All Falls Down" by John De Sohn. [38]
- NiP are the first team to have won two IEM Oakland events and win them consecutively - defeating SK Gaming 2-1 in 2016 and FaZe Clan 3-2 in 2017.
Team Achievements[edit]
| Date | Placement | Tier | Tournament | Results | Prize | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-11-19 | 1st | Premier |
|
Intel Extreme Masters XII - Oakland | 3 : 2 |
|
$129,000 |
| 2017-07-15 | 1st | Major |
|
DreamHack Open Valencia 2017 | 2 : 0 | 
|
$50,000 |
| 2016-11-20 | 1st | Premier |
|
Intel Extreme Masters XI - Oakland | 2 : 1 |
|
$128,000 |
| 2016-09-11 | 1st | Premier |
|
StarLadder i-League StarSeries Season 2 | 2 : 0 | 
|
$130,000 |
| 2016-04-17 | 1st | Premier |
|
DreamHack Masters Malmö 2016 | 2 : 0 | 
|
$100,000 |
| 2015-03-15 | 2nd | Premier |
|
ESL One: Katowice 2015 | 1 : 2 |
|
$50,000 |
| 2014-11-29 | 2nd | Premier |
|
DreamHack Winter 2014 | 1 : 2 | 
|
$50,000 |
| 2014-08-17 | 1st | Premier |
|
ESL One: Cologne 2014 | 2 : 1 |
|
$100,000 |
| 2014-03-16 | 2nd | Premier |
|
ESL Major Series One Katowice 2014 | 0 : 2 | 
|
$50,000 |
| 2001-12-09 | 1st | Premier |
|
2001 CPL Winter | 2 : 1 |
|
$50,000 |
| About achievementsComplete Results in any Tournament | |||||||
Gallery[edit]
Rosters[edit]
NiP winning at DreamHack Valencia 2017
Logos[edit]
Original logo
Logo from 2005 to 2007
Logo from 2012 to early 2017
Highlights[edit]
2017[edit]
2016[edit]
2015[edit]
2014[edit]
2013[edit]
2012[edit]
Interviews[edit]
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 gurkan "Stentrollet" (2005-01-01). "SK.swe kommer tillbaka som Ninjas in Pyjamas *". Fragbite.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Daniel "velox" Nilsson (2005-02-24). "vilden går till NiP". Fragbite.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Daniel "velox" Nilsson (2005-05-26). "Massavhopp från NiP". Fragbite.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tomas "samot" Hansson (2005-05-28). "NiP rekryterar walle som ersätts av iLight i mTw". Fragbite.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Daniel "velox" Nilsson (2005-06-15). "NiP presenterar sitt nya lag". Fragbite.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Johan "Fajri" (2006-03-06). "RobbaN hoppar in för inaktive Potti i NiP". Fragbite.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Daniel "velox" Nilsson (2006-08-14). "RobbaN fullvärdig medlem i NiP – SpawN spelar ikväll". Fragbite.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 HANCU (2007-01-08). "NiP Without RobbaN and SpawN". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ecto (2007-01-13). "coL release their 2007 roster!". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Gazza (2007-01-17). "NiP announce new lineup". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 atticus (2007-03-14). "face and tentpole join NiP". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 Marc "Nix0n" Nixon (2007-08-14). "New Ninjas in NiP". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Marc "Nix0n" Nixon (2012-08-10). "NiP returns for CS:GO". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen (2014-08-13). "NiP add pita as a strategy adviser". HLTV.org.
- ↑ Tomi "lurppis" Kovanen (2014-08-17). "NiP win ESL One Cologne 2014". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2014-11-03). "Fifflaren leaves NiP". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2014-11-04). "Maikelele joins NiP". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2015-02-24). "Official: NiP sign allu". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2015-03-18). "Maikelele joins LGB". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2015-04-27). "natu joins NiP as coach". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2015-08-28). "NiP release natu". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Petar "Tgwri1s" Milovanovic (2015-12-07). "allu announces NiP departure". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 Joachim Rittfeldt Hofvenschiöld (2015-12-29). "Ninjas in Pyjamas presents: Ninja #3". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Petter "PRIESt" Nilsson (2016-01-01). "Ninjas in Pyjamas presents: Ninja #6". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 BengaCS (2016-08-17). "disco doplan to stand in for NiP". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Milan "Striker" Švejda (2016-08-30). "Maikelele to stand-in for NiP". HLTV.org.
- ↑ Luis "MIRAA" Mira (2016-11-06). "NiP announce pyth return". HLTV.org.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Petter "PRIESt" Nilsson (2017-03-13). "Annoucement: Ninjas in Pyjamas CS:GO Roster Change". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Jacob Mourujärvi (2017-05-19). "As of today my contract with NiP has expired".
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 Lukas Berc (2017-06-12). "Announcement: Changes to NiP CS:GO".
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 Adam Friberg (2017-07-31). "The last couple of weeks I've been thinking a lot what I want to do, keep on playing or try something else.".
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Petter "PRIESt" Nilsson (2018-02-01). "Annoucement: NIP.CS: Coaching team changes and expansion". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Matt Litherland (2018-02-13). "Annoucement: Roster change Ninjas in Pyjamas". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 "An announcement from FaZe CS:GO: #FaZeUp". FaZe Clan. 2018-04-01.
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 Lukas "Kameeleon" Berć (2018-06-05). "Lekr0 Arrives to Ninjas in Pyjamas!". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 "CSGO - Welcome Draken; Thank you Golden". Fnatic. 2018-06-17.
- ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Lukas "Kameeleon" Berć (2019-03-11). "Ninjas in Pyjamas Roster update". Ninjas in Pyjamas.
- ↑ Facebook announcement and Spotify link for the Team Song.
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