With Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke on the lineup in place of Hampus “hampus” Poser, Group C of the ESL Pro League offers Ninjas in Pyjamas’s first opportunity to make a significant effort with this lineup. Sure, the Dane participated in IEM Katowice with the team, but there was limited time for practice because he was added so last-minute. Despite this, Ninjas in Pyjamas nevertheless succeeded in getting past the Play-In and even managed to steal a map from Outsiders during the main competition.
Despite the less than ideal circumstances, Ninjas in Pyjamas demonstrated their playstyle in Poland and displayed moments of brilliance and promise, indicating that this roster may have some staying power. As was already said, the team picked up several impressive victories, one of which being a series win over Spirit, demonstrating that they can at the very least be competitive.
The lineup’s potential and promise were further demonstrated in two of the three games they played at Katowice, where their new AWPer Daniil “headtr1ck” Valitov was absolutely devastating. Of course, it wasn’t enough to be certain that Ninjas in Pyjamas would win a championship, but it was enough to make them a team to watch in the near future.
Of course, there are some unanswered questions surrounding the present edition of Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin is one of them. The young Swede has long been hailed as the brightest star on the Swedish scene and the rightful successor to Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer.
As evidenced by his HLTV top 20 finishes in 2019 and 2020, Brollan did once appear to be firmly on the path to fulfilling this promise, but in more recent times he has not quite displayed the same level, with this year starting particularly poorly: the rifler is rated 0.99 for 2023 so far, although that is in the context of being one of the more aggressive players.
It’s time for Brollan to perform at his peak level once more and demonstrate that he is capable of becoming the dominant rifler that was projected of him now that the roster has been finalized and k0nfig has been brought in to fill the space-taking roles.
Of course, there are other concerns surrounding Ninjas in Pyjamas besides Brollan’s form. During the next week, these questions—how successfully the ever-fluid k0nfig will be assimilated if headtr1ck can keep up his impressive form, and how the playstyle will fare—will all be resolved, and we’ll know for sure where Ninjas in Pyjamas fit into the hierarchy of top-tier CS.
Has a Ninjas in Pyjamas team that can consistently contend for championships been formed as a result of all the high-profile moves and roster changes in recent years? We will be one step closer to an answer when this group is finished.
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