- The rebuilding of NiP’s CS:GO team continues with the Finnish player
- The organization also benched rifler Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora
- NiP says all of this was necessary because the team showed “signs of stagnation”
Ninjas in Pyjamas will now rest its tactical needs upon the shoulders of its new in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen.
NiP Acquires Aleskib
No matter how skillful and experienced individual players are, they all need a good leader to coordinate their efforts. This is why in-game leaders are extremely important in competitive team esports like CS:GO. Because the Swedish organization Ninjas in Pyjamas understands this very well, it has acquired the respected in-game leader Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen.
The 25-year-old Finn formerly played for G2 Esports but was allowed to start exploring new options at the beginning of the summer break in mid-July. He was benched in August when G2 decided to bench him and put 27-year-old Rasmus “HooXi” Nielsen in his place. This sped up Aleksib’s decision on deciding on a new team, eventually landing a contract with NiP and coming in to replace Hampus “hampus” Poser.
The signing of Aleksib is yet another one of NiP’s recent roster shuffles. Not too long ago, the organization also benched rifler Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora. In a Twitter post, the rifler stated that he is sad to leave NiP after being part of it for three years, but is already open to new opportunities.
Why Were These Changes Necessary?
NiP COO Jonas “calc” Gundersen revealed in a statement that these changes were made after the team showed “signs of stagnation.” Despite being a top team, NiP’s recent [performance was not satisfactory. During the BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2022 in August, the team only managed two wins.
Their bad luck continued into September when the Swedish-Danish roster placed fifth in Group A of ESL Pro League following an atrocious start to the round-robin stage, which saw NIP go 0-6 in maps across the series.
“When there's signs of stagnation, new energy might be needed to keep progressing and we think the timing is right to make a larger change than usual; bringing on Aleksib as IGL and moving our communication to English,” Gundersen said.
The addition of the Finish player to the rapidly growing international roster means that the team’s communication will now be led in English. The new changes come just in time for NiP to lock its roster for the upcoming Regional Major Ranking event, where Ninjas in Pyjamas will fight for a place at the IEM Rio Major.
