It’s time for the Grand finals at WePlay Academy League!

NiP’s Young Ninjas are taking upon mousesports’ NXT in a Best of 5 series with a map advantage due to coming from the upper bracket.

Young Ninjas

mouz NXT

With Erik "ztr" Gustafsson being loaned out to the new GODSENT roster, Young Ninjas needed a new in-game leader. And who else to turn to than their old IGL Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng?

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- We get LNZ back, another player who's developed a lot here also winning a trophy with us, so we are definitely ready for the new season, NIP state on Twitter.

Here the announcement of Erik "ztr" Gustafsson extending his contract while being loaned up also was revealed.

The 20-year-old Swede has joined his old teammates after being sidelined and eventually released from Young Ninjas in August 2022. LNZ has also been part of the main roster in NIP in 2021, where he ended his tenure at the senior squad by winning IEM Fall, which is still the only trophy won by the Swedish Ninjas since 2017.

Young Ninjas recently won WePlay Academy League Season 6, so it is with great expectations, that Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng will take over the reins from ztr.

Ninjas in Pyjamas

The Swedish academy team Young Ninjas is our WePlay Academy champions after they took down Spirit academy doing the final. Dust2, Vertigo, and Nuke were the tree maps standing between Ninjas and the trophy. Despite getting behind 1-0 doing the Bo3 series, the young team from Sweden played well on their own map Vertigo winning the map 11-16. The decider came out on Nuke where Spirit found some early success, but down 1-4 Young Ninjas started to press the speeder winning the last 16 out of 20 rounds to take the map 8-16. Young Ninjas take home the trophy and $42.000.

16-7 (Dust2) | Artem 'ArtFr0st' Kharitonov 23-11 K-D / 103.2 ADR / 1.70 Rating

11-16 (Vertigo) | Sean 'eraa' Knutsson 29-17 K-D / 103.7 ADR / 1.54 Rating

8-16 (Nuke) | Max 'maxster' Jansson 24-13 K-D / 96.4 ADR / 1.59 Rating

MVP: Sean 'eraa' Knutsson 60-51 K-D / 85.8 ADR / 1.19 Rating

WePlay Academy League Season 6 Top three:

Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced the signing of a new academy team featuring Erik “ztr” Gustafsson, Sean “era” Knutsson, Adam “Adamb” Ångström, Max “maxster” Jansson, Linus “nilo” Bergman, and head coach Ahmed “Abdi” Abdi.

The team has already been playing for a little while together and are currently attending in the CCT North Europe Series 1 Closed Qualifier event, where they yesterday secured a 2-0 victory over EC Brugge to advance to the play-ins.

After having been a part of the NIP organization for more than a year, Linus "LNZ" Holtäng, Love "phzy" Smidebrant, and Anton "Sapec" Palmgren are leaving the Swedish academy team.

"LNZ" and "phzy" have both had the pleasure of being temporary stand-ins on the main Ninjas squad, and are now looking to get in touch with other organizations.

"Sapec" on the other hand has already found a new home with Hellslayers, a team that features Swedish veterans "flusha" and "JW".

With three going out, the Young Ninjas have three new ones coming in. The new Ninjas are 17-year-old Adam "adamb" Ångström, 17-year-old Max "maxster" Jansson, and 15-year-old Adrian "7EMPORARY" Mehrara.

phzy

Sapec

There are many good reasons to follow CS:GO matches today.

At WePlay Academy Season 2 Finals we are spoiled with some of the most promising talents, that are fighting for the first prize of $45,000.

BIG Academy

Fnatic

MAD Lions

forZe

Natus Vincere Junior

If you ask the Counter-Strike community which nation has been the most dominant and paramount in the history of the game, the majority will most likely point towards one certain European country.

The Swedish CS:GO scene has produced a myriad of legendary figures in Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg, Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, and many others. The big Scandinavian nation, embodied in Fnatic and Ninjas in Pyjamas, also dominated the very beginning of CS:GO, winning four out of the first six Major Championships.

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However, every great dynasty has its end, and for the Swedish CS:GO scene, it was no different.

We have sat down with f0rest to hear what he believes caused the collapse of the great Swedish dynasty, and why the Swedish CS:GO scene isn’t as dominant anymore. When speaking with the former NIP superstar, one particular aspect seems to appear – The unwillingness to grind your way to the top.

- The Swedish players feel kind of entitled because Sweden always has been presented as one of the best nations in Counter-Strike. Because of that, some people expect to be a great star player right off the bat and to join an already tier-1 team. But people are not fighting together as a team to reach that goal collectively.

The quality and the grind that Danish players are doing, is what’s lacking in Sweden. The Swedish scene hasn’t really committed to the lower-tier teams in the way Denmark has, where teams have stuck together and made the grind to reach the top, f0rest explains and continues with his comparison between the two neighbouring countries:

- What Denmark does right, is that they nurture and have a lot of really strong teams in lower-tiers that grind their way up towards the higher ends. Heroic for instance, they came from battling in tier-2 to now being a stable Top 5 team in the world (…) At the end of the all, we just need to see more Swedish teams stick together longer and actually grind and try to make it work.

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Fnatic has this year gone from being a fully Swedish roster to an international team with the signing of the British trio ALEX, mezii, and Smooya. 

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Swedish players in Top 30 Teams (HLTV’s world ranking):

f0rest's way to the top of Counter-Strike

Long before becoming one of Counter-Strike’s most accoladed and greatest players in history, f0rest recalls a time and a period where he alongside some of his fellow friends were trying to break through to the professional scene.

- When I started playing Counter-Strike there was already a lot of Swedish pro teams, where I only played with four of my friends. We all had the same goal to reach LAN events or just do something. During that path, we all became really good, because we all wanted the same thing – to become great players and a great team.

We didn’t make it that far, however, we did a few upsets as a team, and that was enough to get recognized and picked up by a better team. You got to grind – I think that’s the way to do it because it’s not up to others to show you the way.

I don’t think it’s as hard to get recognized now, as it were be back in the day. There are a lot of tournaments you can play right now. So just get in there and make sure you have four teammates, who are playing for the same reason as you.

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NIP's iconic roster who managed to set up a massive 87-0 map streak (From left to right: Fifflaren - GeT_RiGhT - friberg - xizt - f0rest)

The upcoming PGL Major is set to be held in Sweden’s capital of Stockholm, with the $2 Million tournament being the first Major in over two years. Sweden’s best hope for an overall victor will undoubtedly be NIP, after their impressive win at IEM Fall.

Despite the iconic Ninjas’ great success lately, Sweden will only be going to be represented by a historically low of five players at the PGL Major – the lowest in Major history.

The number of Swedish players at selected Majors:

PGL Stockholm Major (2021): 5 {cflag:SE} players

Starladder Berlin Major (2019): 7 {cflag:SE} players

IEM Katowice (2019): 12 {cflag:SE} players

FACEIT Major London (2018): 11 {cflag:SE} players

DreamHack Winter (2013): 21 {cflag:SE} players

The two Swedish mastodonts in Ninjas in Pyjamas and Fnatic has in recent years tried to strengthen the Swedish talent pool with the creation of Young Ninjas and then also Fnatic Rising. The creation of these academy teams is something f0rest sees as a very positive direction.

- NIP is doing something right with giving LNZ a shot, being a young player from Young Ninjas and now has won IEM Fall. That will hopefully give some motivation for younger Swedish players to see that it’s possible.

That grind, where you develop at a certain pace and get a feel out for the game is a healthy way of doing it, in my opinion. Jackinho and the Young Ninjas players on NIP have been thrown into tier-1 competition and are expected to deliver results right off the bat.

I think the future of Swedish Counter-Strike looks brighter than it has in the last few years. There are a lot of upcoming talents who are beginning to pop up within the scene, and it feels like the Swedish CS:GO has got reignited and realized “Hey, we are not so bad after all”, f0rest concludes.

You can watch the entire interview with f0rest in the video below.

f0rest

GeT_RiGhT

Jackinho

friberg

Xizt

Fnatic Rising

During a match yesterday at WePlay Academy League Season 2 against NAVI Junior, the Young Ninjas profile Erik "ztr" Gustafsson was placed in an impossible 1v5 situation on Mirage. The 17-year-old rifler had already given up round, however, that didn't stop ztr from taking some casualties with him. 

The Young Ninjas player sat his sight on m0NESY, who was placed on B looking up at apartments with his AWP. The rest you have to see for yourself.

The second season of the exciting WePlay Academy League is about to begin this Tuesday, with the new tournament format once again presenting a myriad of promising and talented youngsters. The new season will kick off with a fierce Scandinavian brawl between Young Ninjas and Astralis Talent from 17:00 (CET). 

mann3n

Yesterday, the first-ever WePlay Academy League was concluded after a thrilling Grand Final between Young Ninjas and mouz NXT. The two promising teams are the academy teams/talent programs under NiP and mousesports and are both two rosters that possess a lot of talent in their lineup.

 It was mouz NXT who ran away with the win at WePlay Academy League Season 1, as they secured a 3-1 win in the deciding match. Despite the win by mouz NXT, it was the Swedes who presented the highlight of the game. 

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At one round during the third map on Nuke, Young Ninjas' Tim "Mann3n" Isak pushed the T's near ramp only equipped with a deagle. Without any hesitation, the young rifler stripped down the entire mouz NXT roster in a beautiful ace, which only took five seconds to get. 

The youngsters of mousesports took down Young Ninjas in the Grand final of the WePlay Academy League Season 1 to claim the title. Àdám “torzsi” Torzsás and company impressively finished the job in a clean three map series, leaving Young Ninjas with only one map on the scoreboard that they brought as advantage from winning the upper bracket at the event.

mouz NXT’s torzsi lead the charge for his team in the Grand final with an overall rating of 1.60, finishing on top of the scoreboard in every single map that was played. He dropped 70 frags in total across the series, 44 of them being AWP kills, and 96.6 ADR to help his team claim the title in Kyiv.

Mirage: 25-8 K/D – 120.8 ADR – 94.4% KAST – 2.15 Rating 

Nuke: 24-15 K/D – 79.6 ADR – 70.4% KAST – 1.30 Rating 

Inferno: 21-11 K/D – 97.4 ADR – 80.0% KAST – 1.53 Rating

Overall: 70-34 K/D – 96.6 ADR – 80.0% KAST – 1.60 Rating

torzsi

The WePlay Academy League Season 1 Group Stage has come to its conclusion on Sunday, after mouz NXT, Young Ninjas, and BIG Academy secured the Top 3 spots to advance directly to the seasonal finals. The Brazilians from FURIA Academy have been eliminated, and the remaining teams, fnatic Rising, NAVI Junior, Astralis Talent, and VP.Prodigy are set to play for the final spot at the $100.000 tournament next weekend.

The Swedes from fnatic Rising have been seeded the furthest in the Play-in stage after placing fourth in the round-robin, while NAVI Junior await one round behind, preparing for take upon the winner of VP.Prodigy vs. Astralis Talent.

19:00: NAVI Junior – VP.Prodigy / Astralis Talent winner

19:00: fnatic Rising – NAVI Junior / VP.Prodigy / Astralis Talent 

Take a look at some of the best highlights from the tournament right here:

NAVI Youth

VP.Prodigy

Astralis Talent

FURIA Academy

The promising talents and academy players from mousesports are currently in the lead in the Group play, with the Germans from BIG right behind them. mouz NXT have 7 victories and are looking to get another one against BIG at 17:00 (CET).

With Flashpoint 3 done and dusted, the European RMR rankings have been updated.

1. Ninjas in Pyjamas - 1860 points (Legend status)

4. mousesports - 1600 points (Challenger status)

6. Vitality - 1480 points (Challenger status)

7. Astralis - 1280 points (Challenger status)

8. FunPlus Phoenix - 1040 points (Challenger status)

9. DBL Poney - 900 points (Challenger status)

10. Complexity - 700 points (Contender status)

11. Sprout - 600 points (Contender status)

Several teams have transferred points from the 2020 RMR race, which is the reason why NIP is leading the rankings despite only finishing second at Flashpoint. It is expected, that there will be two more European RMR events before the Major in Stockholm.

It’s time for the quarter-final at BLAST Rising where the Young Swedish Ninjas take upon SKADE for a place in the semi-final. SKADE are favorites going into the match, but will the Young Ninjas be able to take them down?

SKADE

Entropiq is big favorites in today’s game against Young Ninjas, although Patsi is playing instead of Forester, who has been in great form for Entropiq.

The stand-in Patsi has also been in great form, and he has a rating of 1.21 in the last three months when he has had the opportunity to play.

Watch if Young Ninjas can create an upset against Entropiq here:

Patsi

Forester

Entropiq

REPUBLEAGUE TIPOS Season 1 sees the Young Ninjas clash against Sinners. The Young Ninjas are the famous Ninjas in Pyjamas team's academy team and offer a closer look at the most promising and interesting prospects of Swedish Counter-Strike. 

Both teams have started their tournament campaign with success and are currently sitting on a 1-0 record. Which of the two teams is going to prove themselves the stronger roster today and take home their second victory of the tournament? You can watch the Bo1-series LIVE right here: 

SinnerS

While ESL Pro League is taking a hiatus, there is a lot of matches going on at the lower tiers of Counter-Strike.

At Snow Sweet Snow 3 it is day three of the tournament. Two teams will be eliminated today in the Swiss Group Stage.

9.00: OFFSET - Galaxy Racer (elimination match)

9.00: Young Ninjas - TRIDENT (elimination match)

OFFSET

TRIDENT

Galaxy Racer

32 teams have been cut down to eight in the qualifying phase for Snow Sweet Snow 3. On the last day, six teams were fighting for three spots in the Swiss Group Phase. 

Young Ninjas faced Albania's Blink and won 2-1, while fellow Swedes Galaxy Racer and Portuguese OFFSET booked the other two remaining tickets.

These eight teams are ready for the main tournament:

SKADE, Tricked, Trident, Nordavind, Wisla Krakow, OFFSET, Young Ninjas, Galaxy Racer.

The first round of Snow Sweet Snow 3 starts on Monday.

After the transition of Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson from Young Ninjas to the senior roster of Ninjas in Pyjamas, the academy team is now complete once again.

With the addition of Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng, the Swedes are ready for the upcoming Svenska Elitserien Spring 2021.

Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng has played previously for British teams, and also represented the Swedish team Prima alongside with Jack "⁠Jackinho⁠" Ström Mattsson (now Fnatic) and Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson. 

Frederik "⁠JAEGARN⁠" Andersson (coach)

The Young Swedish Ninjas have completed their roster and will tonight make their debut with coach Frederik “JAEGARN” Andersson right now against Project X. Have NiP found the right talents and future superstars? 

Project X

The Young Ninjas roster have been set and are ready to compete on Friday at 19:00 (CET) against Project X in the first round of the Shadow League Season event with Tim “Mann3n” Isak, Erik “ztr” Gustafsson, Anton “Sapec” Palmgren, former flowskola duo Linus “nilo” Bergmand and Love “phzy” Smidebrant in the starting lineup, as well as coach Frederik “JAEGARN” Andersson on the sideline.

“Embarking on the journey of academy squads while focusing on providing extra value to the Swedish grassroots is one of the most exciting things we’ve done for a while. The guys we’ve picked here are a great mix og leadership, talent and raw skill. It’s our ambition that the Young Ninjas will be the pathway into the A team in the future, and we’ve got a lot of formidably interesting tournaments lined up for the guys to prove themselves in. Can’t wait to see this project evolve over the next years – we’re in it for the long run,” the NiP Chief operating officer, Jonas Gundersen said.

Live: Grand Final (WePlay Academy League)

Young Ninjas vs. mouz NXT – Watch the match live here.

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