NIP crashes out of yet another important qualifier
Fredrik "REZ" Sterner and the NIP squad are facing challenges as they prepare for ESL Pro League Season 20.
For a brief moment, it seemed like NIP was on the verge of a comeback after a prolonged stretch of underwhelming performances. Under the leadership of Alejandro "alex" Masanet, the team had shown glimpses of resurgence, securing wins against formidable opponents like FaZe, FURIA, and Cloud9.
However, yesterday, NIP's hopes were dashed as they were eliminated from the ESL Challenger Atlanta qualifier after consecutive losses to Monte (#48) and GUN5 (#80). These defeats cost them a spot at the North American LAN tournament.
This setback follows a series of disappointments for NIP. The team also failed to qualify for both the BLAST Premier Fall Final and IEM Rio. In the latter, they didn’t even make it past the open qualifier.
"It’s extremely frustrating to all of us"
In response to the string of poor results, NIP’s Director of Esports, Erik Wendel, took to X to express the organization's shared frustration with fans and the broader community.
- I see what you guys are writing, I see the frustration, I see the disappointment, and I… totally get it. I share your feelings, the team shares your feelings, we all do, Wendel states and continues:
- It’s extremely frustrating to all of us, it’s frustrating to know how good we can be, to have seen how well we can play, it wasn’t always pretty but it was always a team that could fight themselves to a win. To then suddenly find ourselves going in the wrong direction, suddenly losing confidence, suddenly being lost. And it’s not for lack of trying, the guys are grinding long days to get back on track. It's been very tough lately, but we’re not giving up.
Last week, NIP’s head coach, Richard “Xizt” Landström, also acknowledged that the team is currently facing difficulties, further adding to the concerns surrounding their recent performances.
The next challenge for NIP will be ESL Pro League Season 20, where they are set to kick off the tournament against Heroic on Tuesday.