NIP GM explains recent roster changes: We messed up a lot in mid-rounds
In an interview with Pley.gg, Björn "THREAT" Pers discusses the challenges and missteps in assembling the roster under Alejandro 'alex' Masanet, and the team's decision to move in a new direction."
Last week, Ninjas in Pyjamas responded to a series of disappointing results by benching their captain and in-game leader Alejandro “alex” Masanet.
The decision comes after a period of underperformance, including struggles in online qualifiers, failure to qualify for important events like BLAST Fall Final and IEM Rio, and a disappointing campaign at the ESL Pro League, which appeared to be the final blow for the Spanish IGL.
NIP’s general manager, Björn “THREAT” Pers, sat down with Pley.gg to discuss the decision, admitting that he made mistakes in constructing NIP’s most recent lineup.
Mid-Round Struggles: "Messing Up a Lot"
When NIP announced alex's benching, they pointed out that his IGL profile was not the right fit for the current roster. THREAT elaborated on this decision, explaining that despite alex’s abilities, the team’s performance in critical moments revealed deeper issues.
- After ESL Pro League we had enough data to see that we're not progressing as fast as we want to, so we decided that we had to change something. In this case there were some in-game problems that I think a lot of people could see as well, THREAT says to Pley.gg.
In a YouTube video, he also noted that the “current constellation of players doesn't mesh well," something we asked him to clarify further.
- I think that goes into alex’ in-game calling style and the players we had in this team. In a lot of mid round situations, I think it was very clear from the outside that they messed up things a lot. And if you just took every player in a vacuum and ask them what they should do in this situation, they would all know the right answer. It's not about them being bad CS players. It's just with this constellation. Like getting the communication to work and having a mid-round call that everyone can react to quickly in a stressful situation - we didn't manage to get that to work with alex and this constellation of players.
“We were wrong”
Pley.gg reporter: You said in the YouTube video that Alex isn't the right fit for this new roster. But isn't that the first thing you look for when building a new team - that your IGL is the right fit?
- That's a very good question. So the way we do it is we talk to players, we let a lot of people at NIP talk to the players and we gather as much data as we can – and we obviously have all their demos from their previous teams.
- But when you make a complete overhaul, it’s so hard to predict exactly how the team is going to function for instance in all stressful scenarios on LAN. And at that part, it’s a guessing game. I mean, in other sports for example football, you have a lot more players, and they can change and they can test a lot more so they actually know this before they make a decision. This is not the case in CS. You have to go in blind in some regards and just make the best possible guess. As of this constellation of exactly these five players, then we were wrong.
- When I say we were wrong, it's very important to see the differences like we make guesses knowing not all guesses would be right. And with the information I had at the time, I might have made the same decision today.
Pley.gg reporter: Can you understand if some NIP fans or people in the community may see this as an unambitious move in your quest for becoming a top tier team again?
- Yeah, absolutely. I can completely understand that. It’s part of being NIP that there will be extra high expectations, but we have to be realistic about where we are right now and not pretend, we are somewhere else.
- Obviously, the absolute best players want to play in the absolute top teams. As long as we are not one of those teams, getting those players will be harder. The only way to truly change that - I mean, me and Erik Wendel can sit and be super nice in all the interviews - but at the end day, you need results to eventually attract the players. If I could sign the best players in the world tomorrow for free – that would be very, very interesting. But that's not the reality we live in. People need to understand that we're not blind to these things, but I think that the number of choices an organization has in the eyes of the community is usually way bigger than it is in reality.
Alejandro "alex" Masanet is now on the bench at NIP - Photo credit: Ninjas in Pyjamas
Pley.gg reporter: Why did you decide to pick an academy player instead of going on the market for a free agent, benched player or even an IGL for another team?
- I'm always exploring the markets at all times. Like: “What good deals are out there?” I think every other team does this as well. And we're always trying to make the best pick, so it's not like we're sitting here thinking, “Oh, are we picking an academy player or are we picking this star player?” We are picking the player we deem best for the role.
- But we're always exploring if we can get like a big signing that would improve the team, then we will make that call. And that’s something that every player in the team knows. It's, you know, high performance. We're trying to get the NIP back there. And right now, MisteM was the best decision.
