Three out of five players from the NIP roster were moved to the bench today, NIP announced in a press statement.

Alongside the benching of Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke, Patrick "es3tag" Hansen, and Daniil "headtr1ck" Valitov, NIP has also chosen to shake up the coaching staff parting ways with coach Daniel "djL" Narancic and analyst Thomas "haste" Dyrensborg,

To fill the void left by these departures, NIP has promoted Max "maxster" Jansson, Leo "Silence" Ingvarsson, and Maoz "BluePho3nix" Paz from the Young Ninjas project. Additionally, Björn “THREAT” Pers joins as coach on a temporary basis.

In a letter to the fans, NIP looks ahead to a future, where the organization is “well-positioned to capitalize” on the opportunities to come.

- We expect the next few months to present many interesting opportunities and we are well-positioned to capitalize: we have a strong financial position, top-tier infrastructure and a ton more data on what makes a good CS2 player. Most importantly, though, we have an established philosophy of practicing and managing all the things that constitute vibes, and a player mindset that fits that philosophy. A few months from now, a new squad of Ninjas will rise from the ashes, and the whole team is working with a clarity of purpose that infuses us with hope for the future. Whether it all works out, we cannot predict — but we expect our fans to keep holding us to account. That is the purpose of this letter: for you all to be able to follow along as we try our damndest to make it back to the top, where we belong.

You can read the full statement [link:{"url":"https://nip.gl/pages/a-letter-from-nip-management","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

k0nfig

headtr1ck

es3tag

Ninjas in Pyjamas

First, he was in. Then he was out. Now he is back again. All within two years. Patrick "es3tag" Hansen was announced today as the replacement for Hampus "hampus" Poser, who was kicked from the team today. The former Astralis, Cloud9, Complexity, and Heroic player rejoins the roster after having been benched for the entirety of 2023.

On Twitter, the General Manager of Ninjas in Pyjamas, Björn "THREAT" Pers elaborated on the roster move. 

- Hampus has been an integral part of NIP since he joined in 2020, and we have gone through both good and bad times. Now, NIP needs a change of direction, and hard decisions have to be made. After a lot of evaluation, we came to the conclusion that our first step would require Hampus moving to the bench. I am certain that he will bring value wherever he goes and will be a formidable opponent in the future! It is also with excitement that I can announce that es3tag has been brought back to the main roster! Patrick is a very unique player being able to always provide what the team needs, even bringing the AWP back in 2022. No matter the task he always brings a huge amount of contagious positive energy that we in NIP will make sure to harness as we enter the CS2 era.

Björn "THREAT" Pers himself was hired as the new GM for NIP a month ago, and he already stated that changes were imminent to the team. THREAT has previously been the head coach for NIP and also worked as a Counter-Strike Technical Director for the team.

According to Swedish GM, there will be more changes announced soon. Until then Patrick "es3tag" Hansen will take over the role of in-game leader.

It is the second time that Hampus "hampus" Poser has been benched on NIP. The first time was at the start of the year when the 24-year-old Swede had to take a break from competitive competition due to medical conditions. 

hampus

The current climate of the professional CS:GO scene might be the most competitive it has ever been. With very little separating the top 20 teams, perhaps beside the likes of FaZe and Natus Vincere, there is certainly no shortage of great CS:GO teams that all strive to become the absolute best they can be. 

With great teams often comes great players and there is no doubt that the current CS:GO climate is booming with talented, experienced, and clever Counter-Strike players who, if put in the right environment, can all become icons of the scene. 

However, putting together a CS:GO roster isn't always about having the most talented aimers onboard. You need a balanced mix of players who can fill different roles and work great together, something that is rarely seen on the scoreboard. 

In a video created by Betway Esports, 26-year-old "es3tag" was asked what his ultimate CS:GO dream team would look like if he had no restriction in putting it together. Whilst "s1mple" features as a part of the Dane's dream team, some of the choices he makes for the remaining four players might come as a surprise. Take a look at how "es3tag" puts together his CS:GO dream team and see if you would have picked the same players as he did: 

Patrick "es3tag" Hansen was a key part of FaZe's success during the BLAST Premier Spring Groups. The 27-year-old Dane came in as a stand-in for the Norwegian veteran Håvard "rain" Nygaard who took a break due to childbirth. 

With es3tag coming in and delivering such a great performance throughout all three matches that FaZe played at the event Twistzz doesn't understand how NIP could replace a player like es3tag. The Canadian aim god has high praises for the Dane after nine days as teammates. FaZe Clan went 3-0 with es3tag on the roster and became the first team to qualify for Spring Final after they took down OG 2-0 in their final match yesterday. 

The known and popular host James Banks also believes that stats aren't everything in Counter-Strike and es3tag is a great example of that.

Read more about es3tag and his incredible tournament in the article below:

[slugORMA:{"slug":"es3tag-delivers-impressive-performance-faze-qualifies-blast-spring-finals","isNewTab":true}]

Twistzz

FaZe Clan has been on fire during the first three games of the new 2023 season. Despite es3tag coming in as a substitute for BLAST Premier Spring Groups, the mixed European roster has shown great CS throughout all three games. FaZe became the first team to qualify for the BLAST Spring Final after they took down OG with a convincing 2-0 scoreline. 

Patrick "es3tag" Hansen came in as a stand-in for rain who took a break due to childbirth. Many thought that this could lead to FaZe performing at a lower level since es3tag was put on the bench by NIP in December and the Dane hasn't been performing well for NIP during the last three of the 2022 season. But with the performance that es3tag has shown throughout the tournament, the 27-year-old has been taking the CS community by storm with his impressive play and stats during the event. 

es3tag averaged 1.11 Rating / 1.06 Impact / 74.9 ADR / 0.66 KPR during the three games at BLAST Spring Groups. 

There is no news about es3tag returning to the active line-up for NIP in the near future. However, es3tag has shown that he can play in different lineups and still perform at a high level.

FaZe

In a statement released on Twitter, tournament organizers from BLAST admitted to a “lack of clarity” in the recent “k0nfig-gate” incident. The statement began by acknowledging all the confusion that has transpired around the roster lock for the kick-off of the 2023 season.

According to the statement, FaZe Clan had submitted a roster change for this week’s Spring Groups due to rain missing out on the event and had requested the use of k0nfig, which was denied as the player was registered on another team’s roster for the event. In the process, there was confusion around whether the subsequent emergency substitution request was formally accepted and validated by BLAST in time for the event.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"es3tag-announced-stand-in-rain","isNewTab":true}]

After reviewing the incident internally, BLAST identified miscommunication and a lack in clarity from their side on the roster lock timings and k0nfig's eligibility to play in BLAST Premier Spring Groups. The tournament organizers stated that this is not how they typically operate and they will be looking into strengthening processes and communication with teams, specifically around roster locks.

BLAST ended up working closely with FaZe and found a solution by letting es3tag compete with the team. In addition, it was also stated that should FaZe Clan face NiP later in Spring Groups, es3tag will be unavailable to play in that match, a circumstance that both teams are aware of and have accepted.

On Thursday, FaZe Clan’s request to use Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke as a stand-in for the BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 event got denied by the tournament organizers. The Danish rifler was already registered as a substitute on Heroic’s roster for the event, which made him unavailable for FaZe.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"now-faze-k0nfig-rejected-stand-in-blast","isNewTab":true}]

As a result, the tournament organizers allowed FaZe to register a different player who was not listed on another team’s roster as a substitute. Within hours after receiving the bad news, the team announced that Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, who currently is sitting on the bench in Ninjas in Pyjamas, will be stepping in as a stand-in for the event.

However, tournament organizers from BLAST have stated that es3tag will not be permitted to play against Ninjas in Pyjamas, should FaZe and NiP face off against each other in the event. The two teams are placed in separate groups but they could potentially meet in the elimination bracket, should neither team top their group.

FaZe Clan’s first matchup at the event starts today at 12:00 (CET) with a match against the North American squad from Complexity. You can watch the match live on Pley.gg

Bet on BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 right here:

There were a lot of expectations and hype from the CS:GO community when Cloud9 announced the creation of their so-called ‘Colossus’ roster.

With Henry “HenryG” Greer and his pioneering way of running a team added with the signings of an experienced IGL Alex “ALEX” McMeekin, a superstar AWPer in Özgür “woxic” Eker and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen on the rifle, what could go wrong?  

Yeah, so why did this project end up being the failure it was?

That’s something es3tag has opened up about in a recent [link:{"url":"https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/ace-en-cs-go-podcast-episode-113-m-es3tag/id1520187852?i=1000591238396","isNewTab":true,"text":"podcast"}] called “Ace – a CS:GO podcast”, pointing towards several key factors including ego issues from a certain Turkish player.

- The project started a bit rocky because woxic did not perform very well on our team, es3tag said in the podcast. He had a playstyle where he always had to make the decisive peek that won us the round. For example, on Inferno where you jump past mid to spot an AWP and then you peek down there immediately. After all, he had been doing that for three years. And fair enough to him, he was a Top-20 player the year before using that peek. But everyone knew that now. But he kept doing it in Cloud9 and he kept getting punished for it. So, it's hard to play CS when you don't realize that what you're doing is so predictable.

- If we were going to play around the AWP, we needed someone we could lean on and not someone who is constantly dying and doing things solo. But there was just a cultural difference and language barrier that was difficult to overcome. Communication was not as good as it should be. We spent almost three months [working] on just that. (...) We had some problems from the start because when we worked really hard, we had some players who couldn't really realize their mistakes. And when we sat down and talked about it, they disagreed, even though there were five people saying that it was wrong. 

[slugORMA:{"slug":"media-cloud9-bench-entire-roster","isNewTab":true}]

es3tag explains in the podcast that Cloud9 began to show promise and a better level around February and March, in a period where he was playing the AWP. The Dane recalls a particular victory against FURIA at ESL Pro League S13, which provided them with a bit of hope for the future. Nonetheless, it was too late as the organization pulled the plug on the roster a few days later.

- I think it ended too soon. I can kind of understand it, but then again, I can’t. If you have thrown in so much money, then you have to keep it for more than six months, come on. But it was also difficult for me to say yes to Cloud9 in the beginning, and it was solely because of the salary they offered that I chose to join.

A salary that was around $1.4 Million dollars over three years (approx. 9 Mio. DKK), was confirmed in the podcast. The salary was also a topic that es3tag touched on in the podcast.

- If there are such huge salary differences in the team, it may well create some discord. I felt that if I get paid so much more than someone else, I have to work twice as much. Some of the teams and players who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, don't understand this. They don't understand that there can be discord if you get paid so much more and then you don't work at all.

If you want to hear the entire episode with es3tag then follow one of these links (it's in Danish which means the abovementioned quotes are translated by us).  

[link:{"url":"https://open.spotify.com/episode/3Gzo55s3I08S1LLNIZnkPK","isNewTab":true,"text":"Spotify"}] 

[link:{"url":"https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/ace-en-cs-go-podcast-episode-113-m-es3tag/id1520187852?i=1000591238396","isNewTab":true,"text":"Apple podcast"}]

woxic

ALEX

Cloud9

Kristian ‘k0nfig’ Wienecke {cflag:DK}

The Danish rifler has been consistently synonymous with controversy over recent months, yet the prevailing opinion still remains that he deserves further shots at the big time, and I couldn't agree more.  I doubt that a top 20 team will pick him up before the roster-locks of the new season continue to slam doors shut but if a team like NiP perhaps don't make as many waves as their plans for the year would hope for, he would be an outstanding pickup. Who knows he could even be in line for a sensational return to Astralis if their fortunes don't improve. If I’m a team like OG or ENCE, I am immediately enquiring about the possibility of signing the Danish superstar at earliest convenience.

The Ukrainian rifler didn’t have the easiest time during his stint with Na’Vi, never fully being given any job security, but he deserves to be mentioned here, having by no means hampered their pursuit of greatness and even securing the trophy at BLAST Premier Spring Finals. Now, do I think that he is entirely suitable for a team containing the greatest of all time? No, but he is clearly a serviceable support player and any top 20 team would surely be enriched by his addition. Due to the ongoing political situation, there sadly aren’t many options for the Ukrainian to pursue within his region, so a team like OG could be a solid shout moving forward.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"most-notable-free-agents-benched-players-cs-go","isNewTab":true}]

Mateusz ‘mantuu’ Wilczewski {cflag:PL}

The Polish AWPer has been inactive for a while but absolutely deserves another shot at the big time. While a little inconsistent, it’s hard to see how he hasn’t found another team since being benched by OG back in July. Once again the names of ENCE and NiP reappear as potential candidates for his signature if their year gets off to a less than ideal start, or perhaps a hop across the pond to save NA with the ailing Evil Geniuses.

The Danish hybrid hasn’t made the best of life choices since abandoning Heroic while his ex-teammates now sit atop the HLTV rankings as the best in the world. With underwhelming forays into North America under his belt with Cloud9 and Complexity, the ‘brightest star in the Danish night sky’ has since been benched again by NiP. Role turmoil and a change in IGL did nothing to help the Dane but yet another relative failure has left him with very little option moving forward but a team like Sprout might benefit from his experience.

mantuu

Ninjas in Pyjamas announced the benching of the Danish Rifler a short while ago on Twitter.

- In preparation for the next year we've been evaluating the team composition overall, and have moved Patrick "es3tag" Hansen to the bench, and are allowing him to explore new opportunities ahead of the 2023 season. Patrick has been a fantastic teammate, colleague, and player to have at NIP. We have nothing but good things to say about him, and we are sure he will find success where ever he goes next, NIP state.

The change comes after a lackluster year, where the Dane has played as an AWPer, rifler, and Support Player filling out the gaps on the team. It is expected that NIP will try and solve their issue with not having a dedicated AWPer on the team by bringing in a new Sniper to the team. With Aleksib on the roster, the language has switched to English, which opens up the market for finding a new replacement.

Patrick "es3tag" Hansen commented on his situation right after the news broke out.

- Benched by Ninjas in Pyjamas. A bumpy road, but I'm standing here at the end, proud of what we've accomplished. I will be taking my time to properly gauge what's next for me. Wishing the best for my teammates and NiP, it's been a ride I'll always remember.

The benching could open up for a return to Astralis for Patrick "es3tag" Hansen, who left the Danes to join Cloud9 in November 2020. The Danes are currently chasing a new permanent fifth member.

But in the end, the individual class of FaZe was enough to edge out the Swedish Ninjas. After the match, we spoke with Patrick "es3tag" Hansen, who had some mixed emotions after the match, where NIP had the opportunity to win against the PGL Antwerp Major winners, but lost it all on the floor of Nuke. On the other hand, NIP showed, that the current lineup has the potential to be among the best in the world.

You can see the interview with the Danish NIP player here.

NiP’s Patrick “es3tag” Hansen is currently to be found in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he and the rest of his team are participating in the BLAST Premier Fall Final event. Today at 19:00 (CET), they are going up against s1mple and company from NAVI in the quarter-finals to find out who will meet FaZe in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Cs.money.blog caught up with es3tag ahead of the Fall Finals, to talk about NiP’s plans for the future, the roster, and also his dad’s passion which helped determine his future in Counter-Strike.

In the interview, es3tag explains how he got into gaming because of his dad, who initially though he had ruined his son’s life by introducing him to gaming. After many years, es3tag proved him wrong on that.

What were your father and his friends playing?

They were playing Counter-Strike 1.6. Yes, it was 1.6.

Yeah, you could say that. Back then, there was this Danish website called BoomTown, kinda like FACEIT, and people played on BoomTown servers. Then, he played these really obscure weapons that nobody used, and he would essentially showplay with the one called the Pump Gun. And it wasn't a very good weapon, but he would be the number one with the most kills on the pump gun. And he would always brag about it. <laughs>.”

You can read the full interview with es3tag [link:{"url":"https://blog.cs.money/en/selebrities/nip-es3tag-family-business-aleksib-djls-impact-personal-legacy-skins-and-more/","isNewTab":true,"text":"right here"}].

{cflag:SE} Ludvig ”Brollan” Brolin - 1.13 rating in 2022

{cflag:SE} Frederik ”REZ” Sterner - 1.11 rating in 2022

{cflag:FI} Aleksi ”Aleksib” Virolainen - 1.07 rating in 2022

{cflag:SE} Hampus ”hampus” Poser - 1.04 rating in 2022

{cflag:DK} Patrick ”es3tag” Hansen - 0.97 rating in 2022

Ninjas in Pyjamas arrive at IEM Rio Major in fine form, with the Swedish squad having experienced an impressive start with their new-look roster. After the former G2 IGL Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen joined the pack, NIP has won five matches in a row only giving up one map against Cloud9.

What to expect from Ninjas in Pyjamas at the Brazilian Major is a tough question to answer. If they could field their superstar AWPer Nicolai “device” Reedtz, things would look a lot different for the Ninjas. With Frederik “REZ” Sterner on the AWP instead of his usual rifle, NIP have to rely much on their star player in Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"nip-acquire-aleksib-from-g2","isNewTab":true}]

NIP’s best result this year is their first place at Global Esports Tour Dubai where they defeated MOUZ in the Grand Final to secure the $100.000 1st price. That is the only Grand Final appearance from the Swedes in 2022, if you take away their recent win at the lower-tier Svenska Cuppen.

Brollan

Aleksib

Whilst there is an obvious difference in being good at Counter-Strike and knowing a lot about the game, the two are often tied together in some sort of a way. At the age of 26, the only current active Danish member of NiP "es3tag", has been in and around the scene for quite some time. With his longest spell at Heroic, for around three years, the CS:GO rifler and newly-shaped AWP'er has experienced a lot when it comes to professional CS:GO. 

But how good is your knowledge of the game? You have probably followed the scene and watched as some of the biggest moments unfolded in CS:GO, but how good is your knowledge when to the test against a timer? Find out if you are as knowledgable as NiP's "es3tag" as he is put through Betway Esports' De_Quiz: 

Since Astralis rocked everybody's world and changed the meta of professional CS:GO for good, the utility has become an integral part of any successful CS:GO roster that wishes to compete at the highest of levels. After the update allowing players to drop utility to each other, and even on the ground, it seems as if it has become more and more standard that one player on the roster is responsible for throwing most of the early utility. 

A player that has proven to be great with utility, always aiming to set up his star players in "REZ" and "Brollan" is "es3tag". In 2022 so far, he has managed a solid success rate of 0.76 when throwing flashbangs to help his team in the mid-rounds. 

A map that "es3tag" and NiP, in general, have proven themselves incredibly potent on is, of course, Ancient. Deep in the jungle, it seems as if NiP have found a new home ground where they are a challenge for any opponent they meet along the way. 

In a video created by Betway esports, Danish "es3tag" goes through some of the tips and tricks that have helped Nip become such a scary opponent to face on Ancient. Take a look, you might learn a thing or two: 

Swedish Counter-Strike has always been filled with great rosters and players who are able to rival some of the best in the entire world. The current best Swedish CS:GO team is Ninjas in Pyjamas. Despite their star player "device" still being benched, the predominately Swedish roster has proven that they are capable of taking down some of the biggest opponents. They proved that at IEM Cologne by taking down the likes of Heroic and G2. Unfortunately for NiP, however, they have just been eliminated from the event by dark horse MOUZ.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"mouz-eliminate-nip-from-iem-cologne-2022","isNewTab":true}]

We spoke with Danish AWP'er and rifler "es3tag" just after they were eliminated from the event by the hand of MOUZ. When asked about the team's performance all-in-all at the event, the Danish NiP player remained somewhat positive despite the tough loss: 

You can hear everything "es3tag" had to say after their defeat in our interview with him posted down below: 

Just as it is the striker that steals the most headlines and attention in football, the AWP'er is often the most talked-about player within a given CS:GO roster, and for good reason. 'The big green' is by far the most powerful weapon a player can hold in CS:GO and if in the hands of the right player, it can win or lose rounds singlehandedly. The impact an AWP'er has in any given CS:GO match has not become less over the years, and because of it we have seen a shift in the meta, where AWP'ers play more passive in order to stay alive longer and secure a maximum amount of impact for their team.

Despite the shift in the meta, making more and more AWP'ers take a passive approach, there a still plenty of different playing styles and each has its own strength and weaknesses. When asked about who his favorite AWP'er of all time is, the Danish 26-year-old NiP player pointed toward his own teammate as the answer to the question: 

To hear more about which AWP'er different CS:GO pros point toward as their all-time favorite, you can watch the video posted below where Betway esports asks various different pros to give their take on the topic: 

device

Patrick “es3tag” Hansen has taken over the AWP role on NIP in recent tournaments as their superstar [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/news/media-nip-interested-jackinho-dev1ce-extend-medical-leave","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nicolai “device” Reedtz continues to be sidelined due to medical reasons"}]. In an interview with Dust2.dk, es3tag was asked about his role shift where he explained that people shouldn’t compare him with device.

- So, I think a lot of people think I have to be the new device – that’s the case. Not because I don’t think I can do any of the same things. devve is good at positioning and moving around, and I think I can figure that out as well, es3tag said and continued:

- I just don’t think there’s room for that on this team right now. One who does not offer to throw grenades and do the sour things that need to be done all the time. So, I think if we are going to win, then it is important that there is someone who’s willing to do it, and right now, it is me who is taking it. I think it's important to understand on a team that I shouldn’t go out and be the star when we have someone like Brollan, REZ and hampus who all make plays.

Full interview with Dust2.dk (in Danish):

Following the newly-concluded PGL Major Antwerp, es3tag received some criticism for his AWPing at the event with some calling him “the worst AWPer at the Major”. That was something, the former Cloud9 player addressed when we spoke to him on Sunday, right before the Grand Final. You can find the interview in the article below.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"es3tag-criticism-think-its-weird-when-comes-from-analysts","isNewTab":true}]

After the showmatch at PGL Major Antwerp, we caught up with NIP's Patrick "es3tag" Hansen for an interview. Here the former Heroic and Cloud9 player touches on some “unfair” criticism from analysts and fans after taking on the AWP role at NIP.

You can watch the entire interview in the video below. 

After seeing Spirit qualify for the playoffs, Na'Vi and NIP now had the chance to do the same. After going 2-0 on Day 1 the two teams were hoping for a clean run through the Swiss Stage.

Na'Vi had a fantastic start to their opponents' map pick of Inferno. The CIS squad went in front 9-1 despite heavy resistance from "es3tag". The other Ninjas finally stepped up and the Scandinavians managed to take an acceptable five rounds before the break.

Changing sides did not bring more fortune for the Ninjas as they only managed to stop the Na'Vi offense a single time. Throughout the map, the trio of "s1mple", "b1t", and "Perfecto" was simply too much to handle for NIP.

Na'Vi looked to make a statement against the Ninjas as they capitalized on their momentum from Inferno to take a 6-0 lead on the second map of Mirage. "hampus" and co. somehow recovered from that devastating start and ended the half behind by only one round.

The CIS squad led almost the entirety of the map, and it seemed like a certainty that they were going to win it, but the perseverance of the Ninjas and the calls of "hampus" led to a surprising 16-14 in favor of the Scandinavians.

After their great Mirage, NIP struggled on the T side of Ancient. They conceded the first eight rounds of the map before they themselves put one on the board. "Brollan" and "hampus" were able to find some good openings for the team, but at the end of the day that only translated to two rounds at halftime.

The map was over after five second-half rounds as NIP could not stand up to the CIS giants of Na'Vi.

Na'Vi unsurprisingly qualify for the playoffs while NIP will have to try their luck again tomorrow.

Na'Vi - NIP 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Legends Stage

16-6 (Inferno) | {cflag:UA} s1mple - 1.70 Rating / 23-15 K-D / 120.5 ADR

14-16 (Mirage) | {cflag:UA} b1t - 1.49 Rating / 29-20 K-D / 107.3 ADR

16-4 (Ancient) | flag Perfecto - 1.55 Rating / 21-10 K-D / 98.5 ADR

MVP: {cflag:UA} Valeriy "b1t" Vakhovskiy - 1.48 Rating / 71-44 K-D / 102.9 ADR

, the Bad News Eagles and Imperial fought for survival.

The match started on Imperial's pick of Inferno where only a single round separated the teams at halftime. 

Imperial, who had started as the terrorists, looked more convincing on the defensive side as they were able to make good reads with some aggressive maneuvers. "fer" also stepped up his game which helped the Brazilians win on their map pick.

On their map pick of Mirage, the Eagles managed to take their first pistol round of the series but were immediately shut down by a seven-round streak from the Brazilians, that had "boltz" and "fer" written all over it. The Kosovars managed to pull a few rounds back and were only behind by five at halftime.

The Brazilians quickly pushed the lead to 14-7 and things were looking bleak for the Eagles. But like the click of a button, all of a sudden the Eagles were turned on. Things started working out for them, most of all on an individual level. Especially "rigoN" came alive and boosted his team's chances massively. In the end, the Eagles fell just short of the mark after pushing the map to its 30th round.

The historic performance of bNE, therefore, comes to a close as they go 0-3 in the Legends Stage. On the other side Imperial stave off elimination and hope to make the reverse sweep.

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	0	0
Maps count	0	0

es3tag

Player stats

Articles mentioning es3tag

NIP announce benching of es3tag, k0nfig, and headtr1ck

NIP roster-mania continues: hampus out - es3tag returns

Video: es3tag picks his CS:GO dream team

Twistzz: I dont understand how a team can replace a player like Patrick (es3tag)

es3tag delivers impressive performance as FaZe qualifies for BLAST Spring Finals

BLAST admitting "lack of clarity" in "k0nfig-gate"

Es3tag announced as stand-in for rain

es3tag explains what went wrong in Cloud9: We had some players who couldn't realize their mistakes

Who are the most exciting players on the market right now?

NIP bench es3tag

es3tag: We have something to build on now

es3tag: My dad initially thought he had ruined my life by introducing me to gaming

IEM Rio Major Preview: Ninjas in Pyjamas

Video: Test your CS:GO knowledge against es3tag

Video: es3tag's tips and tricks on Ancient

es3tag: We need to find more consistency

es3tag: "I've always looked up to device as an AWP'er"

es3tag: A lot of people think I have to be the new device

es3tag on criticism: I think it’s weird when it comes from analysts

Na'Vi qualify for playoffs, Bad News Eagles eliminated

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