Ninjas in Pyjamas is going through another rebuild of their roster after several years of disappointing results. In an online interview with Pley.gg, Fredrik "REZ" Sterner shares his thoughts on the new roster, and how players like Artem "r1nkle" Moroz and Isak "isak" Fahlén have surprised the longest-standing member of NIP.

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How are you feeling about the new roster?

- Overall, I am super happy. I think Isak was probably one of the most important pickups we've made in a while. I think people have really underestimated him during his career. He brings a lot to our team that people don't really realize from a fan perspective. He enables a lot of us other players, and he enables me a lot. The same goes for Max (Max "maxster" Jansson). He makes the game very easy for us to play, and he didn't join the team to be a star player, hard fragger, or anything like that. He came in to support us and make our jobs easier, which he really does through his communication and playing style. So, yeah, I think he complements the lineup perfectly. I'm really, really happy that we managed to get him on the team, REZ explains before naming Artem "r1nkle" Moroz as perhaps the most interesting new addition to the squad.

- I think he has surpassed everyone's expectations with what he has done so far. He totally surprised me when I first played with him. I think he can become a top three AWPer in the world. I think he has already shown the qualities of a top AWPer. I've played with good AWPers in the past, I've played with device, and he’s obviously one of the best AWPers in the game. From what I've seen of r1nkle, he can reach that level, no doubt. And I think he's close to it already; he just needs more experience.

- He does everything so damn well. Maybe most of all, it's his mechanical skill. How he moves around the map, how fast his reactions are, and the initiative he takes in the game, like moving around and reacting to calls or sounds and what's happening in the game.

He's a very quick thinker and really fast mechanically, very mechanically skilled. When you spectate him, he kind of looks like he shoots and flicks like m0NESY or s1mple. He has THAT kind of skill. When we got him, he obviously didn't have much experience. So, I was super surprised when I played in Abu Dhabi with him, and when we started going to LANs with him, that he is very active in talking. He has a good understanding of the game already, and it feels like he has a lot of experience when you play with him because he makes a lot of good calls, and he reads the game insanely well. I think that's also one of the biggest things that surprised me. So, I'm just super stoked to see how he will evolve further. It kind of feels like he's close to his peak already, but he shouldn't be, not yet. So, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what will happen.

With such a talented AWPer, and with a guy like “isak”, who complements your team so well, what does that mean for you as a player on the current lineup?

- For me, obviously, my career has been very turbulent. It's been hard for me to perform with everything that's been going on. There have been moments where I wasn't comfortable at all with the positions or the playstyle. It rarely suited me as a player, and that's a big reason why I struggled a lot in the past, because I wasn't comfortable most of the time. But right now, I feel like this team complements me and my playstyle.

So, I can play how I want. Playing with r1nkle, there are a few sites where I'm close to him, and I feel I can understand him very easily. He makes my gameplay easier. It kind of reminds me of back in the day when I played with device. I felt like I played very well when I was playing with him. I can feel that with r1nkle already; we think very much alike, and I can understand how he wants to approach the game, even before we go into a round or a match. It's easy for me to play because there are no question marks or uncertainties. That's why it's easier for me, and that makes my performance much better. I get more comfortable and gain more confidence in my aim and playstyle. Everything complements each other in that way.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for this roster?

- Right now, we haven't really played a big team on a big stage yet. I think that's going to be the biggest challenge. How will we approach that? How will we perform in such environments? Because we are fairly new, and we have young players who haven't really been in those top, top events. So, I think that's what we have to strive for: to try and play as many LANs as possible, as many stages as possible. You don't really get that from these online tournaments or these small events we had in Argentina or Abu Dhabi. It's not really the experience we're looking for; we want to play in a big arena. When we get those kinds of games, I think it's going to be easier to compete against the top-tier teams.

On Monday, Fredrik "REZ" Sterner and the rest of the Ninjas in Pyjamas roster will get the chance to qualify for one of the big stages, when they face G2 in the opening round of BLAST Premier Fall Groups in Copenhagen. The top six teams of the event will qualify for the Fall Finals later this year.

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isak

Ninjas in Pyjamas

With a Major Grand Final coming up, the young players of GamerLegion have already reached a milestone that many others can just dream about. The fairytale run at the Major in Paris has undoubtedly made several teams interested in the service of the Grand Finalist of the last CS:GO Major in history.

One of them could be Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand, who has played an excellent tournament so far. Speaking to Dust2.dk about the future of GamerLegion, the Dane hinted towards a time to come, when the likes of 23-year-old Ivan "iM" Mihai and 20-year-old Kamil "siuhy" Szkaradek could be hard to keep on the team.

- I would probably count on many of the players on the team getting offers from other teams. Of course, I can't speak for myself, I'm probably getting a little older compared to what many people think. It's hard to say, but I believe that there will be team offers left and right for the young guys on the team.

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One of the issues for GamerLegion, in order to be able to keep their new superstars on the roster, will undoubtedly be the salaries.

- You can't really do anything about it. If a tier-1 team comes knocking on a guy who gets 20.000 DKK ($2900) a month and he gets an offer of 150.000 DKK ($21.700). There is no one who can say no to that. You get to play all the high and good tournaments and be in the tier-1 tournaments all the time, Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand says.

GamerLegion faces Team Vitality tomorrow in the Grand Final of the BLAST.tv Paris Major.

You can read the full interview (in Danish) with Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand on Dust2.dk [link:{"url":"https://www.dust2.dk/nyheder/36599/acor-teaser-omkring-loenninger-paa-cs-scenen","isNewTab":true,"text":"here"}].

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REZ: r1nkle can become a top-3 AWPer in the world

acoR: I expect there will be offers from left and right for our young players

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