The recent news of both OG and Fnatic putting their academy projects on hold came to me at first as a surprise, for me the academy projects as a whole were more successful than what I had expected initially. Their tournaments had a considerable amount of viewership, the players were given exposure and support and, on top of that, top tier players were being produced (as it is shown in both b1t and m0NESY rookie year’s performance).

However, my perspective was that of a spectator, I never stopped to think about how profitable these projects were and the “risk” involved in them. If we look at the players who transitioned the best to tier 1 (m0NESY, b1t, xertioN, JDC, torzsi) we also have to look at the players who had a tough transition.

Just to clarify, a decrease in rating when transitioning into tier 1 is both expected and normal, even the players that I used as examples of a good adaptation to tier 1 suffer from it, therefore, it is not the only indicator to determine if the player managed to adapt or not to the highest level of counter-strike.

The best examples of players not adapting completely to tier 1 are, in my opinion, MistR, ztr, LNZ and phzy, however it is not completely on them that they didn’t manage to adapt. In all cases they were called to fill a gap for the time being, in other words, they were not supposed to be there, which is a completely opposite case to the players that I mentioned did adapt well. In the case of the three ex-NIP players they were called into a team that already had structure and identity problems, which only got worse when device took the mental health break. For MistR it was moreless the same, Astralis was already struggling to find a consistent way to win as they heavily depended on both blameF and k0nfig to have stellar performances and when the latter was let go due to some issues the lack of firepower was more evident than ever, and Astralis knew MistR wouldn’t fill that gap.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"misc/Can_he_replace_k0nfig_mukjnt","originalWidth":1280,"originalHeight":720,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg"}]

See the pattern yet? When the team wants the player to permanently be part of the roster (G2 signing m0NESY, MOUZ adapting the system to the ex-academy players, Na’Vi trying out b1t before fully introducing him) they end up adapting well to tier 1 and in some cases reaching super-star levels of performance and when the team only promotes the academy players in order to temporarily fill a gap these players are not given the chance nor the necessary support to fully transition.

We have already seen that the academy project can produce plenty of players different in skill and style, and these have varying results that are directly affected by the organization’s commitment on said player, but what about the players that are never called to fill a gap or to be promoted permanently to the main roster? 

Without exact numbers of players and staff’s salaries and how much revenue the team as a whole generates we will never know for sure if the academy projects are profitable or not (or if it is result-dependent). However, the fact that  OG and Fnatic (two well established organizations not only in CS:GO) have decided to put them on hold tells that at the very least it is an investment of both time and money to consider and some organizations might just want to be extra safe.

One can only speculate and hope, maybe they will resume their academy projects in the near future, maybe they won’t, I don’t really know, but I do hope that this is not the beginning of the end for the academy projects as a whole because I think they are really healthy for the professional scene and offer unique opportunities.

MistR

phzy

Natus Vincere

Fnatic

MOUZ

Ninjas in Pyjamas

G2 Esports

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?

[slugORMA:{"slug":"godsent-unveil-new-swedish-roster-2023","isNewTab":true}]

- 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.

Young Ninjas

For the first time since 2018, GODSENT is now again an all-Swedish team.

The roster was announced on Friday as the new GODSENT team. The new team is a mix of youth and experience and will have the former Fnatic in-game leader Maikil "Golden" Selim as their coach.

Most notable is the return to Swedish Counter-Strike, where GODSENT initially started out. Since then the Organization has employed both an International roster, while turning to Brazilian CS in 2021 and 2022. Also notable is the fact that the team's in-game leader Erik "ztr" Gustafsson is joining the roster on a loan deal from Ninjas in Pyjamas.

{cflag:SE} Erik "ztr" Gustafsson (on loan from NIP)

{cflag:SE} Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzalez Zamora

{cflag:SE} Alfred "RuStY" Karlsson (on trial)

draken

Plopski

joelxd

RuStY

According to [link:{"url":"https://blix.gg/news/ztr-plopski-godsent","isNewTab":true,"text":"blix.gg"}] and sources close to the situation, GODSENT has acquired a new five-man lineup for the new season. The media outlet state that the iconic organization already has signed contracts with the likes of Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzales Zamora and Erik "ztr" Gustafsson.

The three other players will allegedly be Joel "joel" Holmlund, Alfred "RuStY" Karlsson, and the AWPer William "draken" Sundin.

The most profiled players in this mix are undoubtedly Plopski and draken. Both Swedes have been a part of Ninjas in Pyjamas and played several tier-1 events throughout their careers, with Plopski still being under contract with NIP officially.  

GODSENT's potential lineup will look like this:

{cflag:SE} Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzales Zamora

[slugORMA:{"slug":"banks-denies-godsent-rumor","isNewTab":true}]

Golden

GODSENT

That’s a tough question to answer for the common CS:GO fan due to the lack of updates and information coming from the man himself and his current team NIP. However, in an interview at Global Esports Tour Dubai 2022, the fellow NIP member Erik “ztr” Gustafsson hinted that the Dane is on his way out of the team.

- Obviously is bad for the team when Dev1ce is leaving because he is such a good player and he has so many achievements. It’s obviously hard to replace him and, I think it has had a negative impact but we’re slowly building back where they were with him – if not better, ztr stated. 

[twitchClip:AntediluvianCorrectPelicanTwitchRaid-SNYNUsjaFpQPAxyJ]

We have tried to get a clarification and comment from NIP COO Jonas Gundersen. He did not turn back with a response prior to the publication of this article.

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device

Hampus "hampus" Poser has been ruled out for IEM Dallas because of illness, so Erik "ztr" Gustafsson from the Swedes' academy team will be standing in. 

This is not the first time that "ztr" will be joining the main Ninjas squad, as the 18-year-old played 58 maps with them last year.

hampus

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.

Natus Vincere Junior

In April this year, the iconic Swedes from Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) cashed out big when they acquired the superstar Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz from Astralis. However, despite the strong addition of the Danish AWPer, NIP hasn’t found the perfect lineup yet.

Since the start of February, NIP has played every tournament with a stand-in from their academy team Young Ninjas, being either Erik “ZTR” Gustafsson or Linus “LNZ” Holtäng. The org explained the decision by stating that they are “trying to find a sustainable fifth while constantly exploring the boundaries of how much change can be done to the core of those five”

[slugORMA:{"slug":"nip-announce-roster-change-before-iem-summer","isNewTab":true}]

In a press session by ESL, we asked the in-game leader on the team, Hampus “hampus” Poser about how it’s to operate in such a system as the IGL.

- It’s not the best I would say, but it’s out of my control and there’s nothing I can do about it - I just have to work with what I got. Having one permanent guy is obviously better because then he knows everything. In the beginning, when we got LNZ, I called some rounds, where he didn’t know them. It was just a bit messy I must say. 

However, after some more time with LNZ, he knows everything so it’s fine.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"nip-are-through-playoffs-epl","isNewTab":true}]

The head coach Björn “THREAT” Pers also gave his perception of the situation, where he stated that their plan “always has been to find a permanent fifth”, where THREAT continues by explaining that “there has been a slightly exaggerated narrative, and I think it might be due to a bit harsh decision by me, where we switched so briefly between the tournaments”

“(…) Right now, we are looking to find the best five-man lineup that we possibly can get”, the NIP coach concludes.

You can see the interview with THREAT and hampus down below. 

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/LNZ_kgupo0","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: NIP"}]

In the same press session, LNZ himself expressed his thought about the circumstances of being a stand-in.

Gamers Without Borders | 5-6th (LNZ as a fifth)

BLAST Premier Spring Finals | 4th (LNZ as a fifth)

ESL Pro League Season 13 | 3-4th (ZTR as a fifth)

Snow Sweet Snow 2 | 5-8th (ZTR as a fifth)

BLAST Premier Spring Groups | 4-6th (ZTR as a fifth)

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[slugORMA:{"slug":"rez-signs-new-four-year-deal-with-nip","isNewTab":true}]

The first three groups at ESL Pro League Season 14 are done and dusted and it’s now time for Group D to commence. The last group presents a mixed lineup of teams, that both contain superstar teams, talented and promising rosters, but also dangerous underdog teams. Here is everything you need to know about the teams.

Gambit comes into the tournament as one of the biggest favourites for the overall victory alongside their Russian countrymen from NAVI. The [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/nafany","isNewTab":true,"text":"Vladislav ‘nafany’ Gorshkov"}]-led side has been a forceful factor on the top of CS:GO for the entire 2021 season, with them having won no more than five big titles so far.

Their last result before the tournament break was a 5-6th place at IEM Cologne, which were the roster first big LAN event together. Despite, the rather disappointing showing at IEM Cologne, we have them as heavy favourites to take the #1 place in the group.

NIP’s exciting project build around the superstar [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/device","isNewTab":true,"text":"Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz"}] has now been around for over four months, with the now Danish-Swedish mixed roster having presented a few impressive results this year. dev1ce and company were close to winning Flashpoint 3 in May, only losing to mousesports in the Grand Final.

The Swedes are running an innovative and quite rare form of roster rotation, where we have seen the two Young Ninjas players [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/ztr","isNewTab":true,"text":"Erik ‘ZTR’ Gustafsson"}] and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/lnz","isNewTab":true,"text":"Linus 'LNZ' Holtäng"}] switch between the fifth spot on the roster. Now, it looks like that it’s the latter who’s got the upper hand, as he will play at this EPL Season 14.

If this were two years ago, we’ve had Liquid at the very top of our predictions as the winner of the entire tournament. However, the iconic North American organization looks to be far past their prime where they ruled the entire CS:GO scene.

Their star player [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/elige","isNewTab":true,"text":"Jonathan ‘EliGE’ Jablonowski"}] has continued to present an impressive consistency in his play, which also has led and carried Liquid in several periods this year. The American has alongside [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/naf","isNewTab":true,"text":"Keith ‘NAF’ Markovic"}] been the two best performing individuals in 2021. Liquid goes into EPL with an unsatisfactory 9-12th place from IEM Cologne, where they suffered two devastating 16-2 and 16-6 map losses to the Swedes from NIP.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"players/EliGE_oqhpl1","originalWidth":2048,"originalHeight":1152,"customWidth":"100%","customHeight":"100%","cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: StarLadder"}]

Entropiq has been a very refreshing element in the CS:GO scene in 2021. The promising Russian roster, which plays under the Czech banner, has managed to establish themselves, as what looks like a consistent Top 20 team in the world. A fresh 1st place at Malta Vibes Knockout Series 1 and a silver medal at Spring Sweet Spring 3 show that Entropiq is a very potent team.

However, as their tournament calendar also shows. It’s not many top-tier events they are competing in, which means their experience and knowledge with the top teams aren’t that big. And that may also look like their biggest weakness here at ESL Pro League.

The Brazilian Panthers from FURIA has begun to look rather tame and harmless lately. The otherwise strong and dominant team led by the always aggressive [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/art","isNewTab":true,"text":"Andrei ‘arT’ Piovezan"}] is no longer feared by the CS:GO elite after a disappointing year so far. Despite their recent win at Elisa Invitational Summer, they have not accomplished anything particular, especially if you compare with their phenomenal 2020-season or the year before that.

FURIA’s chances at this ESL Pro League was reduced heavily when the South American organization announced that [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/honda","isNewTab":true,"text":"Lucas ‘honda’ Cano"}] wouldn’t travel to Europe with the rest of the team, owing to his mother getting tested positive for Covid-19. This means that FURIA will play with their head coach Nicholas “guerri” Nogueira as a stand-in.

[slugORMA:{"slug":"guerri-stand-furia-epl","isNewTab":true}]

At the bottom of Group D, we predict that TeamOne will be found when the group stage is over. The Brazilian team actually possess a very exciting and talented roster with interesting players like [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/malbsmd","isNewTab":true,"text":"Mario ‘malbsMd’ Samayoa"}] and [link:{"url":"https://pley.gg/players/pesadelo","isNewTab":true,"text":"Matheus ‘pesadelo’ Panisset"}] as their most powerful weapons.

The strong duo of malbsMd and pesadelo together with the veteran in-game leader Pedro "Maluk3" Campos will have a lot of possibilities to make some upsets at Group D, however, they will most likely still end out of playoff contention. Something, their last showing at ESL Pro League Season 13 also indicates, where they lost all five group games.

nafany

pesadelo

malbsMd

honda

Gambit Esports

Team Liquid

Entropiq

FURIA

TeamOne

Ninjas in Pyjamas enjoyed much-needed success at Flashpoint 3, where the roster ended up taking second only bested by mousesports in the Grand Final.

The addition of Nicolai 'device' Reedtz has elevated the team, but now the Organization is looking for a new change. The young Erik “ztr'' Gustafsson has been replaced with his teammate on Young Ninjas Linus “LNZ” Holtäng for the upcoming IEM Summer tournament.

- We’re still trying to find the right format for our roster moving forward, currently running a four-man core with a rotating slot filled from our academy program, Young Ninjas. Erik “ztr'' Gustafsson has been doing an amazing job in that spot since the start of the year. We have all seen the plays he’s able to make, the spirit he brings to the team, the will to improve, and to become one of the very best. He’s a man for the future, a massive talent with an incredible work ethic. The journey Erik has taken so far, had him rise from the lower tiers of CS to consistently featuring in tier one tournaments - in just five months. It’s incredibly fast and we feel the right way to continue his pace of development is to change the environment around him a bit, and move him to Young Ninjas for the time being, Chief Operating Officer, Jonas Gundersen explains.

Ninjas in Pyjamas will face OG in their opening match on Thursday.

{cflag:SE} Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora

The ESL Pro League Season 13 event is coming closer and closer to its conclusion. The first finalist was to be found between Gambit and Ninjas in Pyjamas. Both teams have shown incredible form in the group stages and tried their absolute best today, in the search for a place in the Grand Final. Ultimately, however, it was the Gambit side to prove themselves the better team on the day. With quick succession and clinical execution they silenced the Ninjas and took home the victory 2-0. 

The first map took place on Inferno, picked the Swedes of Ninjas in Pyjamas. Despite being picked by the Swedes, however, it was the CIS roster of Gambit to steal the show completely. With investments from both teams in almost every round, the economy was the major factor on Inferno. Gambit managed to keep NiP's economy low and defeated them 16-5 on the first map of the series. 

The second map of the Bo3-series was chosen by Gambit who fancied their chances over on the map of Dust 2. Perhaps it was the momentum carrying over from the first map or possibly just a showing of a better tactical approach. Whatever the reason was it started as a one-sided affair, to say the least. With Gambit ending the first half at 13-2, there was little chance for NiP to get back on their feet. 

With that being said, however, you are never to count out the Ninjas, and their T-side was seemingly difficult for the Gambit roster to handle. NiP managed to put up 9 consecutive rounds, making it 11-13, before allowing Gambit their first CT-sided round. Ultimately Gambit closed out the map, making it as close as possible at the scoreline of 16-14, favoring the CIS roster. 

16-5 Gambit (Inferno) | Ax1Le 1.87 Rating / 109.3 ADR / 22-9 K-D

16-14 Gambit (Dust 2) | ztr 1.27 Rating / 80.8 ADR / 25-19 K-D

[twitchClip:IronicTemperedDragonfruitNotLikeThis-kouQ1_VcX4sWVfyU]

Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov | 1.33 Rating - 40-27 K/D - 87.9 ADR - 76.5% KAST

Ax1Le

sh1ro

All four group winners at ESL Pro League are back in action today. The group A and B winners, Heroic and Ninjas in Pyjamas was first up. The winner of the match would advance directly to the Semi-Finals, while the loser would drop down to the Quarter-Finals.

The Swedish Ninjas picked Inferno as the first battleground. Here they started with a good half on their T-side but lost momentum in the second half. Heroic ended up winning the map 16-13 after a strong second half by team captain Casper 'cadiaN' Møller.

The Danes picked Nuke as the second map and left Train as the decider. A little surprise given the fact, that Heroic has looked strong on Overpass, while NIP has struggled on the map. Ninja in Pyjamas won the first half again, but with Nuke being favorable for CT-sides, the 8-7 lead was perhaps a bit too small.

In the second half Heroic again turned up in style, and left the Swedes in big problems. With both Plopski, REZ, and ztr underperforming, there was never really any doubt of the outcome of the match. Heroic win their eighth match in a row and looks like a big contender for the ESL Pro League title.

Heroic - Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-0 |ESL Pro League Season 13

16-13 (Inferno) TeSeS - 1.31 rating / 26-18 K-D / 86.9 ADR

16-9 (Nuke) TeSeS - 1.68 rating / 23-11 K-D / 107.1 ADR

Madsen - 1.48 rating / 49-29 K-D / 96.3 ADR

TeSeS

cadiaN

Heroic

The questions pile up before the opening day in group B at ESL Pro League Season 13.

2021 has been a year to forget so far for the Frenchmen. An early exit from IEM Katowice underlined, that Team Vitality has not been doing well in the first three months of this year. A look at the stats shows, that their Starplayer, ZywOo is not to blame. The 20-year-old Superstar has kept up an impressive 1.22 stat during 2021, even though Team Vitality has lost six out of nine matches. The rest of the team is rated below 1.00 with the exception of shox, who scores a clean 1.00 rating so far in the new year. The team announced this week, that Nabil "Nivera" Benrlitom would be leaving the team, due to the change of rules from Valve regarding deduction of RMR-points, if a team uses a substitution during an event. The young Belgian showed some promising skills in late 2020, so is it the right player, that they have axed?

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"karrigan_kblpa5","originalWidth":1920,"originalHeight":1080,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: FaZe"}]

Will a new in-game leader be the answer to all the prayers from FaZe Clan fans? It feels ages ago since FaZe was last considered a top team in CS:GO. Now the honeymoon phase is over for the two new additions to the roster. What will Twistzz and karrigan bring to the table? We have to admit, that we are actually pretty excited to see this new roster unfold. Twistzz, rain, broky, karrigan, and Coldzera are all names, that should feature on a top team, and if they can agree to be united under the rule of karrigan, this could get interesting. The first peak at the new roster will be tonight against Team Vitality.

The big question that needs an answer is how NiKo will fare as a hybrid AWP/rifler. G2 cut their legendary AWP'er kennyS from the team last week and put the AWP responsibility in the hands of the Bosnian Star NiKo. With only six! kills registered with the AWP in all of 2021, this will be interesting to see. Recent history tells a story of the importance of having a designated AWP player on the roster in this day and age in Counter-Strike. The situation could be compared to the one on Cloud9. Here the AWP responsibility has also fallen in the hands of the most gifted rifler, which has drastically decreased the impact of Patrick "es3tag" Hansen on the team. Will the same thing happen to NiKo? Worth mentioning is also, that Audric "JaCkz" Jug is back in the lineup.

[image:{"source":"cloudinary","publicId":"dexter_bx5qbe","originalWidth":3556,"originalHeight":2000,"cloudinaryAssetData":true,"cloudName":"pley-gg","format":"jpg","caption":"Credit: mousesports"}]

With the departure of karrigan, mousesports needed a new in-game leader. Christopher "dexter" Nong is the man with the plans on mousesports, and he will have the responsibility to guide his new team to the playoffs at ESL Pro League Season 13. They qualified for IEM Katowice through the Play-in but had unfortunate luck in the main event, where they crashed out of the tournament after two losses to Gambit and Astralis. The Australian in-game leader went -57 in K-D during the IEM Katowice event, which indicates, that dexter also has a big job individually to improve. With Frederik "acoR" Gyldstrand also being new on the team, there is a lot of things to work on for mousesports. 

NIP is a hard team to figure out. They have beaten the likes of Astralis and Virtus.pro in 2021, but also crashed out of the tier 2 tournament Snow Sweet Snow 2 after a 2-1 defeat to the Polish team AGO. They are currently on a three-match loss streak. The latest addition to the squad Erik "ztr" Gustafsson is still not performing to the levels, that the legendary Organization had hoped for, while their AWP'er Tim “nawwk” Jonasson has had a terrible 2021. The start of EPL will be crucial for the Swedes. G2 and ENCE are must-win matches if should have any hopes of advancing from this group.

The prügelknabe of Group B. The new roster faces a huge challenge if they want to qualify for the playoffs. The team comes into the tournament with a much-needed boost though. The victory over Finnish rivals from HAVU yesterday was the perfect lead-in for the new international roster, which consists of two Finns, an Israelian, a Dane, and a Pole. Being an underdog in every match up at ESL Pro League Season 13, the ENCE roster could be an unpleasant surprise for their opponents, but we will still be surprised if they win more than one match in this group.

karrigan

dexter

acoR

JaCkz

Team Vitality

mousesports

ENCE

FaZe

The biggest upset of 2021 happened on the first day of BLAST Premier Spring. Ninjas in Pyjamas took down Astralis 2-0 and sent the Danish powerhouse to the lower bracket.

The match was also the first for Erik "ztr" Gustafsson, who only recently joined the roster, which made the performance from both him and the team even more impressive. Gustafsson ended the match with a solid 1.06 rating and 46-40 in K/D including an incredible A-site hold.

[twitchVideo:Blastpremier/clip/SpunkyGorgeousEggUnSane]

Ninjas in Pyjamas and "ztr" can qualify for the Final at BLAST Premier Spring with a win against BIG later today.

The Swedish Ninjas was not deemed many chances before the match. It was their first match with the new player Erik “ztr” Gustafsson on the roster against the number 1 in the world.

At BLAST Premier Spring Ninjas in Pyjamas picked Overpass as their map pick. Here the Swedes won both halves and took a deserved 16-13 victory, despite Peter “Dupreeh” Rasmussen’s excellent showing.

The Danes picked Inferno as their map pick. Astralis was the best team on Inferno in 2020, which only emphasized NIP’s well-oiled machine on their CT-side on Inferno. The Ninjas went to halftime leading 9-6.

In the second half, it looked like a classic Astralis. The Danes quickly won six rounds in a row to take the lead back. But then the Ninjas fought back. Frederik “REZ” Sterner woke up and gave his team a golden opportunity to win the match by making some important kills in the last couple of rounds. And in the end, the Swedes won another map with 16-13 to seal the deal. An impressive display from Ninjas in Pyjamas.

Astralis will now have to make a run in the lower bracket to reach the Final.

Erik "ztr" Gustafsson delivered an impressive debut including a nice 4k!

dupreeh

Astralis

The opening game of the BLAST Premier Spring event is about to start! Watch the mighty Danes from Astralis take upon the Swedish Ninjas.

This will be the first time we see NiP’s new player, ztr, in action.

The first and second place in each of the three groups at the tournament qualifies for the Spring Final later this year.

The 26-year-old Swede was axed today after several subpar performances for Ninjas in Pyjamas.

The Swedes have dropped to their lowest world ranking at 18th since June 2017 after a number of bad runs. Simon "twist" Eliasson has not been rated above 1.00 in rating at a tournament since BLAST Spring 2020.

On Thursday a new Ninja will replace "twist". The 17-year-old Erik "ztr" Gustafsson will act as a stand-in at BLAST Premier Spring when NIP face Astralis in the first Group match. Gustafsson is currently a part of Young Ninjas, which is NIP's talent team.

twist

The historical Counter-Strike organization have following the announcement of a new academy team, announced its first player. The first ninja on the roster is Erik “ztr” Gustafsson, who comes from a two-month short stay at the Spanish org KPI. The 17-year old rifler has before KPI, represented Prima and other smaller Swedish teams.

The young Swede made a name for himself when he featured in Elitserien and ESEA advanced back in 2019.

“There’s great talent out there and I am very excited to already have Erik on board to spearhead the project. A great guy with an incredible work ethic and mindset. Excited about seeing the team evolve and compete, as we continue to add the final pieces.” says a very excited Jonas Gundersen, COO at NiP.

You can read more about NiP's new academy team right here.

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ztr

Player stats

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Is this GODSENT’s new lineup?

Teammate hints towards a device exit at NIP

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Video: ztr trolling m0NESY with sneaky knife kill

hampus on shifting rosters at NIP: It’s not the best I would say, but it’s out of my control

Preview Group D: Can anyone stop the youngsters from Gambit?

NIP announce roster change before IEM Summer

Gambit through to the Grand Finals after 2-0 victory!

Heroic through to Semi-Finals after convincing win

A closer look: EPL Group B will deliver some much needed answers

Video: Impressive debut from new Ninja

Shock defeat! Astralis lose first match at BLAST

Live: Astralis vs Ninjas in Pyjamas (0-2)

NIP bench player: "Something had to happen"

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