Is he the final piece of the NiP puzzle?
A new ninja has joined the clan! Danish journeyman Es3tag joins Ninjas In Pyjamas right before their campaign at Blast Premier Fall Finals. With the event being in Copenhagen, will the Colossus-Juggernaut Alumnus be the final piece that unlocks the NIP Magic?
The rifler re-unites with Dev1ce with whom he played in the second half of 2020. During his tenure Astralis most notably lifted the ESL Pro League Season 12 Trophy. Es3tag felt right at home in Xyp9x's roles but hasn't found himself in those roles since. In Cloud9's Colossus, he found himself taking on the entry role alongside Mezii. When Woxic was benched, he took up the sniper role.
After Cloud9, he moved to the Complexity Juggernaut once again taking up entry fragging and support duties. He showed himself capable of filling any role but didn't find the same consistency as he did in Astralis. Now in the Ninjas, he'll be taking up similar roles to his Astralis stint as he takes over from LNZ.
The roster now comprises of two Danes but will continue to communicate in Swedish. Being the Swiss Army Knife of CS Players, es3tag of course speaks Swedish.
"I’m absolutely thrilled to be back at the absolute forefront of competitive CS:GO — to play with world-class proven individuals, with whom I can create a legacy. With backing from an organization like NIP I'm confident that everything surrounding the squad is primed so we can reach the pinnacle of CS:GO. And yes I speak Swedish."
The team will have their debut at Blast Premier Fall Finals at Copenhagen. A top 4 placing would be an expected result for the squad, but a finals run would show that NIP is here to play. With teams like NaVi, Heroic, Vitality, and the new-look Astralis in attendance, this will be a tough battle.
Linus did a fantastic job coming into the A team and was a vital part of our first CS:GO victory since 2017 — a big milestone for the new generation of NIP. Bringing up talent is an important focus for us, but even more important is winning big trophies. Patrick fits our team ethos incredibly well and brings proven talent and experience.
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LNZ following in ZTR's footsteps
After a successful major run, LNZ will be returning to the Young Ninjas roster as a 6th man. The 19-year-old will be bringing his experience from the main team to the academy team. Similar to ZTR, the youngster will also be the backup for NIP for when a player is unavailable to play an event.
Ninjas In Pyjamas Update Roster
- Fredrik "REZ" Sterner
- Nicolas "Plopski" Gonzalez Zamora
- Hampus "hampus" Poser
- Nicolai "device" Reedtz
- Patrick "es3tag" Hansen
- Björn "THREAT" Pers (coach)
NiP es3tag will make his debut for the team at BLAST Premier Fall Finals.
Check out the teams, prize pool, and format of Blast Premier here and stay tuned to esports.gg to keep up with CS:GO news.
