Ninjas in Pyjamas the professional Counter-Strike Global Offensive team are as of writing this in a tremendous state of concern. Historically their major winning lineup has consisted of a 4-man core unit comprised of the legendary duo Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund of Counter-Strike 1.6 acclaim, accompanied by the likes of Richard “Xizt” Landstrom and Adam “friberg” Friberg.
Coming into CSGO with Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson as their 5th player, they ruled the land with an iron fist going on to recording the longest winning streak by a professional team at 87 consecutive LAN map wins. Their success however overshadowed their own weaknesses as a unit and as the scene progressed indivually and tactically over time, these issues within their lineup only became more apparent, even after replacing Fifflaren with the likes of Aleksi “allu” Jalli, Maikel “Maikelele” Bill, Jacob “pyth” Mourujarvi and William “draken” Sundin, the issue with the core unit remained.
So what is the problem exactly?
It’s the Ninjas themselves. Not only is it their unwillingness to change the core unit, but their intolerable ignorance towards their own problem, that this 4-man unit does not work anymore and to be quite frank, if it weren’t for their willingness to adopt CSGO earlier than the rest of the field, this lineup wouldn’t have worked anyway.
The reason this is so much of a topical subject isn’t because the Ninjas possess one of the largest fanbases within the Counter-Strike community, it’s quite simply because they from time to time make strides in the right direction towards reclaiming former glory, yet fall back into their older habits when competition gets tough, only to go on and remove their 5th player and blame the 5th players ‘freshness’ as the issue for the core units decline.
The issue is the 4-man unit has working parts, functional aspects of the team that could aspire to greatness elsewhere or with better supporting elements, yet this team continues to fumble in ignorance that they can mimic the likes of Virtus.Pro, the longest standing CSGO roster, and work through their issues, even though that example is an anomaly forged out of regional necessity from a lack of Polish talent, NiP do not have a lack of regional talent as noted by the amount of 5th players they have cycled through.
The solution?
The way I see it, there genuinely cannot be more than 2 players that stay on this roster if they wish to compete with the elite level teams. NiP’s roster that emerged into CSGO initially was one born from pure skill, an era with little to no tactical input, now is an era of incredible tactical depth, one of which this lineup does not suit.
GeT_RiGhT and f0rest, the iconic duo that has shown themselves the “stars” of this team, should be the two that remain and should have a team built around them. friberg should be removed as his role can be fulfilled by any younger fledgling Swedish player with a better skillset and competitive drive. Xizt is a formidable player but his role as in-game leader was only thrust upon him as NiP had to acclimatize to the tactical onset that was brought into CSGO by the likes of Kevin “Ex6tenZ” Droolans, he should be replaced by a leader with a fresher experience of the game that is willing and able to take on that role. draken should remain, as he is still particularly inexperienced yet has potential as a future AWP star.
Out with the old in with the new.
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