Why Ninjas in Pyjamas Is the Most Influential Team in CSGO
When talking about the best teams in CSGO, there is always a team that comes up which modern fans are not familiar with and that is Ninjas in Pyjamas.
Why Ninjas in Pyjamas Is the Most Influential Team in CSGO
When talking about the best teams in CSGO, there is always a team that comes up which modern fans are not familiar with and that is Ninjas in Pyjamas. They were a legendary squad that was composed of the game’s best-ever players.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is one of the biggest esports games in the world. This is attributed to the quality of the game which can be attributed to NiP’s excellence in the early days. If you are aware of the early CSGO days, you have probably heard about this legendary squad.
Let us talk about these players and their specialities and the reason why they became prolific.
Robin ‘Fifflaren’ Johansson
When it comes to the most underrated player in the legendary NiP squad, Fifflaren was the vocal support player who threw out the smokes and served as the information sponge for the team. He was not the best player skill-wise but Fiff was valuable when it came to the tactics and the intangibles.
Fiff is the lesser-known member of the NiP lineup but most pundits deemed him as an important piece of the team as he was the glue that kept them together. There were many stars in this team but they needed a player who stabilized the game and Fiff was a great choice for that.
Fiff was usually the AWPer for the team but NiP was known for using the AWP in a supporting role. This is why Fiff was given the weapon they mostly used it for scouting and defending sites. Besides, there were some tactics that they implemented where they had two AWPs in a round.
Richard ‘Xizt’ Landström
Any good team needs a good leader and NiP had one in Xizt. He has a great mind for the game and his tactics were unique. Most of the time, they played an aggressive style that centred around four players attacking. They always had an outlier from the attack which we will talk about later.
Xizt was the classic support player that always had the right tool for the job. He was a specialist when it came to Nades as he had special spots where he could throw smokes and then it landed in the right spot. He was also a capable big-time player when it came to clutch situations as he was a rifler who always had a good head on his shoulders.
Xizt is not the first name that you think of when talking about NiP but he was truly one of the best IGLs that the game has ever seen. He last played for Dignitas but he is a consistent fixture of the CSGO scene as his skill is still up there. However, his leadership and intangibles also stand out.
Many modern IGLs have taken inspiration from Xizt and his tactics. Lukas ‘gla1ve’ Rossander is regarded as one of the best IGLs but his tactics are reminiscent of Xizt and the early days of NiP.
Patrik ‘f0rest’ Lindberg
Back in CS 1.6, f0rest was recognized as one of the best two players ever alongside Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski. In the early days of CSGO, these two players were still awesome but they were not the outright superstars.
When it comes to consistent stars in CSGO, f0rest is at the top of the list. In his NiP days, he was a part of the deadliest trio in the game. F0rest can do it all by using a rifle or serving as the secondary AWPer at times.
F0rest is also a well-known pistol user as he can win a round with just a pistol. His use of the USP-S can still be felt nowadays as more people use it in eco-rounds. F0rest’s play was always a deciding factor and if he was in form, people were always favouring NiP in the free CSGO skins betting.
He is a clutch player who can do everything that a fan would want from a player. F0rest was not the flashiest player but he was always there when the team needed him. This is evidenced by f0rest’s commitment to the team as he stayed with them the longest out of any player from the legendary squad.
Adam ‘friberg’ Friberg
F0rest was not the only superstar on the team as friberg was also a player who carried a heavy load for NiP. He was the team’s best Counter-Terrorist player as he always held down a certain place in the map.
Friberg is most known for his dominance on the Inferno map where he specialized in the part of the map which is Banana. He always had control of Banana to the point that he usually gets three to four frags in that area and he was rightfully called the King of Banana.
Besides that friberg was the most aggressive player on offence. He was the classic entry fragger for the team. The best asset that friberg had was his quick trigger and reactions. It was a big deal for NiP to have him as a player because friberg was an insane talent who can change the game single-handedly.
His influence is still felt when it comes to Banana but his way of entry fragging with quick flicks and pure aggression has inspired many players to refine the style.
Modern CSGO fans would look at Jacky ‘Stewie2K’ Yip as the best entry fragger out there but it was friberg who made the role prolific. It is safe to say that the game and free CSGO skins betting will be different if friberg did not play in the early days for NiP.
Christopher ‘GeT_RiGhT’ Alesund
GeT_RiGhT is one of the most prolific esports players of all time and with good reason. He was the best player on this NiP squad which is insane to think about when considering the quality of the previously-named players.
He innovated the lurker role which entailed staying in certain areas of the map away from the other four players. This will usually leave GeT_RiGhT to attack from the flank and surprise people. This was valuable when it came to clutch plays when he was the only player alive because he can catch the opponents off guard.
GeT_RiGhT was the best player in his prime because he was a complete player. He was great with rifles but he occasionally used the AWP when needed. He is also the specialist in anti-ecos with his use of SMG guns which was a big part of the meta in early CSGO.
Their history of success
The early days were prime NiP as they went on a stellar unbeaten run that has not been equalled since. From the start of the CSGO esports scene, they did not lose in 87 maps. That was crazy considering the number of good teams that were present in that era including Fnatic and VeryGames. The latter was the team that ended the streak but it was still a streak that will live on forever in esports.
Apart from the legendary streak, NiP also won a bunch of tournaments but none bigger than ESL One Cologne 2014 which was NiP’s first and only Major in history. They could have won more but they did have some rough patches scattered around their early history.
After their dominance, many teams took over after them with the likes of Fnatic, EnVyUs, SK Gaming and Astralis. However, they can attribute their success to the drawing power of NiP and the way they helped teams to become more prominent.
NiP has won some tournaments here and there but they have not reached the same level that they were at back in 2013 to at least 2015.
What led to their downfall?
While NiP did not fall off drastically, they had a slow decline into becoming a lacklustre squad. Some of the players fell off starting with Fifflaren. He exited the pro scene rather quickly in 2014 which was just two years in. He made a small comeback in 2019 with other older players but he is now with Dignitas as a manager.
The other four stayed with NiP for a long time with the fifth spot rotating but it was friberg who was first to leave in 2017 which kickstarted the big four’s departures as Xizt followed suit. GeT_RiGhT left in late 2019 which left f0rest as the only player in NiP. At the turn of 2020, f0rest also left the team to join Dignitas where he was reunited with the core four for the first time in three years. Fiff was also there as the manager which was truly a heart-warming time in CSGO.
However, that would not last as Xizt was deemed inactive and GeT_RiGhT decided to retire from pro CSGO.
Their team slowly faded away but it was an amazing time for esports fans when NiP was dominant. They are the most influential team in CSGO history and their legacy will continue to live on in other teams.
Dignitas VP of Talent Heather ‘sapphiRe’ Garozzo perfectly encapsulated the impact that they made when they signed the core four. She said, ‘As a fan of Counter-Strike for nearly two decades, I’ve always viewed GeT_RiGhT, Xizt, friberg, f0rest and Fifflaren as the epitome of professionalism and competitiveness’.
Their era has ended but it is undeniable that they made an indelible mark on CSGO and esports as a whole.
Find out more info on CSGO at Gamdom
Words: Pocholo Magsino
