hampus on deciding factor against mouz: "ropz. We can shut him down"

Ninjas in Pyjamas discussed their shaky run in the ESL Pro League group stage and their upcoming round of 12 match against MOUZ.

On Sunday, Ninjas in Pyjamas secured the last playoffs spot at ESL Pro League Season 14 after a group stage run that saw the Swedish side show different faces throughout their five series. As Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz described it, it was a rollercoaster-like campaign in which the team suffered a tough opening loss to Liquid and came back with wins against Entropiq and TeamOne, before another blow came when Ninjas in Pyjamas were unable to topple a weakened FURIA side playing with their coach.

"I think starting out against Liquid was actually maybe the worst game we played. We had really good reads and we got completely destroyed by them," device said during a press conference ahead of the playoffs, speaking about Ninjas in Pyjamas's up-and-down campaign so far in the tournament. "Losing that one against guerri and the guys, which is — it's not embarrassing, but it's just not good enough for the level we want to perform at. It definitely sparked a fire in us going into the Gambit match."

Ninjas in Pyjamas's final match against Gambit didn't end up having any impact on the final standings, but Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser and company managed to close out the round robin with a confidence-boosting victory against the current No. 2 team nonetheless, heading into the playoffs with some wind in their sails despite the shaky start.

"Even though we knew that it wasn't dependent on our result we still wanted to prove what level of CS we can play," device explained. "Having the Gambit match as the last game of the group stage also gives you kind of a boost going into the games that are coming up now, especially the mousesports game today."

With just one day to prepare for the playoffs, Ninjas in Pyjamas will be hoping to capitalize on the momentum they gained from the Gambit series when they face MOUZ in the opening round. The first playoffs series seems to be resting on a knife's edge even if the Swedes came out on top of their last encounter against Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's squad handily in the IEM Cologne Play-in, and according to hampus it will all be about whether Ninjas in Pyjamas can find a way to counter their opponents' superstar player.

"ropz," the Ninjas in Pyjamas in-game leader said plainly about what the key factor in the first round of 12 series will be. "Yeah, we can shut him down," he responded when asked whether the Swedes can do something about the Estonian.

Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool himself said in an earlier press conference that he thinks the matchup will come down to who can win their picks. For Ninjas in Pyjamas, that map is almost certain to be Ancient, as they have picked it whenever it was left open in their matches at IEM Cologne before the break and now in ESL Pro League as well.

Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers spoke about why his team has taken such a liking to the newest map in the pool. "I've always really liked theory crafting on new maps. In this team right now I have almost everyone who really helps with theory crafting," the coach said. "I think it also fits with hampus' style of calling, there are a lot of funky things you can do mid-round with mid, you can experiment a lot."

"There are still some times in scrims where we can feel like we're playing this team and they have this new way of playing that completely crushes us, but we are trying to be able to adapt on the fly. I think that's what makes us a really strong team on Ancient, that we can play almost any team and we can adapt on the fly, because a lot of teams approach this map very very differently."

hampus went on to elaborate on whether his views on the map have changed since he had made an appearance on HLTV Confirmed three months ago and talked about the importance of the B bombsite. "I think it's still better to go B. In general, it might not be as easy to go B because teams have found out how to take banana and stuff in better ways, but I think going A is impossible because the A site is so bad," the in-game leader shared. "You need three smokes, and even if you have the three smokes down and you plant, you play a team like BIG and four HEs come on you or something. So just getting the bomb down on A is impossible, so you have to go B."

Ninjas in Pyjamas's match in the first round of ESL Pro League Season 14 playoffs against MOUZ kicks off at 16:00 .