hampus: "I think with Brollan we have a really strong team, the goal is to be title contenders"

After his team secured victory in a close battle with Liquid, Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser took some time to give HLTV an interview.

Ninjas in Pyjamas had an underwhelming start to 2022, failing to make it out of BLAST Premier Spring Groups and missing out on the playoffs of IEM Katowice.

The Ninjas sought to rectify those mistakes here at ESL Pro League and so far have done just that, sailing through their group in first place and besting Liquid in a hard-fought quarter-final.

With a semi-final against ENCE on the horizon, the Swedes' IGL hampus sat down with HLTV to talk about the tournament so far, his team's erratic performances at the end of last year, and how they will shape up with Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin on the roster.

Congratulations on the win, how does it feel to be in the semi-finals?

Obviously it feels good (smiles), the goal we had was just to qualify for the playoffs which we did in the groups, we got first place which was very nice. It was a bit unexpected I would say.

Getting to this quarter-final, we thought we were going to face Heroic when we saw the bracket initially, so we prepped hard for Heroic actually, but Liquid won. It was a weird series, Heroic didn’t play up to their level but I think Liquid played good.

Were you expecting that series to be so close?

Yeah I was expecting a hard fight. This game, anyone could have won it.

We were in Group A, which was three weeks ago I think, and since then we’ve only practiced with Brollan online for the RMR. We got here on Sunday, so we only had two practices here with phzy so we haven’t really practiced much win him, which was a bit rough; we thought ‘we’re just playing, doing our best, and seeing what happens’.

The goal was to get to the semi-final once we made playoffs, because someone told me we get to IEM Dallas if we make semi-final, or something like this. We’ve done that, so hopefully we get invited to Dallas (laughs) that would be nice.

In some ways, was the pressure off due to the lack of practice with phzy?

Not really, we’re playing like this is our lineup that we will have in ten months, like just now we had a team meeting and it was pretty harsh (smiles), because in our opinion we didn’t play the best game today. I think that’s also because it was the first game for us since coming back, they played a game yesterday so they knew the stage, they were a bit warmer, the first game on LAN is always a bit shaky.

Since it has been three weeks since we were here the first map was really rough, I would say, but we managed to close it out 16-14. On the second map I think we made a lot of mistakes that we normally don’t do, and that gave them Overpass.

Coming back to the series, was it hard to reset mentally after you guys threw away a 5v3 at 14-15 on Overpass, which would have taken you to OT and given you a chance to take the 2-0?

Yeah it was really rough, especially for me because I think it was my mistake in the 14-15 round, I think I did very bad (laughs), so I got really frustrated with myself. We just had to refocus, we had the choice in the veto to take it to Vertigo or Inferno and we thought that their Inferno didn’t look that hot, so we were confident. Our Inferno is better than their Inferno, so it didn’t matter what happened, we just refocused and got it done.

You mentioned that you hadn’t practiced much with phzy, is there any thought when vetoing about picking maps he is comfortable on?

No, Young Ninjas don’t play Dust2 which is the same as us, they play the same maps, and because he is the AWPer it is the same positions. We are just picking maps we are comfortable on.

Speaking more generally, how have you felt about the team’s performance overall at Pro League so far, not just the results but your level of play?

In the group stage I was super happy, because it was a surprise for us ourselves a bit when we went 4-0 confirming first in the group before the last game (smiles). It was an unfortunate last game though, we should have done better. I was super happy about the performances from everyone, especially phzy, I think he played very good in the group stage.

Today everyone stepped up in the right moments, and that really got us the win, so I am happy how we played.

I guess you must have been particularly pleased with REZ today, he had a monster series!

REZ is so f**king good, it’s insane (smiles). The round on Overpass where he killed one in underground, then kills one mid, and then balloons, yeah I am just spectating and smiling you know (laughs). I just tell him, ‘you are so f**cking good bro, just do what you want’.

If I could rewind a little bit, I wanted to ask a few questions about the end of last year.

From the outside it seemed like a weird time; IEM Fall was spectacular, the Major was maybe a tad disappointing, the two BLAST events were poor but IEM Winter in-between was great, even with a stand-in. How was it from your perspective?

Yeah it was bit chaotic. We won IEM Fall, I don’t think we lost a game, I think we played very good, and then going into the Major, to be honest I think we played good in that Major. We did what we could, we won the games we should have won, and then we got a pretty rough bracket I remember – in the 2-0 game we got NAVI and then after Gambit, who were ranked #1 and #4 at the time, so that was a bit rough. We managed to close it out in that insane game versus Flames, which was a super nice game.

In the quarter-final against G2, the score wasn’t that close but I think the game was closer than it looked, it showed that they had more experience I think; we had me, Plopski, LNZ, it was our first, second or third year, we had only played a few big stages. Also, NiKo, he just showed that he was the better player at that time, he was so good at that Major.

The BLAST events, they were really rough and shaky, getting es3tag in it was a bit rough with the communication at first.

Are you guys communicating in Swedish?

Yeah, we are speaking Swedish, he has learned it which is super nice. He is such a high IQ guy, you can tell him ‘learn this’ and he learns it, he is one of those guys. If you ask him ‘hey can you find this nade man?’ he is in the server until he finds it, he is really nice to have on the team.

So obviously device took a leave of absence from the team during the aforementioned period – did losing him mean you had to reign in expectations a little bit moving forward?

A little bit, of course, device is device, he is one of the greatest players of all time, you can’t replace device. For phzy to step into his shoes, what a task! It’s impossible, so we had to lower them a bit.

We still have a good team even if device isn't here, before device arrived we were decent, doing top-fours. Actually, I wouldn’t say we lowered our expectations, we still wanted to win, you just have to work with what you’ve got.

Looking to the future, how are you feeling about Brollan coming in?

Very good, very good (smiles). Brollan is the best player in Sweden, and we’re the only Swedish team now that’s in the top 30 I think, at least the top 10, and if you want to be the best Swedish team you need the best Swedish player. Now we got him, finally, so nice (smiles).

It must be great to know that you are part of an organisation that is so ambitious, first spending big money on device and then bringing the chequebook back out for Brollan so soon after?

It’s amazing. Jonas, our boss, he is so passionate and all he wants to do is win a Major, so he will do anything is his power to get us closer to winning one. It is so nice to feel that backing from the org.

What do you think the ceiling will be with Brollan in the lineup, forgetting about device for now?

I think with Brollan we have a really strong team, the goal is to be title contenders. Even if we don’t have device, we still have a good enough team to be up there, we got to the IEM Winter final and are now in the semis here without device. Title contending, I would say.

I assume you won’t tell me who the final five-man lineup will be, when device returns?

No (laughs), sorry man!

I wasn’t expecting an answer, honestly! Let’s pretend device doesn’t come back, do you foresee any problems with not having a dedicated AWPer?

It’s a bit of an issue I would say, but we have strong secondary AWPers. Me, I guess not that much anymore because we changed a bit how I play, but before I played a lot of second AWP. REZ likes to play a second AWP, es3tag was the main AWPer on Cloud9 for a while, so we have some strong AWPers, we will figure it out. We’ll use the AWP, it’s too good not to be used (laughs), one shot one kill.

All the top players seem to be AWP abusers, right?

Yeah, f**cking abusers, tilts me every time (laughs).

Looking a bit further ahead– how are you guys feeling for the RMR?

It feels good, we’re in the RMR B so we have some more time to practice which is very nice, I think we need it (smiles). We’re looking at the group, last time we won IEM Fall and we got Legends status, the RMR before that we got to the final of Flashpoint, so in these RMR tournaments we always play really good. When you can’t win money, we’re the best (laughs).

We’re feeling good though, we’re going for a Legends spot.

Any thoughts about goals for the Major yet?

No, I haven’t even thought about it, we need to qualify first. You never know what could happen, these days CS:GO is so competitive, any team can win against any team on a good day it feels like, so no, we have to qualify first.

Coming back to this tournament, how do you feel about the ENCE semi-final matchup?

The feeling is good I think, we haven’t played them since they got Maden, not even in practice I think. Before we always had a pretty good time against them, like in the IEM Fall final I wouldn’t say it was the closest of games, but now I think they have upgraded the roster so they will be better of course. They are looking very good, they have such strong individuals, hades, dycha, Maden, Spinx, all four of those are so strong, and Marco, Snappi, is doing well leading too.

Snappi even had that crazy Nuke game against Movistar!

Yeah he can pop off for sure, and I think he is doing a very good job with his team, so we will see. Both of us can win, I think it will be a good game, it depends on the maps a bit, but I am feeling good going into the game.

Looking beyond that, you have Astralis, FURIA, NAVI and FaZe on the other side of the bracket. Who would you want to play in the final?

FURIA. I think my playstyle is a bit similar to arT’s, we are both really good friends, and the games we play are always super fun. So much chaos, and I love the chaos (laughs), so yeah FURIA for sure.

Who do you expect to play?

The boring answer would be NAVI (smiles), but they have been looking not as good as they were before, and FaZe is looking pretty strong, so I would say one of those two. I am hoping FURIA can pull it off though, they smashed it in the group stage.

I’ll give you an easy one to finish – who was the hardest team to play against so far this year?

The hardest team we played this year… not even this year actually, always when we play them it’s so hard… can you guess?

Hmm.. It won’t be NAVI, that’s too obvious…

No, but it is a CIS team. You should get this!

…

It’s Outsiders! There’s something about their playstyle and our playstyle that… I don’t know, it’s just super hard to play against. YEKINDAR is one of the best entries in the world, and Jame is so annoying to play against, he plays so defensive and he never misses so it’s hard to punish. They had our number, I would say, but this year we’re gonna get theirs (smiles).