Official: headtr1ck joins NIP

9-1-2023 19:07

The Ukrainian sniper fills the spot left vacant by the benching of Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen in December.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced the addition of Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov to their roster, confirming reports from December that linked the former NAVI Junior player with a move to the Swedish organization.

The 18-year-old completes the team's lineup and fills the spot previously occupied by es3tag, who was benched from the roster at the same time that rumors of headtr1ck's potential transfer emerged. The move also means that Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner can be relieved of AWPing duties and return to rifling, ending a short-lived role change that was first tested during ESL Pro League Season 16 and carried through the rest of 2022.

headtr1ck completes a transfer to NIP ahead of the start of the season

headtr1ck drew eyes as a part of NAVI Junior in 2022, posting impressive numbers in the WePlay Academy League and averaging a 1.28 rating in the four seasons that he played during the year. He was transfer-listed by NAVI after two stand-in stints with the main roster at ESL Pro League Season 15 and BLAST Premier Fall Groups, where he averaged 0.97 and 1.12 ratings, respectively.

At the latter event, NAVI coach Andrey "⁠B1ad3⁠" Gorodenskiy spoke to HLTV in an interview and stated that headtr1ck was "not ready to play versus tier one comfortably enough," noting his lack of experience and understanding of the macro at the top level at the time.

The Ukrainian sniper will have the chance to prove B1ad3 wrong under the Ninjas in Pyjamas banner, and seems to already be a hot prospect heading into the new year — five of the 20 players of 2022 have already picked him as their Bold Prediction. Whether he can follow in the footsteps of Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and deliver on those expectations is something to keep an eye on as play gets underway.

Following the change, Ninjas in Pyjamas's roster consists of:

Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner
Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser
Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin
Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen
Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov

Daniel "⁠djL⁠" Narancic (coach)

Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen (bench)

my head is doing trickery

2023-01-09 19:07

32 replies

pog move

2023-01-09 19:08

20 replies

will see

7 replies

expected

2023-01-09 19:49

6 replies

wait so noonne's gonna comment that SUPER cringe acting in the video?? 😂😂 seriously, dont act.. just dont

2023-01-10 08:34

5 replies

I think it's pretty obvious that's the point, all of these videos are the same cringe

2023-01-10 09:49

I guess you could say that when its cringe enough it becomes funny/satire. But yeah it was bad

2 replies

bro imo it didnt become funny, it just became cringe²

2023-01-10 14:30

1 reply

To each their own

2023-01-10 20:26

What do you mean, the acting was so good I thought I'm watching g**p*** intro?

2023-01-11 09:38

2023-01-09 19:17

2023-01-09 19:23

2023-01-09 19:28

Device better

2023-01-09 19:36

Will be better that device

2023-01-10 02:39

2023-01-10 03:52

Flair and flag

2023-01-10 05:38

will probably play more maps than device

2023-01-10 08:24

Don't think that's possible, Device lasted atleast 20 maps

2023-01-10 13:06

Yeah he will and earn some experience

2023-01-10 21:13

Ehat

2023-01-13 10:08

Actually exciting

2023-01-09 19:37

Average player.

2023-01-09 19:59

Average team so it fits

2023-01-10 12:42

Should have added ERA or Regali tbh

2023-01-09 20:04

maybe not eraa but regali for sure

2023-01-09 20:17

2023-01-09 21:02

2023-01-09 21:03

Eraa is literally bot. He misses such easy shots that it’s unbelievable.

2023-01-09 20:37

eraa isn't that good but regali is good. although he prefers to play in a danish speaking team

2023-01-10 04:45

2023-01-09 22:24

Lol

2023-01-10 03:32

NIP top 1 inc

2023-01-10 13:14

first

12 replies

2023-01-09 19:09

nt xd

2023-01-09 19:24

XI_WU_TOP2

2023-01-09 19:29

2023-01-09 22:06

2023-01-09 19:38

2nd just like zywoo, sad

2023-01-09 22:11

3 replies

lmao cope just wait

2023-01-09 23:17

xi wu top 2 :(

2023-01-10 04:48

hahaha

2023-01-10 03:23

ahahhahaha

2023-01-09 22:41

2023-01-10 17:41

POGPOGPOG

pog

Aleksib cannot utilize an aggressive awper. Come get me Suomi

2023-01-09 20:16

2023-01-09 23:12

I got you my boy

2023-01-09 23:13

Nice

Expected

BEST UKRANIAN AWPER

mm no, that spot is taken, maybe in 3-5 years. (yes i know you are baiting)

2023-01-09 19:46

wonderful next best sorry

4 replies

headtr1ck solos xqc

2023-01-09 20:28

2023-01-09 20:56

2023-01-10 10:38

sign for the future

solution was skadoodle

+1 :x

I wish he was playing. Still so fun watching the highlights.

2023-01-10 02:00

KQLY > Skadoodle

Forsaken > KQLY

2023-01-10 12:38

zuhn > foreskin

2023-01-10 20:36

finally

big W

Pog

Lets go!

pog nice

I'm sceptical, but I hope this works out

niceee

surely he will save swedish scene

so bad

Navi Jr the talent farmers

2023-01-09 19:10

Academy merchants

2023-01-09 19:30

hltv should make another article about academy players, this time about the academies instead and the roster affected

2023-01-10 03:29

a true academy team, like first mouz nxt roster

2023-01-09 20:05

or big academy

2023-01-09 20:58

cool

ayyyy

Big W, but i would love to see es3tag playing instead of REZ

9 replies

2023-01-09 19:12

wtf?

Why wtf?

2023-01-09 21:32

2023-01-09 19:33

+1 People see REZ having good events and fail to realize that he is probably the most inconsistent player in NiP and plays some of the best roles

2023-01-09 19:44

got to agree 100%. es3tag isn´t a star player by any means but he is very consistent and you know what you get from him. REZ on the other side might have a gave with a 30 bomb but only 10 kills in the following map...

2023-01-09 19:52

most inconsistent player in tier1 more like

2023-01-10 07:15

He has worked on that now with Hampus and psychologist, I think those issues are behind. He is a true star player now

2023-01-10 13:01

Instead of speaking out of your head, you should approach this statistically and you would notice that your head is FUCKED.

2023-01-10 13:08

Finally

2023-01-09 19:11

Aleksib can really do some great work with upcoming talents, this is the year Ninjas.

13 replies

No he can't lol, Flamez instantly got better with Nexa and m0NESY instantly got better with hooxi, both right after Aleksi left

2023-01-09 22:14

Wishful thinking. This will be a good boost to NIP who has been missing a dedicated AWPer ever since device took his nap.

2023-01-10 00:36

they didn't get better, the opposition just sucked because they weren't able to get a read on them. once they get the read g2 will flop and they're gonna kick someone (again)

2023-01-10 01:57

not hating, but this is literally the biggest copium i have ever seen :D

2023-01-10 08:16

Its ture

2023-01-10 10:20

it's not copium. let me reason with you and you'll understand what i mean. do you think g2 has ever been a tactical team or have they just always relied on their firepower? the problem with this is that if the firepower isn't on the server you lose and the second problem is if the enemy just gets a good read on your play it's gonna be tough.

2023-01-10 12:33

i think g2 will be dominant next year honestly :D

2023-01-10 12:47

2024? oh lawd

2023-01-10 13:44

What about sergej? His form dropped really hard after aleksi left

2023-01-10 02:06

KKKKKKKK 2 FINNISH FLAGS ALREADY MALDING

2023-01-10 02:49

It feels so good

2023-01-10 08:00

lmao :D

This +1 for sure but i doubt nip will end up in worse spot/ranking/event placings with headtrick considering they have played with no real awper for the past year. OG was in shambles when aleksi left considering they had swapped players alot and dont think they ever had enough time together with flamez to structure the team for him to play in his peak. G2 is a bit different imo, aleksibs way of calling just doesnt fit the type of players G2 has and I think monesy mentioned that he enjoys playing with Hooxi since he has more freedom, but I guess you could also argue that if everyone has freedom to do whatever, the only strat is ”go kill”. But all in all I think it worked out for each team, OG looks way more consistent sith current roster, G2 showed some good cs in the last event, it’s just that they can keep up the form. For NIP its still open obviously but I feel like aleksib fits with the system/players in NIP way better than he did in G2

2023-01-10 09:58

good for him , we will see how he will develop to a better player (if the team worked)

Yeah!

Lets gooo, welcome!

I like seeing the ninjas take this gamble, it certainly has potential.

2023-01-09 19:13

8 replies

it will be worse 100%

2023-01-09 19:14

It was worse for g2 as well

2023-01-09 19:15

g2 was logical in a sense but adding a rookie in an inter team with 0 experience in it +changing all of calls... lets see

How is this move any different from monessy? He was also a rookie in international teams. And no one is changing calls. NIP was already speaking English since AlexeiB.

2023-01-09 19:31

umm yeah, i guess you are right lets see but m0nesy potential >>> headtr1ck potential

2023-01-09 21:12

That is a different argument, I have not seen enough of headtrick to say. But I had some promise and brings excitement to the scene, which is always good! :-)

2023-01-09 21:27

rez cant awp bruh

2023-01-10 04:14

+1, he was the fastest awper (reactions) in a tournament not too long ago (blast? i don't remember) but that's all he has as an awper, he is clearly a much better rifler.

2023-01-10 04:54

AleksiB ruined monesy now its time for headtrick

monesy doesn't seem to be that ruined to me

2023-01-09 19:16

Work of hooxi

2023-01-09 20:39

Hooxi gigachad, u a right

2023-01-09 22:43

Awpers really don't seem to shine in his systems

Nop except of allu ironically and mantuu was solid for a while too tho

2023-01-09 20:40

mantuu being a shit awper has nothing to do with aleksib's calls. if you ever saw how he played in afterplant situations you know exactly what i mean. always too late to help his team, too slow to move and never taking risks in 1v2 got to clutch situations. other than this achilles heel, he's a good awp.

2023-01-10 01:59

hltv.org/img/static/flags/30x20/FI.gif he actually said that mantu was decent under aleksi still u run there to defend him

2023-01-10 04:42

i said he was both shit and good at the same time. what i think of aleksib is irrelevant in this context. of course i support aleksib, because he's the only relevant finnish player in the scene atm. i wish he had more success. still doesn't take away what i said about mantuu's style of play. he just fucking chokes in clutch situations where you're supposed to take the risks.

2023-01-10 12:35

oh actually true my bad, didnt notice latter part of #237

2023-01-10 13:59

GL BOI

Haha gonna flop for sure. Great PR move tho

headtr1ck > dev1ce

Finally an awper. Now give the roster some time to build, don't change again every 6 months

Agreed! :D Also really interesting to see so many players pick headtr1ck in their “Bold Predictions” I swear if they change roster again I’m going to cri :/ Hope you have a lovely week further, stay safe and hydrated <3

I still don't like Brollan tho

2023-01-10 05:18

You dont like one of the top 5 rifflers in the entire scene? Nice logic

2023-01-10 07:50

Brollan top5? Niko, Ax1, Twistz, ropz, KSC... c'mon

2023-01-10 20:30

Stats doesn’t define skills especially when your team performs terribly. If NIP advanced to semi finals or finals on major, you would see Brollan in top 5. Skill wise he is as good as those 5 mentioned above, and when you think that he plays entry most of the time then you know how skilled he is

2023-01-10 21:55

Lmao this kid won't deliver like m0nesy, I hope nip realizes that

but he will deliver well

2023-01-09 19:25

You underestimate how good NaVi jr is in developing individuals

2023-01-09 19:45

People said the exact same shit about m0nesy. Let him show if he can hang.

2023-01-10 00:03

LFG

I give him three months

2023-01-09 19:18

Lets go!!!!

2023-01-09 19:19

Noicee

2023-01-09 19:20

Lets go👍

Say whaaaaaaaaaat , Nordic talents disappeared i guess . Was hoping for Farlig or mantuu but if this guy is an talent im happy aswell :).

2023-01-09 19:22

LoL, Farlig. Might just keep Esetag AWPing then.

2023-01-10 04:55

u gotta keep up bro, headtr1ck is 3x the player farlig will ever be and has potential to be a top awper which mantuu doesn't, at least not to the same extent

2023-01-10 04:56

fartlig XDDDDD

2023-01-10 10:47

farlig? i'd rather have draken or jugi instead of him

2023-01-10 12:52

big mistake to sign ruski noname bot

Clueless

2023-01-10 04:57

DOES HE KNOW? 😏

2023-01-10 20:44

GL bro, shine!!!

sick move

Ah change in NiP, time for Rez to have one good tournament.

happy for him

Horrible video

+1 :DDDD happy for nip thoooooooo letsgooo

2023-01-09 19:26

2023-01-09 19:35

it was oscars worthy wdym?

2023-01-09 19:34

It was so shit that it was kinda good

it was the worst shit i've ever seen and the worst shit i'll ever see so 2 negatives make it positive.

2023-01-10 20:46

2023-01-09 19:48

damn, didnt see that coming at all

WASTED

2023-01-09 19:27

Another 6months until full Swedish with Joel/nilo and hampus back to igl zzzz, stop waste time nip, fr.

NiP -> R.I.P

NIP will be number 1

oh this video is cringe lmaoooo G2 could never

top1

NiP gonna be decimated after this horrendous move

NIP and Fnatic are known for Swedish CS but this feels weird.

OFFICIAL: NIP - clowns

nice, nip needed something exciting

even tough i've supported ninjas since 2016 i think they've fallen off hard since then ( and yeah times were different back then) but this roster just isnt exciting, no offense to headtr1ck but i think hes gonna flop, i just hope GODSENT will reveal their new team so i can support some fully swedish stacked team

NIP era incoming

Could be a good move in six months. I don’t expect instant results, but on paper, this is a step in the right direction.

Their first match is actually against navi pog

2023-01-09 19:43

headtr1ck will humble deez nuts

2023-01-10 20:48

So much for Brollan wanting to speak Swedish lol Aleksi maybe could've learned Swedish, but no way Headtr1ck will Welcome to the international NiP era

11 replies

Why would aleksi learn swedish?

2023-01-09 20:07

The same reason es3tag or Device did But now there's no reason to since NiP can't go back to Swedish now

2023-01-09 20:10

Well, danish is actually much closer to swedish than finnish tho.

2023-01-09 20:14

It's our second official language tho, a lot of people here speak Swedish

2023-01-09 20:20

I thought Swedish is taught in finland

2023-01-09 20:38

Yeah but not erveryone learns it. I have many finnish friends and only one speak Swedish, But yeah, it's somewhat common I think

2023-01-09 21:00

It is, but aleksi obviously didn't learn it. Afaik, swedish speaking finns are mostly living in Åland.

2023-01-09 21:20

Åland islands + along the coastline mostly (some towns are more swedish speaking than Finnish too but only on the western part of it). Source: I am swedish speaking Finn.

2023-01-10 07:51

From Vasa?

2023-01-10 10:13

Danish and swedish are very alike + wasnt devices gf from sweden so he must know swedish to some extent. Afaik swedes, danes and norwegian people pretty much understand each other atleast to some extent even if theyre speaking their native language.

2023-01-10 10:02

why this lie is still being talked about lmao

2023-01-12 01:58

brollan on suicide watch

Hahahahaha nothing goes in his way lately

2023-01-09 20:23

Poor Hades

xD sadge

2023-01-09 19:47

Ironically his first game will be vs Na'Vi

would have preferred regali , but this kid is good too

2023-01-09 19:50

Nice - best of luck to headtr1ck.

Wht Nip cant Make content

2023-01-09 19:51

biggest mistake in nip history

Device is in the Hotline and want comment on that

2023-01-09 20:35

First match vs NAVI

2023-01-09 19:53

video kinda cringe .

2023-01-09 19:55

Hope it works out

2023-01-09 19:56

I am shocked

2023-01-09 19:57

Interesting move, lets see how Aleksib will use headtrick

gl molodoy

2023-01-09 20:03

Lets go mens

risky move, lets see

Funny this 18 yo can act better than the management team. GL headtrick!

Obviously. He is from the vlog/yt generation. Millennials barely touched on content creation, before already being old enough to realize nothing leaves the internet

2023-01-09 23:21

Sick team on paper

maybe mantuu better pick, but if he the next monesy maybe this worth it

2023-01-09 20:06

Can´t wait to see the new team in action. First match against NAVI also :))

2023-01-09 20:11

What is that welcome video XDDDDDDDD

I'm very excited! Could be hell of a roster! Let's go Ninjas

2023-01-09 20:25

To be fair about blade comment. He said about B1t that his macro isn't good enough for tier 1. When he was asked late 2021 about B1t. But B1t micro was already tier 1 So don't overrate blade comment on that. It is a fair analysis but nothing more

2023-01-09 20:34

blady is a hypocrite?

2023-01-09 20:45

Blade most honest guy in the Cs scene

2023-01-09 21:19

So Navi has been practicing vertigo for real then...

2023-01-09 23:22

If he say so

2023-01-10 10:18

B1ad3 also said that they made many mistakes after winning every map they played in stockholm major

2023-01-09 20:50

Ofc they made mistakes otherwise they win every map 16-0

2023-01-09 21:18

There is always room for improvment and blade is honest about it. I don't get it how that many people seem to missread blade's comments and coming up with theories and instead of taking it as it is

2023-01-10 09:44

why not buyout Device from Astralis instead, what a waste of an opportunity

Dev0ce washed up Astralis even lost tier 3 cup final against cph flames

he is a young awp talent, you gotta give him time

2023-01-09 20:43

Wait! What happened to that device guy?

G2 videos are better fr!

idk about that one man. Hopeful, but idk

2023-01-09 20:44

I wonder how much they payed for the guy :?

2023-01-09 20:47

not the 600k as for monesy maybe 100k.

2023-01-10 10:19

Expected, but nice news!

yes please

2023-01-09 21:04

Sadge

2023-01-09 21:05

It's good news for NiP!

2023-01-09 21:11

LUL

2023-01-09 21:15

Good for NIP, sad cause I was still holding out cope for Hades.

Brollan really wants those Swedish lineups

2023-01-09 21:39

Wtf Navi doing. Thay are actually hurting themselves

2023-01-09 21:44

GL HF in NIP!

2023-01-09 21:53

Lmao Brollan with the swedish lineup

2023-01-09 21:54

And there it goes, I've been a NiP fan for ages. But now it goes to the bin just like this roster

2023-01-09 21:59

real

2023-01-09 22:00

Why he's wearing a NaVi tshirt?

2023-01-09 22:01

nice

2023-01-09 22:13

2023-01-09 22:17

we finally got an awp lol

2023-01-09 22:19

After M0nesy and B1t people still do not believe in NaVi Jr kids

2023-01-09 22:21

LET'S GOOO I feel kinda sorry for the long-time swedish NIP fans, but I find this signing just awesome. He's a great kid.

2023-01-09 22:33

This team gets more and more funny xD

2023-01-09 22:59

Why hampus over es3tag though

2023-01-09 23:00

+1 hampus brings a random ass win condition and has huge brand value, but esetag was making team play smooth. At least judging from the comms videos

2023-01-09 23:27

+1 es3tag calmed down the guys and had alot of impactful comms with perfect english, also he has been really consistent even tho being such a role player.

2023-01-09 23:46

Lets goooo! Will be very exciting to see how NiP progress

2023-01-09 23:54

another organisation that built a legacy in csgo with a swede lineup has been going international. sad to see but swedish scene may be worse than brazilian one rn. i hope godsent and eyeballers projects will sucessfully develop new talents

Csgo is a dying scene in sweden. It will never be the same again! :(

This video is poorly made but gl jeadtrixk

2023-01-10 01:10

I really like HT, young talented awp:er. The team is strong IMO!

2023-01-10 03:20

I don't post on HLTV but this topic got best of me. You guys (nip) made a cringe video at its best and to discredit "⁠es3tag⁠" like this is just low. Es3tag put up some decent numbers and NIP did him dirty. Lost my respect for nip organization. I no longer cheer for nip and I don't care who plays for nip. The theatrics of this cringe video is pure circus. Dear nip in my humble opinion you have been downgraded from NIP to nip, soon to be nap.

2023-01-10 03:26

Solid roster they've got

2023-01-10 03:44

Hopefully this awper actually stays on the active roster

2023-01-10 04:36

+15 social points nip, gj

2023-01-10 04:43

Good

2023-01-10 05:08

Good luck in the future!

2023-01-10 06:56

Bro thinks hes m0nesy 😭😭

2023-01-10 07:08

Headtr1ck... are you kidding me ? they benched Esetag for that ? this guy literally won an S-Tier Tournament ( Qualifier ) through luck, he is not ready, what is NIP thinking ?

2023-01-10 09:15