Official: alex joins NIP

3-11-2023 18:07

The Spanish player has been confirmed as NIP's new in-game leader.

alex starts a new chapter on an international side for the first time

Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced the signing of Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet from Movistar Riders. The 27-year-old is now set to become the international squad's new in-game leader following the benching of Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser.

Sources: alex set to join NIP

This will be the first time the Spaniard, who spent six years in Movistar Riders and took the team from playing regionally to peaking fifth in the world ranking, will call in English.

alex leaves behind a team with which he played his first Major, at PGL Stockholm, his first Big Event, at ESL Pro League Season 17, and reached his first arena playoffs, making it all the way to the semi-finals at IEM Cologne 2022.

Ninjas in Pyjamas's new in-game leader comes at a time of change in the Swedish organization, as Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers was hired as the new General Manager to turn the team's fate around. Since then, both hampus and Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin have been moved to the bench. Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen was brought back from inactivity and now alex is the latest addition in what could be a larger restructuring.

That a team like NIP would show interest and end up signing me, that's a dream

Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet

alex will not fly to China with Ninjas in Pyjamas, who are set to play the CS Asia Championships in Shanghai on November 8-12, but he will be available to play the online BetBoom Dacha Closed Qualifier right after. His first LAN appearance as a Ninja will come at BLAST Premier Fall Final, on November 22-26.

"That a team like NIP would show interest and end up signing me, that's a dream," alex told HLTV as part of a larger interview that will be published on Saturday. "I don't really have the words to describe this feeling, it's really beautiful."

THREAT, NIP's General Manager, also gave his thoughts about the signing. "We've had our eyes on alex for longer than most of you can imagine. What made us finally pull the trigger was chemistry, and our alignment on the vision of how to play this game to perfection."

Ninjas in Pyjamas is now:

Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke
Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen
Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner
Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov
Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet

Daniel "⁠djL⁠" Narancic (coach)

Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin (benched)
Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser (benched)

omg

2023-11-03 18:08

5 replies

bad move for alex and for nip

2023-11-03 19:58

4 replies

i think the same. some months ago in movistar were talking about to find another igl and leave alex as a rifler(because is not a pure igl. he did it because steel, the brazilian left raiders).. and now this...lol

2023-11-03 20:06

2 replies

It can be seen that you speak without having much information, we will see how he is at commanding in English, it is the only possible weak point, otherwise Alex has a lot of potential as an IGL

2023-11-03 21:08

1 reply

2023-11-04 02:31

yes very bad move for alex jones, he's not very good at that game, although, he can call.. definitely.

2023-11-05 11:35

1 day

okay

2023-11-03 18:09

Good Luck

2023-11-03 18:10

EU EG

8 replies

Rez = Autimatic

2023-11-03 19:57

7 replies

Don’t insult Tim like that

2023-11-03 21:37

2023-11-04 06:54

insult who, tho?

2023-11-04 11:44

3 replies

major winner bruv

2023-11-04 16:56

rez won a major? Don't think so

2023-11-04 17:51

He’s talking about automatic being the major winner

2023-11-06 21:51

at this point i would argue autimatic > rez

2023-11-04 09:04

suerte

Pog

Letss gooo

alright then

Umbrella peek

bold

unlucky, he will be benched before copenhagen.

WTF, one of the worst options for sure

Not at all tbh, one of the most random for sure. NIP must be broke AF after all those management issues, so alex might be one of the better IGLs available for them.

2023-11-03 19:42

far from worse, could have signed dav1g the worst player to ever play on HLTV

2023-11-04 17:03

Hopeless

Suerte Capitan!!!

good luck alex te queremos ÑINJAS in Pijamas VAMOS

I hope this will work, but i doubt it will

2023-11-03 18:11

NiP is smoking something stronger than weed

2023-11-03 18:13

Lets Go Alex!

2023-11-03 18:14

what does REZ have on NiP that prevents his kick, same with k0nfig

10 replies

Shush

2023-11-03 18:16

thats a really good question

2023-11-03 18:22

give some respect to.. u know

2023-11-03 18:29

IEM OAKLAND MVP!

2023-11-03 18:52

I think its their final chance. There is no way that they remain on this roster if they fail this time. I think they will disband the whole team if this current roster fail They could've added gla1ve and keep Brollan instead of es3tag.

2023-11-03 18:54

k0nfig gla1ve Zyphon Brollan headtr1ck Could've been good roster as well

2023-11-03 18:55

This is 10x better than current nip

2023-11-04 01:09

im not at all convinced by post-kriegmeta Brollan id rather swap him out as well

2023-11-04 09:05

I think its a motivation problem. If he can somehow reignite that, he can regain his form during the fnatic days somewhat.

2023-11-04 15:42

REZ is the only one that has dedicated NIP fans still holding on for so the answer is viewership and legacy

2023-11-04 15:40

Good luck alex. Good luck to NiP fans, too....

2023-11-03 18:17

fnatic XDDDDD

2023-11-03 18:27

NiP spent millions and fnatic still better LOL

fnatic really scammed Nip with brollan lmaooo

2023-11-03 20:01

We will see how this turns out gl xd

good luck alex, this is your one chance

2023-11-03 18:18

If NIP wants to stay international then why keep Rez and Konfig, two of the most inconsistent players, with them in the team you will never win anything

2023-11-03 18:20

+1 :/

2023-11-03 20:56

25 yo young talent Rez breaking out season Inc with this roster change🔥🔥🔥🔥

2023-11-03 18:21

respect IEM 1957 Oakland mvp

a dream that will soon become a nightmare

'What made us finally pull the trigger was chemistry' wut? Have any of them even played with alex? How do they know they will have good chemistry?

They obviously play together before signing him.

2023-11-04 09:41

GL MAN

2023-11-03 18:23

I hope they can at least perform nkw

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA 3 months, disband after failure to qualify in Cph major 2024

Need more changes

2023-11-03 18:35

Threat was already cooking since long , gl Alex .

2023-11-03 18:37

ÑIP

2023-11-03 18:38

I believe this is a great move for Alex and also for NiP.

2023-11-03 18:39

Hm, he has a bit of a stronger accent, not 100% sure a team of non native english speakers will be able to understand every call mid-game with in-game noise.

2023-11-03 18:40

I mean NiP have a real IGL now but the roster is meh, they need one more change AT LEAST

2023-11-03 18:50

-esetag and + good rifler ez top5 team

good for him

2023-11-03 18:53

Best of lucks to our captain, the spanish goat.

Mixwell & SunPa >>>> alex

2023-11-04 09:55

If players didnt respect hampus why in the world would they respect a player who has like 3 event in total against tier 1? NiP strives to stay bad

2023-11-03 18:57

You know what, Hampus only had 3 S-Tiers tournaments participations before joined NIP and Alex had 13 S-Tier tournaments participations at this moment.

2023-11-03 19:35

not much swedish dna in that team any longer

2023-11-03 18:58

Everytime NIP will win I will spam "VAMOOOOS"

2023-11-03 18:59

0 times then

2023-11-03 19:24

Something like that lol

2023-11-03 19:25

LOL

i hope the best for him

2023-11-03 19:01

EG style

2023-11-03 19:04

NiP is really starting to rival EG for worst management and roster moves.

2023-11-03 19:10

idk if its an upgrade or not but i hope that he will prevail in his captain role, gl alex

2023-11-03 19:12

Downgrade for Alex, upgrade for NIP

Interesting pick up by NIP. I think Alex has somewhat proven himself with worse players. Looking forward to seeing what he can do with this roster

2023-11-03 19:18

There are more Danes on NIP than Swedes. What has the world come to? International teams are boring (ignore my flair pls xoxoxo)

2023-11-03 19:19

9 replies

Whatcha gonna do when there's not enough talent in your country? As a finn I know how it is.

2023-11-03 19:40

Sweden has talent. The problem is that the orgs which traditionally has fielded Swedish teams have terrible management that aren't capable to sign the players before international teams pick them up or just keep the talent forever in their academy teams.

2023-11-04 00:10

6 replies

Nips management has been danish/norwegian for quite some time. Gundersen, troels, hicham etc etc

2023-11-04 11:28

And how is that relevant to any of my points?

2023-11-04 18:04

Its not criticism to your post. Its just annoying that the management isnt swedish and doesnt care about the swedish scene. Dont take everything as if youre being attacked, lol chill

2023-11-04 20:32

All good! Then I get your point!

2023-11-05 11:30

I dunno man, I kinda agree on the academy problem but they had their fair share on proving themselved at T1 aswell. There are bunch of good or average swedish players but not a one that stands out except maybe hampus atm.

2023-11-04 20:42

Really wish that the Swedish orgs would be more like Mouz and actually promote their players to the main team. And stop screwing people over like they did with Brollan / nawwk etc.

WHAT THE FUCK AHAHAHAHA, NIP TIER 3

2023-11-03 19:21

The kid that only watches t1 cs

2023-11-03 21:54

Strong "mixwell to North" vibes

2023-11-03 19:33

Weiredst shit ever but all the best for alex in that dumpsterfire, he deserves better

2023-11-03 19:38

Yeah, our capitán deserves some better but gl

Happy for Alex, sad for nip

2023-11-03 19:39

t3 lol what about maxster brollan hampus can build new team and beat this noobs easy lekro igl brollan carry 1 maxter carry 2 hampus support phzy awp

Solid t2 roster, too bad NIP is aiming higher

2023-11-03 19:44

Brollan carry xDD he is a good player but nowhere near star player level.

2023-11-03 20:16

who cares, godsent is the best swedish lineup at this moment and they would own these frauds , #GODMODE

pointless waste of money

2023-11-03 19:43

He was free or really cheap AFAIK, contract about to expire with Riders

2023-11-03 19:47

talking about roster

2023-11-03 19:46

Oh, yeah, well it's NIP so that's nothing news

2023-11-03 19:48

Joke xd

Interesting

My spaniards friends, how about his english? Its good or meeh?

2023-11-03 20:03

I’m sure it’s good but will have strong accent

2023-11-03 20:10

All good

2023-11-03 21:53

GL capitán!

2023-11-03 20:13

Vamos

2023-11-03 20:14

Do anybody really care about nip anymore? Most Swedes dont.

2023-11-03 20:29

Yes, we do :( Its tuff, not gonna lie.. But i have hope <3

2023-11-03 22:55

I was a fan of nip for a long time, mainly because it was a full swedish lineup and because of personalities in it, now its all gone, the only teams i support are godsent and possible fnatic ( according to harumi hampus and brollan should join them)

2023-11-04 03:38

My feelings for nip have been on a decline for ~2 years. Its pretty much rock bottom now. When they got the swedish flag back it went up a bit. But now, why Would swedes care about a random Eu mix? Nip management dont understand that a swedish core is crucial to alot of fans

2023-11-04 11:33

Same here, despite me not being a swede, NiP back in the days was legendary and it was always a treat to watch their games. But it all went downhil and since like 2019 this team became irrelevant and genuinely uninteresting

2023-11-04 12:46

3 months

2023-11-03 20:30

not even

2023-11-03 21:58

He is really good but coms in english might be a barrier. If it works MartinezSa is next to replace headtr1ck

2023-11-03 20:39

Not a bad take irmao

'That a team like NIP would show interest and end up signing me, that's a dream' he really dont know what hes talking about xD nightmare for him just started

2023-11-03 21:39

GL Capitan, always with you. Gracias por todo.

Good signing, Movistar seemed to have good structure.

2023-11-03 21:59

when you thought you couldn't sink any lower... you sign with NIP

2023-11-03 22:10

Lets go!!

2023-11-03 22:41

hmmm seems random, gl!

2023-11-03 22:49

Adding a guy who can't aim to a team of kids who can't aim. NiP leadership doesn't seem to understand being mechanically sound is step 1.

2023-11-03 22:54

alex isn't bad, but I agree with the last part. You cannot save those washed veterans.

2023-11-04 00:01

poor guy. Movistar riders had great teamwork and play mostly structured cs. Now, you have to play with konfig who want freedom for his brainless plays. GL HF. Edit : and a coach who encourages that kind of behavior. Who need structure ?

2023-11-03 23:59

From T2 to T2

2023-11-04 00:16

Weaker fragger than hampus but a better IGL, for sure. I have hopes for this team, they definitely have the star-power when firing on all cylinders, so fingers crossed there is some resurgence for NiP. :)

2023-11-04 00:26