NIP send Complexity to Showdown

The European squad survived the first round of the Group C lower bracket and will view for revenge against G2.

Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke stepped into the BLAST Premier Spring Groups studio with a positive outlook despite Ninjas in Pyjamas’s 0-2 loss to G2 in the opening round of play in Group C. "I think that everyone is satisfied with the five people that are here, including the coach, as well," he said with a smile. "We’re working on the right things and always fixing our mistakes and having a really healthy work ethic, so I think we’ll prevail at some point."

Ninjas in Pyjamas came into their second Spring Groups bout with a dire 2-9 record since Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet took the team’s reins and 0-2 losses to FaZe, Natus Vincere, Astralis, and the aforementioned G2, clearly put the international side a rung below the rest of top-flight competitors. In front for the first lower bracket fixture was Complexity, a team who proved themselves early on in CS2 at the tail end of 2023, but a collapse against Natus Vincere in their opener foreshadowed ongoing struggles with consistency.

The first map started without a hitch for Johnny "⁠JT⁠" Theodosiou and his men as they took an 8-4 lead on the defense, but Ninjas in Pyjamas’s Danish duo of k0nfig and Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen put up a pristine CT side, with 2.17 and 2.14 ratings, respectively, to power their team to a 9-1 half and a 13-9 victory on their map pick.

The Ninjas got right back at it on Ancient, where they kicked off their defense with a dualie quad-kill by es3tag and when Complexity threw a 2vs1 afterplant situation to go down 1-6 on the attacking side of Ancient disaster loomed. Even though they recomposed and won the following round, it was a symptom of the team’s inability to put forth strong attacks as they once again failed to leave a dent with only three rounds at the half.

Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski and company won their first pistol round of the series on their fourth try, but in vain, as Ninjas in Pyjamas quickly took charge on the bonus round and won the map and series out, 13-5. Michael "⁠Grim⁠" Wince identified the late-round as the problem against Natus Vincere in a post-game interview. "We were playing super well in the early-mid round, but then when the late round happens we need to stay more composed," he said. He also admitted that they were lacking energy against NIP, which certainly seemed the case on the server.

Date	Matches
BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2024
26/01/2024	G2 15:35 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match

Questions abound as to whether Ninjas in Pyjamas have the firepower needed to be a competitive side, with es3tag one of the primary targets of skepticism. The Dane was supremely effective as an anchor in this series, and the oft-inconsistent k0nfig produced the kind of dominant, mechanically impressive performance he is known to be capable of.

Considering Complexity's aforementioned recent struggles this result is far from enough for Ninjas in Pyjamas to convince they are a top-tier squad, but they showed they are not pushovers and have earned a shot at redeeming their earlier Spring Groups loss to G2 with a rematch in the consolidation final.