MisteM returns to Young Ninjas in new lineup

11-3-2025 18:32

NIP has revamped its academy lineup with two new additions.

Ninjas in Pyjamas has announced its Young Ninjas roster for 2025, bringing Gareth "⁠MisteM⁠" Ries back to link up with Jacob "⁠jocab⁠" Nerheden and Maoz "⁠BluePho3nix⁠" Paz to reform the team's core from the previous year.

The lineup is completed by Rūdolfs "⁠rud⁠" Osmanis, 16-year-old Czech rifler Samuel "⁠MahaR⁠" Horáček, and Rasmus "⁠Zitte⁠" Johansson as head coach.

MisteM returns to Young Ninjas after he was moved to Ninjas in Pyjamas's bench in January to make way for Marco "⁠Snappi⁠" Pfeiffer.

The South African in-game leader was promoted from Young Ninjas to the organization's main roster in September to replace Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet, but couldn't help turn around the team's downtrodden run of results.

He had found success on Young Ninjas before that and helmed the team to No. 54 on HLTV's ranking, but ended 2024 on a sour note after Ninjas in Pyjamas failed to make it through the Shanghai Major Europe RMR with losses to G2, HEROIC, and Spirit.

Read more
Official: NIP reveal Snappi-led lineup

MahaR and rud arrive on the team as relatively unknown quantities, averaging 1.00 and 1.02 ratings, respectively, in 2024.

The former most recently played for AVEZ and The Prodigies, placing third twice at local Czech LANs, while the latter had a longer stint on GL Academy and played for Latvia at IESF World Championship in November.

Young Ninjas are:

Sweden Jacob "⁠jocab⁠" Nerheden
Israel Maoz "⁠BluePho3nix⁠" Paz
South Africa Gareth "⁠MisteM⁠" Ries
Czech Republic Samuel "⁠MahaR⁠" Horáček
Latvia Rūdolfs "⁠rud⁠" Osmanis

Sweden Rasmus "⁠Zitte⁠" Johansson (coach)

Sweden Jacob 'jocab' Nerheden
Jacob 'jocab' Nerheden
Age:
19
Team:
Young Ninjas
Rating 1.0:
1.00
Maps played:
203
KPR:
0.71
DPR:
0.70
Latvia Rūdolfs 'rud' Osmanis
Rūdolfs 'rud' Osmanis
Age:
19
Team:
Young Ninjas
Rating 1.0:
0.99
Maps played:
64
KPR:
0.69
DPR:
0.69
Czech Republic Samuel 'MahaR' Horáček
Samuel 'MahaR' Horáček
Age:
16
Team:
Young Ninjas
Rating 1.0:
0.98
Maps played:
33
KPR:
0.70
DPR:
0.73
South Africa Gareth 'MisteM' Ries
Gareth 'MisteM' Ries
Age:
23
Team:
Young Ninjas
Rating 1.0:
0.98
Maps played:
755
KPR:
0.67
DPR:
0.69
Israel Maoz 'BluePho3nix' Paz
Maoz 'BluePho3nix' Paz
Age:
24
Team:
Young Ninjas
Rating 1.0:
0.97
Maps played:
220
KPR:
0.66
DPR:
0.66
Spain Alejandro 'alex' Masanet
Alejandro 'alex' Masanet
Age:
29
Team:
Iberian Soul
Rating 1.0:
1.01
Maps played:
1699
KPR:
0.68
DPR:
0.66
Denmark Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer
Marco 'Snappi' Pfeiffer
Age:
34
Team:
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Rating 1.0:
0.94
Maps played:
2002
KPR:
0.64
DPR:
0.68
#1
 | 
Japan Risette
Already better than the main team
2025-03-11 18:33
51
#2
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Finland Sipunak
mister mistem
2025-03-11 18:32
5
#3
 | 
Argentina Ademar
Should be in main lineup
2025-03-11 18:33
24
1 reply
#7
Vegi | 
Albania Chopper_1_major_NiKo_FA
rare Ademar W
2025-03-11 18:35
7
#5
 | 
Latvia riraie
Nice lineup. Happy to see rud on the team too. :)
2025-03-11 18:34
2
#6
Vegi | 
Albania Chopper_1_major_NiKo_FA
BluePhoenix needs to go, even if this Young Ninjas lineup get good results
2025-03-11 18:45
6
#8
meow | 
North America TyIer
poor guy
2025-03-11 18:37
0
#9
Faceit level 8  | 
 | 
United States sziasztok
these guys will make the NIPs main lineup NIPs 3rd best lineup lmao
2025-03-11 18:39
3
#10
 | 
Australia ilhamgod
bluephoenix looks like blade
2025-03-11 18:39
0
#11
cadiaN | 
Poland depressed_cadian_fan
23 and 24 year old "young" ninjas
2025-03-11 18:40
9
1 reply
#12
ultimate | 
Poland roland_pilled_individual
bluephoenix shouldnt be there
2025-03-11 18:42
6
#13
 | 
Poland Saruman69
keeping blueph0nix in 2025 in academy team is just joke
2025-03-11 18:43
10
2 replies
#14
 | 
Poland Saruman69
also letting xkacpersky go was just criminal at this point
2025-03-11 18:46
3
#15
Vegi | 
Albania Chopper_1_major_NiKo_FA
agree, NIP should replace him with any faceit level 10 under the age of 20
2025-03-11 18:47
0
#16
 | 
Finland gerodt
24yo talent
2025-03-11 18:50
2
#17
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
f0rest | 
Sweden FEJKI
- New Guys + maxster & silence
2025-03-11 19:09
1
#18
 | 
United States Rayduh
Oh wow, I knew him from his ATK days with the South African boys. Chill guy bro
2025-03-11 19:12
0
#19
Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Poland SebL
Well I like the fact that they're still going with the academy project, and that they're bringing in new people to this team, but shouldn't they replace everyone? Like, their academy wasn't succesfull, wouldn't it be better to just give a chance to 5 new guys and hope you find a talent? Just wondering.
2025-03-11 19:24
2
#20
depressed | 
United Kingdom Leitis
How is the bum bluephoenix still playing under the same banner?
2025-03-11 19:31
2
#21
Italy Gioviale
I keep thinking more and more that NiP is an organization that exists only for money laundering.
2025-03-11 19:33
1
#22
demente | 
Brazil gegegege
YoungNinjas 24 yo
2025-03-11 19:45
0
#23
 | 
Russia Lessix
BotPhoenix is a shameless 24 yo paycheck stealer
2025-03-11 19:50
2
#24
 | 
Latvia DINGUU
gl rud
2025-03-11 20:08
0
#25
CRUC1AL | 
Kosovo RobertLU
Tier900
2025-03-12 03:31
0
#26
Faceit premium user  | 
 | 
Sweden Mr_Vista
Is their coach 19 or 49
2025-03-12 03:56
0
#27
Indonesia nouserhere
Both gonna play in the same tier of tourneys
2025-03-12 07:33
0
#28
Faceit premium user  | 
 | 
Sweden Mr_Vista
imagine, mistem, r1nkle, rez, still get sjuush, and then some other rifler, maybe nilo could've kept core and therefore kept ranking
2025-03-12 08:07
1
1 reply
#30
Tree60 | 
Wales Jackelope
man this is what im saying, i cant believe HLTV have the cheek to write MisteM "ended 2024 on a sour note ... with losses to G2, HEROIC, and Spirit." NIP were barely a top 50 team with an Academy IGL for less than a month, a standin 5th, and a dogshit isak and yet they're one of the only teams to go 3-2 in an RMR and not make the major, all while losing to 3 teams who made top 8, including a 7th place decider match against the major champions. As far as I'm concerned MisteM is a fucking miracle worker and NIP are braindead for kicking a rank 50 team of Rez, r1nkle and MisteM. All they needed was 2 pieces, this was the best they looked for years and they blew it all up to lose some fucking CCT qualifiers
2025-03-20 00:34
0
#29
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
 | 
Ukraine dench1k
Young Ninjas - 22-24+
2025-03-12 10:45
0
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