Snappi: "xKacpersky reminds me a lot of when I got NertZ in ENCE"

NIP's in-game leader is very impressed with his new star after a successful debut in IEM Cologne's first stage.

Ninjas in Pyjamas are heading into IEM Cologne fresh off a lineup change in the summer, which saw them bench Rafael "⁠arrozdoce⁠" Wing and bring in Kacper "⁠xKacpersky⁠" Gabara on loan from ENCE.

The German event presents a huge opportunity for the new squad, who are playing only their second big LAN since the beginning of the year, after making it to the quarter-finals at PGL Astana.

And so far, they've made the opportunity count after making it to the second stage with wins over HEROIC and 3DMAX.

There, xKacpersky has only delivered, averaging a 1.25 rating after five maps played in Cologne, much to the delight of Snappi, who said the new player fits his style like a glove.

"He reminds me a lot of when I got NertZ in ENCE, where I could have a playmaker that really wanted to do plays," the Dane said in an interview with HLTV. "I can use him in ways that I kinda needed."

The in-game leader also delved into the importance of IEM Cologne and why it is effectively their "Major qualifier", and the team's chances of doing big damage at the tournament.

You can watch the interview or read the transcription in full below, or listen to the audio version on HLTV's interview channel on Spotify.

NIP have made it to the second stage here in Cologne, so congratulations, Snappi. First of all, in this 3DMAX game you made it back from 2-7 down twice. Tell me about the Nuke and Dust2 comebacks, how did you make it happen?

I think obviously some very bad starts today, but I think it also shows that we are a strong team, that we are able to pull it back and still win semi-convincingly. I think we definitely didn't play our best CS today, but our Dust2 T side, which is something we've been working on, showed that we can be strong there. We kept our cool and made the comeback.

And your new boy, xKacpersky, had that 2-7 round on Nuke, then at 8-8 another one where he made all the difference and clearly showing his worth already. He's a very aggressive guy and it seems like it is complementing with your style as well.

I think it fits perfectly into my style. He reminds me a lot of when I got NertZ in ENCE, where I could have a playmaker that really wanted to do plays. He comes with a lot of firepower and he's not scared. It reminds me of that same trait we had when we got NertZ into ENCE when we started becoming a really great team. Kasper reminds me of that because I can use him in ways that I kinda needed.

Is that what led to this change? After the Astana run, the results got worse, you went to some of these smaller LANs with mixed success and playing online during that time. Was that what led to you guys thinking that you shouldn't fall behind and make a change proactively?

Yeah. We kinda knew we had to do something. When we gathered the team, we tried to get a solution that we would put ewjerkz in star roles, and we tried arrozdoce in star roles after that, but what we realized was that, those two players are really, really skilled players, but they are maybe not fit for that main star position when you get the space and the hero AKs and have to do the aggressive plays.

It's at no fault of anyone, really, we tried to look at the solutions and we tried to experiment, but in the end both us and arrozdoce also knew that he's a phenomenal player, but he needs to be in his old anchor roles, and we didn't have them because we have sjuush, who is a really, really great anchor. It was, in a way, a bit unfair, but he also understood because he also knew the role was not meant for him, and we tried everything, we tried to make it work.

So this is where xKacpersky comes in?

Yeah, of course. You can already see it - we played Dust2 where he has an active position, we played Ancient where he's playing Mid on an active position, we played Overpass, where he plays A. People can realize what role he's been put in.

As far as I understand, he's not a permanent signing for now. Can you tell me why he is on loan?

I can't get into those details, you're gonna have to ask staff higher up.

Fair enough. Cologne is your first big opportunity to climb up the ranks. You made the first one count in Astana, are you hoping to do the same here even though it is kind of a fresh start for you guys as a team?

I actually think the teams here are a bit easier to play against than the majority of the teams in 20-35. If you threw in teams like TNL, ECSTATIC, fnatic last season with MATYS, Passion UA, I think they would blow out the teams in the 10-20 range at least 60-70% of the time. I feel like now this step is actually easier, but we obviously have less chances than the other teams. In a way this is our Major qualifier because you see these other teams, they will have 4-5 LANs and we don't have those opportunities yet because of VRS.

This is obviously where some of the issues regarding that is. It is that outside of the top 5-6 teams, the teams below are protecting their points by not playing anyone [below], and this is how they kinda stay up. Some change needs to be made because I think below the absolute top, in that 10-20 range, it's very hard to break into that and I think it's gonna be even harder this season. There's gonna be no qualifiers this season, as you know, Valve has pretty much blocked that up until April 2026, so I'm really happy we qualified for that Astana, because if we didn't, we would be screwed.

So how much pressure does that put on the team to have a good result here? Obviously, you're saying the 10-20 range is maybe easier, but now you're getting the main stage where all the big teams are coming in. How do you see your chances at another big result with such an opportunity on your hands?

I think we have a very good chance of going very far in this tournament, I think we could even win it.