Evil Geniuses’ Cr1t- set to join Ninjas in Pyjamas as stand-in

Ninjas in Pyjamas is still playing short-handed in Dota 2 right now, but the team has a very special guest set to compete on its roster.

During the OGA Dota PIT League Season 2, NiP will be utilizing the talents of Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen. The organization announced on its website that it will be having the Evil Geniuses support player stepping in as a replacement for the recently released Akbar “SoNNeikO” Butaev.

With the change, NiP’s lineup will look like this:

1. Charlie “CharlieDota” Arat
2. Ondřej “Supream^” Štarha
3. Jonáš “SabeRLight-” Volek
4. Adrian “Era” Kryeziu
5. Andreas Franck “Cr1t-” Nielsen

Further reading: 

• What is the Omega League?
• The initial report on SoNNeikO getting cut from NiP

The announcement of the Omega League, an interregional league with a $500,000 prize pool which NiP will be helping to organize, made the timing of the organization’s decision to release SoNNeikO from the team somewhat strange. According to NiP officials, the move will actually help the team to try out something new.

“One part of innovation has been taking on a new core of talents that we can support and develop. The next step, now, is to try to and take a different route with the traditional captain’s role. We believe in a more flat structure, and thus have chosen to make some changes,” NiP COO Jonas Gunderson said in a statement.

Cr1t- steps in for NiP, still with EG

Though the team will be playing with a stand-in, there’s a strong likelihood that Cr1t- will prove to be an upgrade for Ninjas in Pyjamas.

The Danish player is a proven elite talent, winning two majors with OG and anchoring Evil Geniuses’ roster since 2016. Though SoNNeikO helped the Chicken Fighters roster reach a point where it found a prominent sponsor in NiP, the team has achieved consistently poor results since signing with the Swedish organization.

While Cr1t- will be helping NiP in the OGA Dota PIT League, he’ll quickly turn back into a rival for the organization. Both NiP and Evil Geniuses are set to compete in the Omega League, meaning Cr1t-’s time with the team is a strictly a temporary affair. He might even acquire some key scouting intel for his teammates back at EG.

Following the PIT League, NiP will be revealing its new full-time support player. NiP won’t be hurt for options as the list of free agent talent in Europe is looking long right now.