After a rough start to 2020, Ninjas in Pyjamas is making a change to its Counter-Strike: Global Offensive roster.
The organization has announced the signing of Hampus “hampus” Poser. He will take over in-game leadership duties from Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson, who has been benched from the lineup and placed on the transfer list.
“The philosophy and ideologies I have around the future of esports performance, is something that I am unwilling to compromise on…and that is why we have chosen to do a roster change. Lekr0 has done an excellent job in NiP, but sometimes a team needs to evolve in a different direction, causing a natural shift,” NiP COO Jonas Gundersen said in a statement.
Today we can announce Hampus @hampuscsgo Poser as our newest CS:GO recruit who will be joining Ninjas in Pyjamas towards the end of the month. Hampus joins the active roster as we move Jonas @Lekr0 Olofsson to the bench.
Read more at https://t.co/Q01obzEZIF#GONINJAS #CSGO pic.twitter.com/l5Hu86jHmk
— Ninjas in Pyjamas at Home???????????? (@NiPGaming) May 19, 2020
Lekr0 has been a staple of the Swedish CSGO scene over the last several years. He first emerged onto CSGO’s global stage in 2016 with GODSENT, bouncing back and forth between that team and Fnatic. His most notable achievements during that time were winning both IEM Katowice 2018 and WESG 2017 within a two-week span, with the prize pool payouts being worth over $1 million.
Once Fnatic began to slip, he was transferred to Ninjas in Pyjamas. His time with the team has seen inconsistent results, with the team notably placing top-eight in the 2019 IEM Katowice Major and performing well in BLAST Pro Series events while stumbling in other tournaments.
2020 has been a rough year for the team at this point. The team suffered early eliminations from BLAST Premier: Spring 2020, IEM Katowice 2020, and ESL Pro League Season 11: Europe. It most recently posted a respectable fifth-place performance in the ESL Road to Rio Europe event. The team has clear potential and NiP is likely hoping that a leadership change will be enough to get the team to the next level.
Well there you have it! Will be sitting on the bench until I find new opportunities.
My goal has always been to win a major and I will keep grinding and improving until i do so.
If you want to contact me here is my email.
[email protected]— Lekr0 (@Lekr0) May 19, 2020
Hampus hasn’t had an impact yet on the tier-one CSGO scene, but he’s been a force beneath that for some time. He posted numerous strong placements during his stints with Red Reserve, and also had a stint with GODSENT ahead of the organization’s shuttering.Â
In 2019 he joined Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans and Tim “nawwk” Jonasson on Uruguay3. The team posted solid results and was sponsored by Team GamerLegion. That side has since become a solid name on the tier-two scene, winning a number of regional events. Hampus reunites with nawwk on NiP, something he referenced in a statement issued by the team:
“I am very excited to have been given this opportunity to play for NiP. It really is a dream come true. I’m also looking forward to reuniting with some insanely skilled old teammates and friends and can’t wait to start working and do great things together,” Hampus said.
NiP is currently set to compete in DreamHack Masters Spring 2020, with the team set to play against Team Vitality on May 28. Expect Hampus’ NiP debut to come in that game.
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