Ninjas in Pyjamas signs new team led by PPD

Ninjas In Pyjamas is back in the Dota 2 business.

The organization announced that it had signed the unnamed stack brought together by former OpTic Gaming and Evil Geniuses captain Peter “ppd” Dager. The reveal was made on Twitter and the team’s official website, and was confirmed by the new players shortly thereafter.

While NiP is best known for its Counter-Strike team, it has been bouncing in and out of Dota 2 since 2015, albeit with a general lack of success. The first iteration, captained by Adrian “Era” Kryeziu, posted a number of decent performances in lower tier events but disbanded after nine months. In 2017, NiP reentered Dota 2 by signing most of the former Escape Gaming roster, but the team disbanded just a few months later.

While it has experienced a fair bit of misfortune to this point, this new roster represents the strongest in the organization’s history.

Ppd had a solid 2018 with OpTic, highlighted by grand finals berths at the ESL One Birmingham Major and StarLadder Season 5 Minor, as well as a top-eight finish at The International 2018. Despite that, the team broke up shortly after the season’s conclusion, with ppd forming a new squad that included former OpTic teammate Neta “33” Shapira, departing Team Secret players Adrian “Fata” Trinks and Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard, and former Digital Chaos support Martin “Saksa” Sazdov.

Though the 2018-2019 season hasn’t started yet, this new group was widely regarded as one of the best to come together in the fall roster shuffle, with the potential to compete at a high level in both the European and North American regions. That high ceiling made the squad a great fit for NiP’s return to the game.

Ppd’s side has the chance to set the tone for the coming year as it competes in the European qualifier to the Kuala Lumpur Major.