Ninjas in Pyjamas have been on a skid recently and they’re looking to fix it.
The organization has announced the deactivation of Dennis “dennis” Edman from its roster. The rifler is replaced by Team Ancient player Nicolas “Plopski” Gonzalez Zamora. The news was broken on the team’s website.
“To maintain a position as a top tier team, changes to the roster are needed,” NiP coach Faruk “pita” Pita said. “We have very talented players, but the roles required on the team is something we have to change to make sure we perform at a stable level over time. I am excited to take on these changes with the first step of welcoming Plopski to the team.”
Dennis joined the organization in 2018 as a 10-year veteran of the game. He has played on a number of top teams during that run, most notably spending two years with Fnatic from 2015 to 2017.
Though NiP remains a far cry from its heyday, Dennis helped NiP return to the upper echelon of the pro Counter-Strike: Global Offensive scene in 2018 with strong showings at events like BLAST Pro Series Copenhagen and the ECS Season 6 Finals. This run was capped with a surprise top-eight finish for the team at the IEM Katowice Major 2019, a performance that guaranteed the team a spot at the StarLadder Berlin Major.
Though that seemingly marked the beginning of something big for NiP, the team has generally struggled since. NiP has been invited to a number of prominent events such as DreamHack Masters Dallas and Intel Extreme Masters Season XIV Sydney but has suffered early eliminations on a consistent basis. Looking to make a big splash in another major, this has the team looking for a change with Dennis being the odd man out. He remains with the organization on the bench for now, but his future uncertain.
Plopski marks an injection of young talent into one of Counter-Strike’s more seasoned rosters. The 17-year-old began playing professionally in 2017 and has spent most of his career playing for teams under the x6tence umbrella, most notably x6tence Galaxy. Het recently competed with Team Ancient.
In addition to Plopski joining the roster, NiP also teased that the competitive career of legendary Counter-Strike player and longtime team captain Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund may be coming to an end.
NiP added that GeT_RiGhT will remain with the team through the StarLadder Berlin Major, but that the organization is looking to have him transition into a “different role” afterwards. Though the statement reads that the idea comes at the discretion of both “him and the team,” he has not made a public statement on this as of yet.
