Ninjas in Pyjamas won Stake Pulse Beat III and have all but assured themselves of a Singapore Major appearance after lifting their third trophy in three weeks, with a 97.0% chance according to our invite simulator.
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NIP beat MIBR to win Stake Pulse Beat III
We spoke to NIP’s coach Richard “Xizt” Landström in Sweden after the team’s victory to hear about where he thinks the team is settling, the additions of Adam “adamb” Ångström and Karim “Krimbo” Moussa, the coming schedule, and their likely qualification for the PGL Major in Singapore.
Xizt, 2-1 to win Stake Pulse B3. Congratulations. What do you make of the Ninjas form right now?
I think we are showing really good resilience in all the tournaments that we play. I don’t think we’re playing perfect CS by any means. We for sure need a lot more practice to be competitive against the tier-one teams, which we also saw in Thunderpick, where, with a little bit more practice, a little bit more matches under our belt as a team, I think we have a chance to win those games maybe next time against Falcons or Aurora.
But I mean, super happy with the team, how we are performing, and how mentally strong we’ve been this past, I don’t know, month or two months. We have won three tournaments now, starting in Belgrade and then going to Sjavda, and now we’re winning this in Stockholm with a little detour in Thunderpick, where we got smacked by the top-five teams. Super proud of everyone, of how strong they are mentally and what a fight they’ve been putting up every day, so yeah, super proud.
Just wanted to touch on this game. There was a decisive win on Mirage, lost overtime on Cache, and took a little more to close it out on Ancient. I did want to touch on Cache. It’s been one of your most picked maps since its edition came back to the map pool. Was this an obvious choice for you, or was that something that you just felt clicked very well with the players?
I think ever since we got adamb to the team, we’ve been really good on Cache. We’ve had some struggles on the CT side from time to time, so that’s something we need to look into. I think T has mostly been good in all our games on Cache, so it’s for sure a map that we are comfortable playing and today was also a little bit of a choke from us, I have to say. The boys also agreed.
I feel like we kind of knew what MIBR was doing most of the rounds. They just won the duels. They got the trades when entering the sites. And it’s also props to them, I think they’re really good at playing this trading game, when they’re entering sites, they’re doing it as a team, and they have solid executes. So I also have to give a little bit of props to MIBR, how they came back on that Cache game.
And you spoke a bit about Adam, but you also have a new IGL in Krimbo. He’s very new to both the team and IGL role still, but it’s already shown a lot of potential with these three tournaments now. Have you noticed any evolution in his calling or leadership since he joined?
I think from day one, he’s been a really good leader for us. I think it’s also something that we noticed in our first meeting with him when we tried to get him to the team, that he doesn’t hide what he’s thinking. He’s going to be very straightforward, and he has a lot of good leadership qualities.
So I think for him, I wouldn’t say it’s been easy or something, right? But he was also a secondary leader in BIG, and he was also IGL in BIG Academy, and I’m super proud of how he’s handled himself in this new role. It’s been amazing to see, really. Really happy we have him on the team.
And now you have had a super hectic schedule, but you have a few days off before you’re heading to Buenos Aires for the Fire Last Chance tournament. And it brings me to ask, you guys have had a really intense traveling schedule recently. How do you feel that the players have handled that?
That’s something I’ve been super proud of, how we have handled all the traveling. We came to Stockholm, played the group stage. Then very next day, we flew out to Malta early in the morning, played two games there, went instantly to the airport after the Aurora game and arrived 02:00 at the hotel, played again at 10:00 against Liquid. That was a really tough day for us, but the boys, they don’t complain. They just want to play CS. They want to show how good they are. So super proud.
And finally, right now, after this win, NIP are looking very, very likely to make the Singapore Major. After missing Cologne, what will that mean for you and the team?
A couple months ago, it looked very unlikely, right? We royally screwed up with some online qualifiers and also the Logitech LAN in Poland. We barely won any games, and we got really punished. But then we just grinded, and we really clicked outside of the server as well. And after that, it just clicked in-game as well.
But yeah, of course, making the Major after losing out in Cologne, it’s huge for us, or we’re very close to making the Major. Everyone has just put in so much work and, yeah, it’s been tough, not going to lie, but super proud of everyone, honestly.
