The Swedish team lost its match to Outsiders and said goodbye to the Spodek Arena.
Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) said goodbye to IEM Katowice 2023 this Monday. The Swedish organization was eliminated from the tournament after losing today's game to Outsiders. The result was celebrated by Astralis fans despite the lack of rivalry between the two teams. The reason? Well, it's in the following video featuring Kristian "k0nfig" Wienecke.
IEM Katowice 2023 and k0nfig
The whole thing was just a joke made by k0nfig who had his first tournament in NIP during IEM Katowice 2023. Still, the internet didn't miss the chance to make fun of the former Astralis player.
NIP ended their run in IEM Katowice 2023 after qualifying via the play-in event. In the group stage of the tournament, they lost to Vitality 2-0 and Outsiders 2-1.
Astralis and k0nfig didn't ended well
Even though the Danish rifler was one of the top performers in the Astralis lineup in 2022, he was cut from the team after getting involved in a fight during ESL Pro League Season 16. At the time, k0nfig exposed the situation and admitted that he was not in a good place and needed to take care of himself.
The same thing was said by Kasper Hvidt, the esports director of Astralis, when it was announced that the contract with k0nfig was terminated.
"It has been affecting his ability to contribute to the team and we have had ongoing and constructive talks with Kristian, who needs time to focus on his private life," Hvidt wrote in a blog post.
New phase for NIP
Despite the elimination from IEM Katowice, NIP still has time to improve since they welcomed two new players in the January. In addition to k0nfig, Danyyl "headtr1ck" Valitov also joined the organization.
That being said, even though viewers mocked k0nfig for his Astralis joke, NIP has time to play tier-one CS:GO. Their next opportunity to do so will be during ESL Pro League Season 17, which starts on Feb. 22.
Stay tuned on Esports.gg for the latest CS:GO news and updates.