NiP’s latest rebuild has backfired, to the shock of no-one.
Legendary Counter-Strike organization Ninjas in Pyjamas aka NiP has seen off wildcard stand-in Audric "JACKZ" Jug today, a little over a month on from the Frenchman joining the Swedish org's CS2 squad.
His departure lines up with Valve's recent ranking adjustment and reclassification of a team's VRS wildcard slot — an adjustment that has seen NiP CS2 fall into veritable sinkhole in the rankings that will affect their chances of attending LAN competition.
Calls grow for full NiP reset as squad plummets in all-important VRS rankings
JACKZ announced he was leaving NiP CS2 early on Feb. 25. His departure comes only a month after he was signed as a sixth man for the org. In the month's competition he played in several CCT qualifiers against tier two and three squads as a stand-in for Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing.
The squad was unable to convert qualifier matches into wins, missing out on opportunities to boost their VRS points. "I’m disappointed not to have achieved a better result with the guys, but we gave it our all!" JACKZ said, adding it was difficult to adapt to the team's system with "zero practice together".
NiP originally acquired JACKZ to use as a "wildcard" for invites thanks to the Frenchman's appearance for Vitality at the end of 2024. VRS points earned by JACKZ meant a core of him, Rasmus "sjuush" Beck and Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer received invites for several qualifiers.
However, defeats to lesser-ranked opponents and Valve's VRS rule change this week brought an end to JACKZ's wildcard eligibility with his points expiring. As such, NiP will now proceed with their main lineup without JACKZ standing in — leaving them deep in the doldrums of the rankings.
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NiP falls to record low VRS ranking — and their freefall doesn't look to be over
The latest update sees NiP fall to 158th on Valve's leaderboard. While they remain just outside the top 60 on HLTV's official ranking, point decay will hit the squad hard if they keep missing events. NiP's historic low is 109th with this lineup (HLTV ranking), which is where they'll be trending in the coming weeks.
Without VRS points, direct invites to the main tournament organized events will dry up, meaning NiP will be forced to battle through the few open qualifiers that exist.
It marks yet another blow in NiP's attempt to return to relevance in CS2. The org attended just four S-tier events in 2024 at which their best result was runners-up at YaLLa Compass to The MongolZ. At big events like ESL Pro League Seasons 19 and 20, NiP crashed out early in groups.
The loss of veteran Fredrik "REZ" Sterner and young gun Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin — both of whom are moving strength to strength with their new rosters — added salt to the wound for NiP, who are in the midst of their fourth rebuild in as many years.
They will suit up for the closed qualifier for PGL Bucharest later this week, but with the likes of BIG, BetBoom, Metizport, and ENCE in attendance — and only one slot available — very few see NiP making the main event.
After that, it's back to grinding lower-tier online events in the hopes of cracking the VRS leaderboard once again.
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