Ninjas in Pyjamas’ qualification for FACEIT London, the 13th CS:GO major, comes following a three major drought without an appearance. Strange times for players like GeT_RiGhT and f0rest, hall of fame bound legends of the game and who played in the first five major finals in a row, winning one along the way. This is the story of NiP at the majors and packs more twists and turns than the best Hollywood thriller.

Part one is the tale of how then the greatest team in CS:GO history overcame two initial heartbreaks at the majors to eventually take the title in the most unexpected and unlikely fashion.

Part two picks up with NiP still in the midst of their epic streak of major runs, reaching two more finals and battling LDLC and FNATIC for championships in an era those two had been conducting a private fight over, seemingly.

Part three sees NiP no longer reaching the finals, eventually relegated from even playing at the majors and forced to battle through the wilderness of online Closed Qualifiers for the Minor.

Destiny fading

Had the first major been held any time prior to the late Autumn of 2013 then NiP would have been heavy favourites to win it, so absolute had been their dominance in offline competition to that point in CS:GO history. The team had won their first 87 maps in a row offline before losing a map, series and tournament. NiP had won 15 international LAN tournaments and failed to win only five they attended, placing in the top four on all occasions. What’s more, the title of “best player in the game” had resoundingly been occupied by GeT_RiGhT practically the entire time, with team-mate f0rest arguably being the only contender most months. Even that had been challenged, finally, though, as shox emerged as a phenom for VeryGames. The timing of the first CS:GO major, though – late November of 2013 – found NiP in the unusual position of being second best in Counter-Strike and with even that standing wavering.

A documentary crew was following NiP in the run up to the major, hoping to see this Swedish phenomenon lift trophies and eventually complete their story with the major itself. Instead they saw VeryGames, the French core who had begun CS:GO losing every big final to NiP, integrate super-star talent shox fully into their line-up and finally overcome their nemeses, winning big titles of their own and defeating NiP in the three previous offline tournaments before the major, each time defeating the Ninjas in a Bo3 series. VeryGames were the clear cut world number ones heading into the major. NiP had even seen another rival emerge, as the CIS Virtus.pro core who had been the first to best NiP offline had mutated into the dangerous CIS super-team effort Astana Dragons, defeating NiP in their last two Bo3 series played offline. CS:GO’s best ever team, by quite a distance, was far from assured victory at the first major.

Dreams dashed – Dreamhack Winter 2013 (2nd)

The group stage saw a brief moment of pause as kennyS and Happy’s Recursive took 13 rounds against NiP on inferno, but a win there and an easy follow-up on the same map against Universal Soldiers, the line-up later to be known as Virtus.pro, saw NiP move into the play-offs. In the quarter-finals they drew fellow Swedes LGB, a team of upcoming players like olofmeister, dennis and KRiMZ. olof carried LGB to a 16:14 opening upset on dust2, but NiP convincingly won the following two maps, in part thanks to f0rest’s fire-power, to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

The semi-finals match-up was the series the world had been waiting for, albeit in the final itself, as NiP met their rivals VeryGames. With the French side having won the last three series, inverting the previous flow of results in their rivalry, NiP knew victory here, against the world’s number one ranked team, could mean the trophy itself. Who had won the smaller events would matter little in contrast to becoming the champion of the first major.

NiP narrowly took the opener on dust2 16:13, a map VeryGames were well known for their proficiency on. Ex6TenZ’s men struck back with a dominant 16:6 inferno to tie up the series and send it into a deciding nuke. A thoroughly CT sided map, at that time, nuke rewarded NiP’s strong CT play with 11 first half rounds. After winning the pistol the game seemed all but over. VeryGames could not deliver a shut-down defensive half of their own and NiP took the game 16:5 and the series 2:1. friberg was the stand-out player, helping power NiP past their rivals and into the final.

A fateful final

Meeting FNATIC in the final it seemed as if history had conspired to see NiP crowned the first major champions, cementing the legacy of the first CS:GO major with victory by the first great team. Playing on home soil, in Sweden, and in front of a crowd eager to see them lift the trophy, the opponents looked every bit the fall guy ready to be pushed aside. FNATIC were made up of four players (JW, flusha, devilwalk and schneider) who had been convincingly defeated by NiP in the Dreamhack Summer final that Summer, when they were mere rookies to the top tier.

New in-game leader pronax, who had joined the team only weeks before the major, had helped his side navigate their way to the final but they had yet to be truly tested, seeing an easy path open up before them as VeryGames ended up on NiP’s side and third ranked Astana Dragons fell to compLexity in the quarter-finals. FNATIC would be focusing on an epic train victory in overtime at Dreamhack Bucharest, NiP’s last successful championship campaign, to give themselves the belief they could take victory against their Swedish bigger brothers.

The final began ominously, as NiP found themselves narrowly edged out on dust2, losing in part thanks to an epic flusha round at the B bombsite. A decider was setup after NiP rolled FNATIC 16:6 on inferno and so both teams would play for the trophy on train. It’s of note that the major, due to being organised by Valve, had seen the competitive scene reset to the retail versions of maps, where they had been played on modified versions for most of the year. train was an example of a map which most teams found far less comfortable in its original iteration.

Certainly, NiP found no comfort there, despite being one of the best ever at the modified version, as they managed only two T rounds in the first half. The pistol round of their CT side was a must-win, with the map being heavily CT sided and NiP famed for their CT side holds. GeT_RiGhT, the game’s master of clutches, turned a 1v2 into a 1v1 against schneider, who had only four health points. In an infamous misplay, the NiP star failed to spot schneider hiding behind a yellow container need the planted bomb and would lose the round. NiP were quickly closed out by FNATIC and the underdog celebrated as NiP sat forlorn and in shock. The major they had not been guaranteed coming in had somehow been snatched from their grasps as soon as they had felt certain it was theirs.

Credit: Rikard Söderberg and Dreamhack

The drought continues

Despite overcoming VeryGames in Jonkoping, NiP could not oust them from the world number one spot in the months prior to the next major and would themselves fail to win the only international title they competed for, losing twice to the now renamed Titan in Bo1 games on nuke. Even domestically, NiP were contested closer, as they narrowly edged out LGB in a razor close three map series at the Swedish Cup. Despite still showing themselves to be an elite team, NiP were groomed for championship glory and thus began experimenting with different leadership. GeT_RiGhT first took on the role but by the time the next major arrived it was fifflaren, a leader back in CS:Source, who now occupied Xizt’s former role.

A second crack – EMS One Katowice 2014 (2nd)

Ranked second in the world, NiP entered EMS One Katowice, the second CS:GO major, in March of 2014 determined to make up for the failure of the Dreamhack Winter final. In their group they easily dispatched the Danes of 3DMAX and LDLC, France’s second best side. Their quarter-final opponent was compLexity, North America’s best and a core who had fallen to NiP on a number of occasions in the past but were coming off a top four finish at the previous major. When coL stole the opener on dust2, with youngster swag dropping 30 kills to outduel GeT_RiGhT’s 29, it was not unexpected, as NiP had lost a map to coL in a series previously too. NiP smashed nuke 16:2 and then professionally controlled a 16:11 decider on train to move past NA’s hope.

Another young side lay in the Ninjas’ path, as the Danish Dignitas, formerly Copenhagen Wolves, await them in the semi-finals, fresh off a dominant display against HellRaisers (former Astana Dragons) in the quarter-finals. NiP assured the likes of device, dupreeh and Xyp9x that they were not yet ready to compete for trophies, battering them 2:0 in the series and giving up only 11 rounds total over the two maps. NiP had won both first halves of the maps with double digits, sapping all hope from the would-be usurpers. Future stars device and dupreeh finished a combined -20 in kill-death differential, while former IGL Xizt went +23.

With NiP’s finals opponents being Virtus.pro, the former Universal Soldiers squad they had defeated in the group stage of the previous major, they had already accomplished the feat of being the first team to reach two major finals. VP had yet to show anything outstanding offline before the major, but hype surrounded them as a result of their phenomenal form in the practice sessions leading up to it. Said hype had proven to be warranted, as VP had stormed through the tournament losing only a single map, defeating world number ones Titan and terrifying many teams with their dominance on mirage. NiP were favourites on paper, but form suggested caution.

NiP elected not to ban mirage, instead choosing to remove the train they had lost the last major on. This was controversial as mirage had been the site of much of VP’s epic display of strength and NiP had yet to play the map at the tournament. The latter reason made up part of the Ninjas’ logic for allowing it through, along with VP having finally lost the map, in overtime admittedly, in their semi-final against LGB. NiP’s logic could not help them as VP stomped the first map 16:9, winning 11 T rounds. The second would be inferno, NiP’s choice, and again VP put up 11 first half rounds, this time on the CT half. NiP fought back to reach 10 rounds of their own total, but the Poles sealed the series and yet another major trophy was lifted on the same stage as NiP, but not by them.

All of VP’s trio of stars had been in dominant form, Snax going +30, pasha +22 and byali +19. Infamously, NiP IGL fifflarent went 9:44 over the two maps, -35. Everyone on VP but TaZ outfragged each individual member of NiP, showing how far from victory the Swedes had been and how furiously the Poles had thrashed them on home soil.

Credit: Helena Kristiansson and ESL

Crying in Cologne – ESL One Cologne 2014 (1st)

NiP’s loss in Katowice caused them to rethink their structure, returning Xizt to the in-game leader position. They won Copenhagen Games, the next big international competition, and defeated VP in a three map series in the final. Another title followed at Dreamhack Summer and NiP were established again as world number ones. Hopes of continuing such strong form into the third majors were immediately shot as NiP entered their first true slump. The team who had finished in the top four at a minimum at every offline tournament to that point found that streak snapped at the ESEA S16 Global Finals.

Winning over Na`Vi at the IronGaming tournament meant little, as the tournament was small, featured only those two notable teams and was played under appalling conditions. Gfinity G3 was the event before the major and NiP barely made the play-offs and were immediately eliminated from them by the Dignitas core who they had slain in Katowice and at Copenhagen Games. Perhaps this was the changing of the guard, as Titan had also failed to win big titles in the previous months, and a new breed of team was ready to rule the game? NiP would enter the next major ranked number one, but far from in top form.

A few unique wrinkles were added at ESL One Cologne, CS:GO’s third major, as maps cbblestone and overpass were both added for the first time offline, each different to the versions played today, and a randomiser was added for group stage match map selection and the deciding map of play-off series, meaning teams could still ban a map but they would have the deciding map chosen out of the three remaining after their picks. Both changes would prove important to NiP’s campaign in Cologne.

The group stage began easily enough, with a 16:7 win on dust2 over India’s Wolf. Former VeryGames/Titan star shox drew blood from the Ninjas in the next game, though, as his Epsilon team used the unexpected element of the randomly drawn cbblestone to power through to a 16:6 upset. NiP would beat HellRaisers 16:11 on overpass to reach the play-offs nonetheless, but as a second seed from the group for the first time at a major, meaning they would be drawn against a group winner.

Crazy amongst the clouds

It’s was ominous that NiP drew Cloud9, the core formerly known as compLexity but with newcomer Shroud replacing swag – who had departed for rivals iBUYPOWER. C9’s group had seen them besting top ranked sides Dignitas and Titan. The North Americans had never won an international tournament and NiP had matched up well with them throughout history, but the core had been one of the teams to defeat NiP in a Bo3 series at their fateful ESEA S16 flounder. With NiP on shaky ground in the months prior and with an ever shrinking map pool, C9 looked hot to continue the downfall of the Ninjas as seangares’s men steam-rolled nuke 16:8, the opening map and the map won most easily by NiP in their Katowice series. NiP scrapped to steal dust2 16:14 and force a decider. The randomiser had selected cbblestone as the map which would decide the series, with NiP’s only experience on it being their defeat to Epsilon in the group stage.

The original iteration of cbblestone featured an open area halfway along the corridoor leading to B platform and a different mid, making it heavily CT sided and difficult for Ts to rotate between sites on with any kind of speed. C9 managed only eight CT rounds and NiP seemed inspired as they ran the score up to a convincing 14:11 before the North Americans fought back. Winning the 28th round seemed to have silenced NiP and opened the door for C9’s comeback, as the Swedes were broken economically and decided to attempt a rough and risky forcebuy. With a Famas, a Mag-7, two CZ-75as and a p250 NiP would need some magic to prevent them from granting C9 a chance at over-time.

The ailing Ninjas would indeed conjure up the epic round they needed, with f0rest hiding at the back of the A site with his mag-7 and baiting in C9 players, who were killed by GeT_RiGhT and friberg, now indellibly burned into the minds of all watching. NiP had avoided being 2:0’d narrowly, taken back a game slipping from their hands and miraculously edged out the series on a new map. With GeT_RiGhT finishing the series +18, apparently there was still life left in NiP.

More miracles

The semi-finals again saw NiP draw an up and coming team in blistering form. LDLC had been defeated by NiP in the group stage of the previous major, but had finished top four at Copenhagen Games, defeating Titan there, and won Dreamhack Valencia, taking down shox’s Epsilon in the final. Having 2:0’d Virtus.pro, the champions of the previous major, in the quarter-final, the French side stood as yet another former underdog who were now favoured to defeat the Ninjas and perhaps win their first major.

The opener again saw NiP begin a series down a map, losing LDLC’s inferno pick 10:16. NiP would level the series with a strong 16:6 nuke win, the map C9 had thrashed them on, despite monster numbers from LDLC star entry fragger apEX. The randomiser knew its role in creating tension as it had selected cbblestone again as the battle grounds to decide the series.

Again, the match was a crazy mess of teams who didn’t know how to play the map efficiently and CTs winning rounds. Again NiP found themselves on the CT side to close out the game and again facing a come-back into a must-win force-buy scenario, this time the Ninjas working with low economy on the 29th round. GeT_RiGhT would be the hero of the last rounds, locking down the drop room, and star apEX’s +16 for the series proved in vain as NiP took the decider 16:14 and extended their streak of major finals appearances to three. In spite of everything, NiP would have a third crack at the major trophy.

Winning against LDLC had taken friberg winning clutches and enough fragging from GeT_RiGhT to overcome fifflaren’s 4 kills on the decider for most of the map and -22 for the series. Could an NiP team with a player so clearly struggling really be expected to win the major where twice they had failed before when in better form?

Their finals opponent was FNATIC, the core who had denied them the first major title, but with upgrades olofmeister and KRiMZ, former LGB players who had fallen to NiP at the very same aforementioned Dreamhack Winter 2013. FNATIC were playing at only their second offline event since their roster move, having finished top four at Gfinity G3 and lost to Titan there. After surviving a brutal deciding third map against Na`Vi in the quarter-finals, FNATIC had rolled over Dignitas in the semi-finals to reach another major final. FNATIC immediately showed their confidence by outright picking cbblestone, a map they had won against iBUYPOWER in the group stage. NiP won their first opening map of a series, taking cbble 16:11 and again showing that they had found something working on the map.

FNATIC struck back with a strong 16:8 win on cache, a map NiP had been trying to force around Gfinity, having dropped off so comprehensively elsewhere in their pool. The decider was inferno and NiP found themselves playing a third map for the third straight series. The game was the thriller previous majors had been unable to deliver in the final, both teams having their moments in which victory looked possible. NiP began as T and won only six rounds, a slight danger on one of the more balanced maps. FNATIC put pressure on them by running the score up to 11:6, but NiP began showing the killer instinct again and soon the game was tied 13:13 headed down the stretch to a potential over-time scenario.

In fact, NiP’s magic would not run out, as the Ninjas pushed through some tight rounds to take the next three rounds and the series. Star GeT_RiGhT, famously dedicated and driven to win, sat on the floor and wept. A combination of elation and relief washed over the Ninjas as they raised the trophy and became major champions for the first time.

Credit: Helena Kristiansson and ESL

A strong +17 series from flusha paled when contrasted with GeT_RiGhT’s continued heroics, his +16 on cbble again saving the Ninjas on the map and his +11 on inferno helping them hoist the trophy. New maps, randomisers and tough opposition could not stop NiP’s march to the major title which had cruelly evaded them previously. CS:GO’s original royalty had at last been crowned with the game’s greatest honour.

Credit: Patrick Strack and ESL

NiP would play many more majors and more major finals too, but those are stories for tomorrow.