Jacob ”Pyth” Mourujärvi. Foto: Dreamhack / Sebastian Ekman

Ninjas in Pyjamas lackluster form during 2015 eventually led to the organizations decision to drop Aleksi ”allu” Jalli and in his place Jacob ”pyth” Mourujärvi stepped in.

Now he tells the story on how he could not refuse the offer from NiP and his emotions as he was approached by the famous organization.

– It was extremely exciting, I felt like all the hours I’ve put into this game was to reach this dream, the newly acquired ninja says to Aftonbladet Esport when ask how he felt when NiP reached out to him.

2015 didn’t become a year Ninjas in Pyjamas could be pleased with. Even though the team fought their way to a few finals during the season, most notably the first major of the year in Katowice, they never seemed to be able to take the last step and reach the heights of the past.

Despite the lackluster form, few – if any – teams can come close to the popularity of the organization and especially the original quartet that has been playing together ever since they took the step into CS:GO.

”Feels great”

Now a new player have been given the chance to make his mark on the history of the storied franchise. Jacob ”pyth” Mourujärvi answers the Skype call with a typical western Swedish accent and you can envision the 22-year old with a classical snus under his lip as he speaks about his first month in NiP.

– It feels really great and it’s been a smooth ride. The guys I play with are very nice and easy to hang with. I don’t feel any pressure yet to be honest and I’m just myself, he says to Aftonbladet Esport.

Pyth joined the squad after the organization chose to not renew the Finnish AWP star Aleksi ”allu” Jalli’s contract. Allu, who in turn replaced Mikail ”Maikelele” Bill in the beginning of 2015, has moved on to play with ENCE eSports. What few might be aware of is that Maikelele is one of the contributing factors to why we even see pyth in the professional CS:GO scene right now.

– He and Alexander ”SKYTTEN” Carlsson asked me if I would be interested in creating a team with them, pyth reminisces about the past.

Said and done. Eventually the swedes would play under name ”hatersg0nnahate” and their respective careers would see them travel the world, though in different teams. For pyth that would involve period alongside his friend Markus ”pronax” Wallsten in N!faculty to a six-month stint on the other side of the Atlantic ocean.

”They understood”

Like many other Swedes, Jacob took the opportunity to reach success in the North American scene. He ended up in Canada and Winterfox for half a year before he would fly back home to the Swedish west coast and a spot on the NiP roster.

– I couldn’t say no. I was on the cusp of creating a team with pronax and Jonatan ”Devilwalk” Lundberg, but I had to squander those planes.

Were they okay with that?

– Yes. Very much so. They understood why I chose to join NiP.

Mourujärvi has been able to make a living playing Counter-Strike ever since he graduated the Swedish equivalent to high school. But he also admits that he has seen a boost in his living standards since he signed with Ninjas in Pyjamas. But at the same time he also says that he always had great support from his family.

– My parents have given me a lot of backing and my brother supports very much and plays a bunch as well.

As previously mentioned, NiP didn’t really hit their stride during 2015. After the emotional loss at the hands of LDLC during Dreamhack Winter 2014 NiP would lose their second straight major finals in Katowice – this time against Fnatic.

Seemingly, the team now have chosen to make a major switch within the foundation of the team. Björn ”THREAT” Pers will soon join the roster as a coach and in game leader. The thought is that he will command Christopher ”GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, Patrik ”f0rest” Lindberg, Adam ”friberg” Friberg, Richard ”Xizt” Landström and obviously pyth to new heights.

– He will contribute a lot in the tactical department, pyth says and continues:

– But we haven’t had the opportunity to practice with him yet. He’ll join us in the upcoming weeks so right now we are preparing as much as we can before that. We are trying to play more tactically to make sure that the transition won’t be so dramatic.

”Better mentality”

The first few weeks in the NiP jersey haven’t gone too smoothly from a results standpoint. The Swedes managed to beat E-Frag in pyth’s debut to later fall against Titan (before their move to G2) in the qualifier to the Global Esports Cup.

– Against Titan it felt like an ordinary game, but nothing came our way. They played really well and very aggressively which made it difficult for us to get in to the match. They just poured on and deserved to win that game.

Obviously you guys want to win everything, but could you talk more about your goals for the year?

– We have very high expectations and we want to win everything. We will do our very best and try new stuff to improve ahead of the events this year.

You spent half a year in NA, what’s your take on the difference between the North American scene and the one in Europe?

– Players here in Europe have a little better mentality than they have in NA. It’s a lot more focus on team play here whereas in America they are more concerned about themselves and are more egotistical. People want all the fame over there compared to here.

How the road forward will look for NiP remains to be seen. Will we witness a new period of greatness or we will see a reprise of last year’s disappointing results? Only time will tell, but a 22-year old guy from the west coast surely hopes on the former.