Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced that Björn "THREAT" Pers will play for the team at the MLG Columbus Major as a stand-in due to visa problems from Jacob "pyth" Mourujärvi.

For over a month now, NiP have been trying to secure a visa permit for Jacob "⁠pyth⁠" Mourujärvi, but successive requests from the U.S. embassy in Stockholm have made it impossible for the player to be able to travel before Tuesday.

NiP's other players, as well as team coach Björn "⁠THREAT⁠" Pers, are already flying to Columbus, and it will be the 27-year-old, formerly of Team Acer, filling in for pyth in the tournament.

The Swedish team and MLG have been in talks over the last week with a view to finding a solution to the problem. NiP have proposed that THREAT plays for the team until pyth is able to travel, but HLTV.org knows that Valve and MLG are unwilling to accept this suggestion, claiming that a roster cannot be changed halfway through the Major.



threat will step in for pyth in Columbus

This means that, even if pyth manages to get a visa permit and arrives in Columbus before Wednesday's matches, he will most likely only act as a coach for the team at the event.

Since Sweden is part of the Visa Waiver Program, its citizens are able to travel to the United States without a visa. This most likely means that pyth experienced problems during his previous stay in the country, while playing for Luminosity.

THREAT enjoyed remarkable success in the 1.6 scene between 2010 and 2012, when he played for teams like fnatic, Lions and WinFakt. After a short stint in Team Acer in 2015, he moved to Japan to continue his studies, returning to the scene in January to coach NiP.

The Swedish team, who will face FlipSid3 Tactics in the first group round in Columbus, will attend the Major with: