The wildly popular and fan favorites Ninjas in Pyjamas are back in action at the StarSeries & i-League CS:GO Season 5 Finals taking place in Kiev, Ukraine from May 28 to June 3. NiP won their opening round matchup against HellRaisers and are looking for more. VPEsports nabbed Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund and asked him some tough questions. Here is what he had to say.

NiP is back at StarLadder! What is your impressions about that?

“We were in Ukraine two or three seasons ago at StarLadder and it’s very nice to come back here. It’s been very warm and welcoming from all the people around here, especially the crew of event because we’ve known each other for years. This time is a bit warmer and that’s great.

You missed previous season where SLTV introduced the new swiss Best-of-three system for the group stage. What are your thoughts? Are you ready for this?

“As for me, personally, I never liked the Swiss system with bo1 matches. Here, we get to play bo3 and I welcome that because it gets to be less random in terms of what team wins. But in the end, I don’t think that this type of system works well for esports itself. That’s only my sense of it. I cannot give any explanation about it, I just personally don’t like it. There have always been big debates about the group stage and how it should be done and everything like that. I don’t think that there are any good or great group stage formats yet.”

If you were a tournament organizer, which system would you use?

“Well, I haven’t really thought about that, but I’ve always thought that the GSL system is much better in general, but at the same time it’s also not fair enough.”

What do you think about Xzist’s come back to Fnatic? Will he make the Swedish team stronger or was this decision a step backwards?

“That’s a very loaded question, man! Mostly, I will cheer for old-ninjas players, especially for Xizt, and I have always wanted the best for him. I think it’s pretty cool that he’s up with them, but at the same time, I hope that they don’t do very well in the playoffs. I don’t want to give any loud statements, mostly because it’s too early to say anything yet. I believe that everything you say about people somehow strikes back at you at some point. So I wish him only the very best.”

At StarSeries, you are not the only Swedish team there. We also have Godsent here. What are your thoughts on them regarding this tournament?

“They have a very good chance to go to playoffs. It’s Swiss bo3 matches here and they are a good team.”

During your team’s preparation for this tournament, which issues did you work on first and Are there any unsolved problems?

“I don’t really like to speak about our inside strategy or issues right before a tournament, but after practicing against other teams, I can say that each team here have different problems, different ideas, and everything like that. We moved past a lot of our problems.”

Having just returned from Dallas, Texas USA, did that affect your preparation and when traveling do you feel the effects of jet lag?

“From my point of view, I think it’s always good to come back to Sweden from USA because you always have a jet lag. Sure, for the first couple of days you feel like a living nightmare due to changes of time zones, but when that subsides you actually wake up very early and can enjoy the day and practice more.”

Nowadays, fans of NiP haven’t seen a tournament win in a very long time. Do you think that StarSeries can be the one fans get to see?

“Honestly, I think it could be, but it all depends on a lot of things. How teams will be seeded on group stage, how teams will be seeded in playoff bracket, etc. I think we need to get a little bit lucky along the way, but I think we have a good chance to win this thing.”

With all the time and years you have put into Counter-Strike, how do you manage to stay passionate about the game?

“There can be only one answer. The love of the game. There isn’t any other answer or secret to be honest. I think it’s just because of how much joy, happiness, sadness, pain, and whatever more the game has given me. It’s given me so much for a very long time. I’m turning 28 in two days and I have been playing this game for half of my life!

The past three years have been pretty rough for you and Ninjas. What motivates you to keep grinding?

I am not a weak person. For me, it has always been a passion about the game, no matter what. And if that’s going to give me back pain for two years, so be it. For me it has never been about fame or money, never been about something like that. Only for glory of the game.

With the stress coming from all those losses; did you ever have a moment of despair? Was there a moment you almost gave up? How did you overcome it?

“I had a couple of moments where I thought about giving it all up. But at the same time I believed that losing isn’t a good reason to quit. You are supposed to end your career when you want instead of some negativity about losing matches.

Have you ever thought about parting ways with NiP?

“I was very close in signing Cloud9 and going to America a couple of years ago. It was basically a done deal, but it didn’t happen. That was in 2015. Now in 2018 and I am still with NiP.

Cloud9 still appears to have an open spot? Would you go now?

“Yeah, I know, but they haven’t asked me or talked to me about it. I regret that I’ve never gone away to another team for just a little while, but at the same time I don’t really feel that much regret. I don’t think I would find the same happiness that I have here at NiP. I love living in my country, love my teammates, organization, and everything about it. So, I think that if I had gone in C9 3 years ago, I would have probably regretted the move more.

By Taras Bortnik

Special to VPEsports