Team Profiles: NiP
It seems truly worlds apart from the era in which NiP dominated Counter-Strike’s landscape. From that fabled five, only two remain in f0rest and GeT_RiGhT, being a inseparable duo since coming together under cArn, now a decade prior.
Change was slow, awfully slow, but several lineups later and now we have the reinvigorated Ninja’s of today, wielding the experience of dennis alongside the fresh blood of REZ and Lekr0.
Prestigious titles still appear too distant an expectation, nevertheless in this profile we’ll be delving into the strengths and weakness of this Swedish side alongside assessing their prospects going forward.
Before we get into disecting their map pool one thing we can say for certain is that NiP’s perma-ban is Dust2 and I’ve seen no indications that they’ll move away from doing so in the near future.
Train
Ranking NiP’s map pool proved rather difficult for me because of their volatile results and although this remains true when looking at Train, judging from NiP’s vetos, Train is right up towards the top end of their pool and this is where we are going to begin.
On the terrorist side of Train it is notoriously difficult to get around counternades, especially towards the B bombsite and the method NiP employs to get around this is throwing in many contact heavy rounds a half. More precisely, what you should expect to see from NiP is majority play on five rifles, working towards ivy on these rifles, using their teamplay to trade on to the CT’s and during the games I’ve gone through NiP loved to force out fast B hits in this contact heavy fashion.
It is important to keep in mind that this sort of play is not necessarily loose, NiP regularly stays well grouped and try to work out into areas with the aim of imposing their numbers advantage. In certain situations playing contact heavy is a great choice, but unfortunately for NiP this does not cover all situations and this is where NiP’s flaws begin to be exposed.
If the Ninja’s give over economic control on the Terrorist side of Train then sweet can quickly become sour. The problem being, should NiP be forced into playing more execute heavy to deal with double AWP’s on Train then the cracks start to show. Their quality of execution onto sites is not on par with the world’s best and the variety of hits they are comfortable using seems rather limited on T Train.
Moving onto the Counter-Terrorist side NiP appears considerably improved. Even considering the CT favoured traits of the map, relative to the top sides, the defensive side is where the Swedes excel.
What should we expect from the Ninja’s on CT Train? The first of these is double AWPing. Most top sides are fond of double AWPing on the defensive side of Train, due to the long sight lines among other reasons. NiP will likely play out these setups with Lekr0 AWPing ivy and the second on dennis on the second around connector or aggressive angles towards the B site.
During the games I reviewed, GeT_RiGhT made a fantastic account of himself as B anchor, his great utility usage was a standout. When the Terrorists are commiting onto the side he almost always gets one kill into staying alive for impressively long. Another highlight is f0rest being sensational at rifling towards the outer site, particularly playing around sandwich and the olof area. As an extension NiP love to take main during the mid round and f0rest being so comfortable with playing up close is a big reason for this.
Throwing in setups to contest brown halls control and ivy aggression was fairly absent from the games I went over and it will be interesting to see if they show it in future matches.
Overpass
Much like Train, NiP’s results on Overpass during the Major thus far have shown little consistency: going from taking Liquid down to the wire to being blown out by Vitality. Regardless though, let’s explore their play on Overpass.
Compared to Terrorist Train, NiP looks much better on T Overpass from my perspective. Some strengths include taking mid and long control and working picks from there. For the most part, the Ninjas lean towards playing five rifle on T Overpass. Across the top scene it’s more common to have an AWP in play to hold mid swings and help clear long/mid into playing afterplants. NiP prefers to rely on the trading of their riflers than using the sniper in this manner.
On Terrorist Overpass GeT_RiGhT is probably my favourite player to watch. The veteran defaults to the B side of the map, whether that be out monster or in sewers. These spots give GeT_RiGhT loads of playmaking opportunities like picking up B short and getting flashed into peeking monster. A great display of a more aggressive dimension to a player which historically has been painted as overly passive.
In terms of set rounds NiP have some fun stuff running fast and explosive B hits which can be really effective for several reasons, I will spare the details but these are due to how Overpass is played at the top level.
Unfortunately, jumping onto the defensive side on Overpass I found NiP quite underwhelming to watch given that their T side was refreshingly diverse. From what I’ve seen the Swedes play an excessively standard CT Overpass. In particular, showing few aggressive setups towards fountain or playground. This could be due to NiP not having these aggressions in their wheelhouse or perhaps are uncomfortable with calling them at the top level, either way I think they are denying themselves opportunities to get information and force favourable duels versus the T’s.
In better news, dennis is my highlight player to watch on the CT side of Overpass for NiP. He tends to pick up the AWP and utilise it around the A bomb site. In this role dennis displays his strength as a hybrid player with his mechanical proficiency and positioning.
#3 and beyond
For the remainder of their map pool we are going to move through fairly quickly and I will only pick out a couple of key points.
If we are going purely off results during both of the Major stages thus far then Mirage is probably NiP’s best map, but clearly from the way the Swedes veto, they do not agree as they will rarely pick into the map.
On CT Mirage NiP’s variety stems mostly from passing the AWP’s between their players and less so from aggressive takes of map control or unorthodox setups. Strong mid round decisions and good fundamentals will be a requirement for the Swedes to put up a sizeable CT round haul against the world’s best. In terms of their Terrorist Mirage play I’ve been quite impressed with the diversity they bring, rarely default and although their rounds might not be the most refined, variety alone will aid success.
For Inferno, Cache and Nuke I do not have a great deal to say about NiP, firstly because I have not gone through many matches from them on these maps and from my limited knowledge I think they do play relatively standard on both sides, always with a hint of the contact heavy play on T which is a widespread trait of the Ninjas. Also, with these maps being further down their pool it would unreasonable to expect as much Terrorist depth in terms of practiced rounds compared to other maps.
Summary
Of all the teams in the playoffs, NiP is probably the side (excluding the new look MIBR) that I am least familiar with, so apologies for being unable to talk in loads of depth as we get towards the lower end of their map pool.
Taking about NiP’s map pool overall it is not looking brilliant going into the Major quarterfinals. I do think NiP is proficient at four, five or perhaps even six maps in the pool, but their inconsistencies regardless of the turf means NiP rarely has a safe pick to fall back on versus any top level opposition and going forward they will have to shore this up to cement themselves firmly within the top ten teams.
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