Year in review: a year of change for NIP

We're coming to the end of 2024 now, so we thought it would be a good idea to turn back the clock and look back on the years of all the BLAST Premier teams.

Starting with NIP, it's been another tough year for the Swedish organisation, and they head into 2025 with just four players, but that doesn't mean it's all been doom and gloom.

There's plenty of hope in the organisation, and you can read our interview with Xizt to find out why.

The first season

The year didn't start well for NIP, they failed to advance from online qualifiers for IEM Chengdu and also exited BLAST Premier Spring Groups in last place.

The make matters worse, they then failed to qualify for the first CS2 Major, the PGL Major Copenhagen, as they were eliminated from RMR A with a 0-3 record.

That result meant that things had to change, and k0nfig, headtr1ck, and es3tag were all benched along with the teams coaching staff.

The next event saw the Ninjas play with their Young Ninjas team at BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, a decision that would pave the way for roster moves from the organisation for the rest of the year.

First came Xizt, the legendary IGL who took NIP to five consecutive Major finals in the early years of CS:GO. He returned with one single goal: to take NIP back to the top of the Counter-Strike pyramid.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

The first step of that plan was to promote maxster from Young Ninjas. maxster had built up a reputation as one of the finest young players in Sweden during his time in the academy system, and the move showed that NIP still had a lot of faith in their roots.

But he wasn't the only prospect signed during that time, r1nkle also arrived from B8. A talented Ukrainian AWPer, he made an instant impact, settling with ease as NIP played with a lineup of REZ, alex, r1nkle, maxster, and BluePho3nix.

NIP finally completed their lineup in May, signing isak from GamerLegion. A player who had shone for his former team as they made an unlikely run to the BLAST.tv Paris Major final, that run saw isak pushed to being one of the most reputable players in a scene that had struggled for years to find true stars.

Not long after isak arrived at NIP, the team had their best run in 2024 as they headed to Abu Dhabi for YaLLa Compass.

Eventually finishing in second place after a 2-1 defeat in the final at the hands of The MongolZ, the Mongolian team were the only team that could take NIP down as the Swedish team beat the likes of fnatic, FURIA, and Astralis on their run to the final.

Photo: NIP

The second season

As the second season of the year began, NIP showed a promising result by making it to the Play-in stage of BLAST Premier Fall Groups. They lost 2-0 to Astralis in that stage, but they did so after impressive wins against both Cloud9 and FaZe.

Seemingly on an upwards trajectory, unfortunately, that momentum soon ceased for the Swedish organisation.

Following a disappointing exit from ESL Pro League just over a month after the conclusion of Fall Groups, IGL alex was benched, leading to MisteM being promoted from Young Ninjas, and sprayxd, the academy team's coach, becoming an assistant coach for the main roster.

However, with the team now needing to adapt to a new system and bed in a somewhat inexperienced player, results were hard to come by, and the eventual health issues that would arise to prevent maxster from playing put the team in an even more difficult situation.

Despite now have to play with jocab as a stand-in, NIP finished in second place in the Svenska Cup, beating defeated 3-0 in the final by Metizport.

They followed that up with another solid result, a top four finish at YaLLa Compass Fall, where they fell to BetBoom in the semi-finals.

Photo: Stephanie Lindgren

Their final tournament of the year was the RMR for the Perfect World Shanghai Major, where they were unlucky to play three teams who would eventually go on to make the playoffs at the Major itself.

Despite losses to G2 and HEROIC, NIP went on to beat PARIVISON, TSM, and 9Pandas, a result that would typically see them qualify for the Major. However, due to Europe losing spots, they would have to face the eventual Major champions, Spirit, for a spot in Shanghai.

A 2-0 defeat, NIP showed plenty of promise in the loss, keeping Vertigo incredibly close at 13-11.

On the RMR run, Xizt had this to say:

Not satisfied to just be there, the veteran was also quick to add that "I want to be at the Major only if I think we can win it," and his determination to get NIP back to the top has not waned despite the difficult circumstances he has faced since returning to the organisation as their coach.

As NIP look ahead to 2025, their first goal will be to find the aggressive rifler their coach desires. After that, it will be to climb back up the rankings and get themselves in the invite range for the world's biggest events, something Xizt is confident they will be able to do.