Swedish Counter-Strike legends Ninjas in Pyjamas have parted ways with yet another ‘fifth man’, as Jacob “Pyth” Mourujarvi is dropped to the bench and will be replaced by former Epsilon AWP player, William “Draken” Sundin.
Pyth had been on the starting lineup for the team ever since he replaced the outgoing Aleksi “Allu” Jalli late in 2015. Despite helping the side achieve two major tournament victories in 2016, his recent form hasn’t been great, and NiP have decided to move him to the bench. This is the third time a since Robin “Fifflaren” Johansson that the team has rotated out their fifth player, without making any changes to the core four of Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, Adam “Friberg” Friberg, Richard “Xizt” Landstrom, and Patrik “F0rest” Lindberg.
Draken joins the team from Swedish side Epsilon, having been left out of the recent Swedish roster shuffle involving Fnatic and Godsent. As an AWP player, it looks likely that he will take over the weapon from F0rest, which could work to alleviate some of NiP’s problems. Draken was named as one of the best young prospects in the scene by major champions and Astralis AWPer Nicolai “Dev1ce” Reedtz. Draken made the following statement regarding his move to NiP:
“Getting picked up by Ninjas in Pyjamas is a dream come true for me. One year ago, I was competing on the FaceIT platform, where I qualified for the minor in Bucharest. I have since then been working hard on improving and believe I can have an in-game impact in NiP. Even though the team has struggled a bit lately, they are still one of the top teams in the world and I am humble to have been given this opportunity. I am looking forward to getting started and prove my spot on the team!”