Swedish esports organization Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) continues to make drastic changes to its Valorant roster, as it has now added retired CS:GO pro Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel to the team.
The organization also decided to move Damien “HyP” Souville and Enzo “Fearoth” Mestari to its inactive roster after lackluster results in the European Ignition Series events. NiP went winless in the BLAST Twitch Valorant Invitational, losing to G2 Esports and Team Liquid.
NiP decided to bring in Sayf, a player who made the switch to Valorant in early July. He was previously associated with BONK, a team that included NiP’s initial Valorant roster player Malkolm “bonkar” Rench. A week prior to Sayf’s addition to the team, NiP also signed former BONK coach, Emil “eMIL” Sandgren.
In their statement, NiP’s Chief Operating Officer Jonas Gundersen stated, “Sometimes a group of five just doesn’t come together to bring out the best of each other, and even though time played together can be a factor, we decided to continue in a different direction without HyP and Fearoth.” He added, “Adding Emil as a coach — and Sayf into the lineup — provides us with fresh eyes and new opportunities, combined with raw firepower.”
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Both HyP and Fearoth felt blindsided by NiP’s roster change decision, since they were constantly being praised in the two months they played with the team.
NiP’s Valorant roster:
- Emir “rhyme” Muminovic
- Niels “luckeRRR” Jasiek
- Charles “CREA” Beauvois
- Saif “Sayf” Jibraeel
- Emil “eMIL” Sandgren (coach)
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