Erik “ztr” Gustafsson will replace Ninjas in Pyjamas captain Hampus Poser for the second CS:GO tournament in a row, the org revealed today. The Ninjas, this time, will field ztr at the Global Esports Tour Dubai after using the academy player for IEM Dallas.
Hampus missed IEM Dallas due to health issues and NiP did not do well with ztr in his place at the $250,000 tournament, having been knocked out in the group stage. Hampus stated on Twitter that he’s feeling a lot better but will sit out from Global Esports Tour Dubai to rest while he looks forward to playing at IEM Cologne, one of the most important CS:GO tournaments of 2022. The captaincy duties will be taken by ztr as he already does it for Young Ninjas, the org’s academy project.
NiP are currently the seventh-best team in the world, according to HLTV’s ranking, and by far the best team invited to Global Esports Tour Dubai. Their chances of winning the competition, though, diminish significantly as a result of not having hampus, who is an impactful player in terms of fragging and leadership.
Over the past months, the Swedish team have struggled to maintain consistency due to having to use academy players like ztr, Love “phzy” Smidebrant, and Linus “LNZ” Holtäng in more than one situation. It’s still unclear, for example, whether the star AWPer Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz will ever play for NiP again. He has been inactive since December 2021 due to health issues.
The Global Esports Tour Dubai will be played from June 9 to 11 and will feature NiP, MOUZ, Movistar Riders, Complexity, NASR, TYLOO, OG, and Falcons. The $250,000 tournament will run a single-elimination bracket and the Ninjas are due to face NASR in the quarterfinals.
