As everybody should know by know, Ninjas in Pyjamas dominated the CS:GO scene in the games early years.
But till this day, the Swedish side have yet to play infront of huge arena and thousands Swedes in their country of birth.
And the will to play on home turf is what seems to one of the biggest driving force for the Swedish squad at Dreamhack Masters, at least according to Patrik ”f0rest” Lindberg.
– The entire team thinks it is wonderful with the fanbase that we’ve built up over the years here at home, so it would mean the world to us to get a chance to stand infront of that crowd and show ’god damn it, here we are – here’s NiP!’

Patrik ”f0rest” Lindberg have more or less seen it all in the world of Counter-Strike. He has a major title to his name and have played several finals infront of thousands of people in places like Katowice. Though he have might have experienced more than most of us could ever dream about, he still miss one thing.
To play in a huge arena on home turf.

One could argue that those numerous finals at Dreamhack Winter and Summer should be considered as ”playing before a huge crowd of home fans.” But for those who’ve seen what awaits at Malmö Arena knows that this will be extremely different. The only time we’ve come even close to this type of venue was during Dreamhack Stockholm, a tournament Ninjas in Pyjamas won’t look back to with a happy face – and rightfully so.

”Would be an amazing feeling”

Alongside an almost legendary promotional video featuring both NiP and Fnatic and the prospect of seeing the two Swedish sides in Stockholm, the hype was real. Only Fnatic managed to make it to Globen, a big arena in the capitol of Sweden.

Now NiP have the opportunity to make it to the biggest Counter-Strike stage ever in their home country. And that fact is something that seems to give this tournament an extra edge for the famous team.
– It would have been so fucking amazing to stand on that stage inside that arena, certainly since we’ve missed that chance before, he says to Aftonbladet Esport and continues:
– It would be an amazing feeling, and it shouldn’t be any problems for us to make it there.

The longing for that, could it be hampering in any way?
– A little bit of both. It can put more pressure on us because we want it so much. But at the same time it is nice to have something extra to strive for, that we want to make it to the playoff and experience that stadium and that feeling. And if we make it so far, we will make it to the final after that.

”The shots didn’t hit their targets”

When the tournament was under way we saw Ninjas in Pyjamas underperform like ever before against Team Dignitas. On Overpass, to put it blunt, the team was dominated. When the squad eventually was back at the hotel, they watched the game again and according to f0rest there wasn’t much to go through.
– That match was a god damn pancake. We tried to talk about it afterwards but analyzing that game is impossible. ”Okey, you didn’t get a kill there. I didn’t get a kill there. Nobody got a kill.” That’s nothing we can analyze and make adaptations to, he says and keeps going:
– That match is all about us not being in the game. The shots didn’t hit their target and then the result becomes what we saw. What we could do was to put that game behind us. That result won’t go to our heads. If we get them again tomorrow, which I believe we will, they’ll see a completely new NiP, that I’m convinced of.

On Thursday we will see wether the legend will make it to Malmö Arena, or if the Swedish fans once again will have to go to a huge venture without the chance to see their favorites.