The hottest topic the last few days has most certainly been Joona ”natu” Leppänen joining NiP as a coach and strategy advisor. We had a little talk with him regarding his new position as a Ninja.

You recently resigned from professional gaming, which was announced by a video blog on your personal YouTube. Was there already a contact established between you and NiP by this time?

Yes, we had established conversations a while before I finally made the decision of stopping my playing career. These types of deals usually take a while to negotiate and to make sure both sides see eye to eye on the matter.

If yes, did NiP’s offer affect your decision?

You could say it affected the timeframe of how everything unfolded. I had already made it up in my mind that I would be not playing for long, at definitive most to the end of this year. It’s always going to be a matter of various things going a certain way, especially as I had my priority to stay involved in eSports. My personal life was also in a situation where I needed to make decisions professionally shortly, so everything just fell in their rightful places with how the situation turned out to be.

You are moving from being an actual player to a strategy advisor. How do you think this role will fit you, and what are the main differences between the two roles?

I have a very long history of being a player, so I understand closely on the emotions the players go through. I can also identify the smallest of details in all the plays and help the team develop in areas that are needed. I’m also going to be in a big part of always making sure we have a gameplan and know what we’re getting into in every single match. When you are coaching, you look at things from a totally a different perspective than when you play yourself. You can see when timings don’t go right, or when the players aren’t reacting in a correct manner for example. These types of things are where my eyes come in value.