NIP confirm es3tag signing

Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced the signing of Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen from Complexity, as first reported by Dexerto.

The Danish player will step into the team immediately, replacing Linus ‘LNZ’ Holtäng, who has struggled to make his mark with NIP’s main team since being promoted from the academy roster, in June 2021.

LNZ will rejoin Young Ninjas as a sixth player to continue his development, in a move similar to the one Erik ‘ztr⁠’ Gustafsson made in June.

Es3tag’s future had been up in the air since November 3, when it was announced that Complexity were open to offers for the Dane and for Justin ‘⁠jks⁠’ Savage as part of an overhaul of their CS:GO squad.

The North American organization had earlier parted ways with Valentin ’poizon’ Vasilev, Benjamin ‘⁠blameF’ Bremer, and Kristian ‘⁠k0nfig’ Wienecke, with the latter two going on to sign for Astralis.

Es3tag joins NIP

Es3tag will be looking to find some much-needed stability with NIP after brief stints with three different organizations over the last 15 months.

He was transferred to Cloud9 in November 2020 after enjoying a prolific three months with Astralis, but he couldn’t taste the same success with the ‘Colossus’ project, which was shut down by the organization in March 2021.

Four months later, he joined Complexity on a free transfer as a replacement for William ‘⁠RUSH⁠’ Wierzba. But the team never really clicked, and he posted some of his worst tournament-rating numbers as the ‘Juggernaut’ slowly disintegrated.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be back at the absolute forefront of competitive CS:GO — to play with world-class proven individuals, with whom I can create a legacy,” es3tag told NIP’s website. “With the backing from an organization like NIP I’m confident that everything surrounding the squad is primed so we can reach the pinnacle of CS:GO.

“And yes I speak Swedish.”

On NIP, es3tag will reunite with compatriot and former Astralis teammate Nicolai ‘dev1ce’ Reedtz, alongside whom he played some of his best Counter-Strike and won ESL Pro League Season 12 Europe — his sole Big Event title to date.

The Swedish team will make their first appearance with es3tag at the BLAST Premier Fall Final, which will kick off on November 24. They will be looking to bounce back after crashing out of PGL Major Stockholm in the quarter-finals following a defeat to eventual runners-up G2 Esports.

• Read more: Bubzkji in talks with Astralis over future

As a result of this roster change, NIP will play all their matches at the BLAST event as the lower seed. BLAST introduced the penalty after reopening the roster registration period to give teams the opportunity to change players after the Major.

NIP CS:GO roster:

• Fredrik ‘⁠REZ⁠’ Sterner
• Nicolas ‘Plopski’ Gonzalez Zamora
• Hampus ‘⁠hampus⁠’ Poser
• Nicolai ‘device⁠’ Reedtz
• Patrick ‘es3tag’ Hansen
• Björn ‘THREAT⁠’ Pers (coach)