NIP Set to Use 3 From Academy in Week 6
last year - 9/16/2023 9:57 PM GMT-3
It's no secret that NIP have been struggling in recent times. Their 0-5 record is enough to support that, but the team are also on a 12 game losing streak since last year, their last win being a 16-14 Inferno win over a new-look Achyllus, now E-MMENTAL. It was surprising to see NIP re-sign 5 of their 6 players from last season, only releasing Berko as he went to Ostrich Gaming. UKI, the team's former IGL, was moved to the coach role and Shiny was moved from sixth man to the academy team. Kryze, Cobra, and Chawp stayed with the main team, which for Kryze and Cobra made sense as the two were clearly the best two members of the team. The roster was joined by Havi and Sven, additions meant to fix the team's role issues from last year. While the new additions have looked okay and certainly had their moments, statistically speaking Cobra and Kryze are still the team's best two players (Kryze is tied with Havi in total kills this year however, and Cobra's kill total might be inflated from his 31 bomb against Talon Arc in Week 2). In spite of this, the Swedish organization is fielding 3 members from their academy team:
Awper Inspired, who is the academy league's joint-seventh best players.
Shiny, who returns to the main team after being demoted, not playing the lurk role instead of the entry role. He is the team's third best player, behind Inspired and roGue, and joint 12th in the academy league.
And Chocolate, a German support player who hasn't looked spectacular in the academy league (joint 50th in kills), but his trial seems to have been made due to Chawp's extremely poor individual form.
Should these players be promoted, NIP will be fully European for the first time in it's creation, as Cobra and Berko last year were American and Australian, and this year Cobra of course returned.
NIP's roster for Week 6 is:
Havi
Sven
Inspired
Shiny
Chocolate
UKI (Coach)