All year NIP had big problems with the game, their best result before the European RMR was 3-4th place at ESL Pro League Season 15. The peak of failure for the Swedes was ESL Pro League Season 16 in the year's second half, which advanced from the group having won only two matches out of five. This result was the reason for the line-up changes - Aleksi Aleksib Virolainen replaced Nicolas Plopski Gonzalez Zamora in the first team. Nevertheless, the very first performance of NIP with Aleksib was successful - 3-0 at the European RMR. But can we say that the Swedish team is back?
European RMR - What has changed in the team?
Initially, it seemed that the signing of Aleksib was a clear management mistake. Before the Finn came, the team had problems with the sniper. The team clearly lacked AWP frags. And instead of finding a good AWPer, the NIPs sign the captain and relieve Humpus hampus Poser from this role while removing one of the shooters from the squad. It is worth comparing the performance of Aleksib and Plopski - was the new captain able to compensate for the lost firepower?
Looking at their average stats over the past six months, it's clear that their performance is almost identical. However, Plopski failed at ESL Pro League Season 16, finishing with a 5.4 rating, while Aleksib, on the contrary, performed better than usual at the European RMR and earned a 5.9 rating. But this cannot be called complete compensation, and the firepower has increased at the expense of another player.
This player was hampus, who was removed from the captain's duties. On the EPL, the Swede failed, finishing the tournament with an average rating of 5, and on the RMR, he became the best player in Group A with a rating of 7.4. Paying attention to these statistics, we can confidently say that the decision to sign Aleksib was made by management and by hampus, who wanted to get more freedom and show his skill. With the arrival of Aleksib, the Swede has become a superstar and can now compete with any Rifleman in terms of personal statistics.
Also, considering RMR, it is worth mentioning the rivals of NIP. And you can't find fault with this either - two of the three opponents made it to the IEM Rio Major, and Astralis turned out to be the only weak opponent. Therefore, the result of the Swedish team at the European RMR can be considered indicative, but the distance is too short, and it needs to be fixed at the Major. Can NIP do it? After all, they still have unresolved problems.
Aleksib does not solve the sniper problem
It became clear that the signing of Aleksib had a positive effect on the overall firepower of the team, but even before that, another change had occurred in the team. Fredrik REZ Sterner took the AWP from Patrick es3tag Hansen, who was uncomfortable in this role. And REZ was clearly more successful than es3tag, but the Swede is still not good enough with a sniper rifle. At the European RMR, the new sniper showed an unstable performance. In the match with Astralis, REZ scored 5.2, and against the Bad News Eagles - 7.6. At the same time, among the snipers of group A, the Swede took only 15th place, which indicates his uncertainty. Will REZ succeed in this role? The first NIP matches at the IEM Rio Major will be shown.
Es3tag still out of shape
Es3tag drops in most matches
In addition to having an insecure sniper, NIP has an unstable rifler in his roster. Es3tag finished the tournament with an average rating of 5.3, and his best match was the meeting with the Bad News Eagles, in which he scored a rating of 6. At RMR, hampus compensated for this shortcoming, but there will be much more difficult matches at the Major, and the dropped player will greatly affect the team's result. If es3tag doesn't improve their game before the main event of the second half of the season, then NIP will not be able to achieve the heights they expect.
Outcome
With the signing of Aleksib, NIP solved a huge problem by greatly increasing the team's firepower and giving the hampus freedom. However, the reason for the poor results was not only this item but also two others. If NIP does not solve the problems with the individual game of a sniper and one of the riflers before the IEM Rio Major, then their triumphant march at the European RMR will end before the playoffs of the main tournament of the year.
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