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The group stage for the WePlay! Bukovel Minor hasn’t ended yet, but Furia Esports and Ninjas in Pyjamas have already been eliminated from the Dota 2 event.
While Furia’s elimination can be chalked up to simple inexperience due to their roster consisting of young, unseasoned pub stars, NiP will have to think of some better excuses for their consistent inability to convert their opportunities.
NiP’s slump can be traced back to The International 2019, where they managed to win just three games before crashing out of TI dead last. Fortune hasn’t favored them this season just yet, either.
So far, NiP have qualified for two Dota Pro Circuit tournaments, both Minors. They’ve managed to win a grand total of one series over the two LAN tournaments against South American team paiN Gaming, who had to compete with a stand-in.
NiP is one of the most prestigious organizations in esports and features two of the most esteemed veterans in the North American Dota 2 scene in Peter “ppd” Dager and Saahil “Universe” Arora. To see other teams without their resources performing better than them has to be worrying.
At this stage last season, NiP had already secured a ticket to TI, earning fourth place at the Kuala Lumpur Major, albeit with Ivan “MinD_ContRoL” Ivanov as a high-caliber stand-in.
Ppd has made magic so many times, being the mastermind behind one of Evil Geniuses’ most dominant periods in their history. He brought an unfavored OpTic Gaming to the top half of TI8, all in the while unearthing some of the finest gems in North American pubs. Has the magic ran out or is ppd simply biding his time?
With the DPC season 40 percent over for NiP, there’s still quite some time left for NiP to find their groove. A player swap hasn’t worked yet. Maybe they need a boot camp to end all boot camps or ppd has to give his teammates the hairdryer treatment to buck them up. It’s time to shed the pajamas for warriors’ armor or the Ninjas could find themselves in Sweden not to play at TI but receiving their marching orders.
