Image via Ubisoft/@Joao_Ferreria
Arguably, Ninjas in Pyjamas led Brazil’s take over of the Siege scene in last year’s season.
NiP boasts one of the most experienced rosters in the game. Their three-men core has been together since September 2017, when Julio “JULIO” Giacomelli signed for Black Dragons. That’s more than four years of tournaments, fails, successes, and other in-game experiences.
“We've been through it all so nothing's gonna catch us by surprise,” JULIO said. “Being together for so long is good because we know how to deal with each other and do things that are going to help the other players in and outside the game.”
Blood, sweat, and tears went in the team’s goal to become the best in the world. After falling to Spacestation Gaming at the Six Invitational 2020, NiP got redemption in the 2021 edition following a 3-2 victory over Team Liquid. “It was a good season, the goal is to win every tournament but we know how important it is to maintain consistency in the Top 4.”
Brazil was at the top of the game for the first time in Siege’s history, with Ninjas in Pyjamas emerging as the best team in the region. After winning the Copa Elite Six Stage 2, the ninjas were the favorites to win in Mexico.
Ninjas in Pyjamas was expected to take over its group, which had irregular-LAN performers DarkZero Esports, an unrecognizable G2 Esports, and the international debutant DWG KIA.
It happened just the opposite as the team would eventually lose twice against the Koreans and G2 Esports, with its only two wins coming in overtime against DarkZero. Despite this being far from the expected performance, NiP went to overtime in five out of its six group-stage matches – with the Brazilians losing the twelfth round in all five overtime matches, showing inability to finish games out. If the roster had done better at closing rounds, they would have probably survived the group stage.
Winners are the ones who write history though, and the Mexico Major will go down in the books as that event where the SI champion was beaten in the very first stage of the tournament.
BR6 Stage 3 saw a completely different version of Ninjas in Pyjamas. Struggling to get victories, incapable of obtaining entries. Overall, the Brazilians ended as the second-worst team of the third split, but qualified for the Sweden Major following a 2-0 victory over Team Liquid in the Copa Elite Six Stage 3.
Sweden is where NiP’s headquarters are located, and according to JULIO “it was a great experience meeting everyone.” The player spoke about the importance of it, as it “gave us a huge boost as we improve a lot during bootcamps.”
NiP’s fingertips rubbed another international silverware as the squad would eventually fall to its region’s neighbors FaZe Clan. After dominating Group B alongside European favorites Team BDS, the ninjas absolutely smashed its playoff oppositions with two 2-0 wins over Spacestation Gaming in the quarter-finals and against Rogue in the semi-finals. Only FaZe Clan was going to stop such a strong run.
Three weeks later, the ninjas would lose another BO5 Grand Final, the BR6 Finals. Team Liquid would get revenge and defeat the Sweden Major finalists with a very strong performance. According to JULIO, “the team experienced some problems with the event, but there were things outside the game.” JULIO also spoke about Liquid having had more time to prepare for the game, as they didn’t play in Sweden. “They just played better overall in that BO5.”
Overall, NiP has faced any possible situation in 2021 – success in SI, disaster in Mexico, and disappointment in Sweden. International glory in the Six Invitational 2021 was followed by Mexico’s disaster, ending the year with the satisfaction of reversing the situation, but falling short of being back on top. Such experiences are what build the best teams, as just a handful go through these experiences and decide to stick together to work on it.
“We've been through it all like I said so we know how to come back from a loss and how to face adversity. We absorb a lot of things from our games and from other matches and improve a lot during the tournament,” JULIO said.
Troubles always come in threes, they say. Ninjas in Pyjamas will have to work hard so that expression doesn’t become true, not at least in Sweden.
In JULIO’s case, he will have to work even harder: Julio and his wife are pregnant, as he revealed during the Sweden Major. “Everything is perfect! It’s a boy and his name is Noah, expected to be born between May and June.”
JULIO and Ninjas in Pyjamas will have the chance from Feb. 8 to Feb. 20 to win a second world-champion title.