Kristian “k0nfig” Wienecke is competing in IEM Katowice 2023 for the first time as a member of the Ninjas in Pyjamas, and he freely admits he has “no clue” what is going on as the new roster struggles to put the puzzle together mid-tournament. In an interview with HLTV on February1, the 25-year-old characterised his initial days with the team as “hectic.” The Dane also emphasised that NIP had essentially become a new squad with him and Danyyl “headtr1ck” Valitov joining, and that they now had to start from scratch.
“We had like four practices in total coming into this tournament [IEM Katowice 2023],” k0nfig said. “They showed me some stuff, I’ve no clue what the f**k is going on, I don’t know callouts, I don’t know anything, so yeah, we’re playing a little bit like basic CS but I’m trying to like, make the boys comfortable.”
The fact that the first days for NIP are messy is no surprise. The team brought in k0nfig on Jan. 26 to replace Hampus “hampus” Poser for the spring CS:GO season, who had to take a break due to personal reasons. A few weeks earlier on Jan. 9, NIP signed headtr1ck to their CS:GO squad, who replaced Patrick “es3tag” Hansen.
Two other NIP players, Aleksi “Aleksib” Virolainen and Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin have been with the team for four and ten months, respectively. The European team is essentially a brand new team who have to make a fresh start once again, which is something k0nfig also acknowledged.
The player himself didn’t have an easy period as well. He was meant to be a substitute for FaZe Clan at BLAST Premier Spring Groups 2023 but was denied the chance at the last minute due to the tournament’s rules.
Luckily for him, NIP brought in into their ranks, and so far this “hectic” and “basic” playstyle has been working. The squad defeated MIBR and Team Spirit in IEM Katowice 2023 play-in stage, advancing to the main event as a result.