Ninjas in Pyjamas refurbish Dota 2 roster after a season of uneven results
Ninjas in Pyjamas have injected new blood into their Dota 2 lineup, replacing Oliver “Skiter” Lepko with Jason “TANNER” Weedon. Nico “Gunnar” Lopez will be taking over Skiter’s duties as carry, while TANNER will pick up the slack in NiP’s mid lane.
Following a six-month stint with Infamous Gaming, Skiter joined NiP in September, replacing Marcus “Ace” Hoelgaard as carry for the Swedish squad. Since then, NiP has experienced a spate of inconsistent results. Their strongest performance this fall came in Rotterdam, where they defeated Team Liquid and Demon Slayers to achieve a third-place finish at the DreamLeague Season 12 finals. Unfortunately for NiP, this achievement was followed by the team’s failure to make top four at both ESL One Hamburg 2019 and DOTA Summit 11.
Despite this disappointing end to the season, NiP and Skiter appear to be parting on good terms. “We would like to thank Oliver for his time in Ninjas in Pyjamas,” wrote a NiP representative. “Good luck with your future career as a professional Dota 2 player and remember; once a Ninja, always a Ninja.”
“Thank you, Oliver, for your earnest effort,” added NiP captain Peter “ppd” Dager, “and best of luck with your future teams.”
Skiter’s replacement, TANNER, is a British player with relatively little experience at the top level of professional Dota. Prior to signing with NiP, he spent a month on the roster of Vikin.gg, with whom he participated in qualifiers for DreamLeague Season 13 and WePlay! Bukovel Minor 2020.
Vikin.gg didn’t make it into the Bukovel Minor, falling to the newly-formed team Nigma in the final of their qualifier. But TANNER will get to participate in the minor after all; it’s the next event on NiP’s schedule. Until then, the Swedish team will be bootcamping in their Stockholm headquarters—and hoping to achieve more consistent results in 2020.
Image via Ninjas in Pyjamas
