hampus: "This is the lineup I want to see us keep going with"

"I'm going for the final, man," a confident Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser told HLTV after securing a spot in the Champions stage.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have secured their spot in the Major's playoffs after going 3-1 in the Legends stage, where their only defeat came at the hands of Natus Vincere in the 2-0 pool. "Losing in the groups? We don't want to do that, you know? So we push through," hampus said in regards to Ninjas in Pyjamas's consistent playoff runs after beating FURIA to secure their appearance at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.

The Swedish team's in-game leader also took some time to talk about the swift qualification for the next stage of the tournament, Ninjas in Pyjamas's evolution with the addition of Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin and Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen moving to the AWP, the core of the team being a perennial playoff contender, and their goals for the Champions stage.

You're through, 3-1. Very in control of the match against FURIA, especially after the very strong Nuke and seven rounds on the T side of Inferno. Did you expect to do that well in that series?

Yeah, I would say we expected to be in control, to be honest. We played Inferno super good against NAVI yesterday until we planted the bomb and then we forgot how to play, almost. There was at least four or five rounds we should have won and they would have had to eco and things like that. It should have been ours, or at least much closer. Then the Mirage comeback gave us confidence, we showed that we can be good with this lineup since it's our only second LAN event.

We were feeling hot, feeling confident, and we knew they'd pick Nuke so we made a good game plan, followed it, and it worked out really well on the CT side. Then on Inferno we just believed in our Inferno, that we're the better team on that map if we just play well, keep it calm and do our stuff. We had some prep, of course, but if we did what we said we would do, we should win, and we did it.

Regarding what you said about this being your second LAN as a team. you've been making a lot of roster changes with players coming in and out but you still manage to consistently be a play-off team. How are you able to do that?

We just have good players, you know? Even if we swap one or two players we still have a really good core that I would say is ready to win. We just needed to find the final pieces, with Brollan, for example. He's the perfect fit for us. Me, Plopski, REZ, we've been in this team for so long now, we know each other really well inside of the game, out of the game, all of that. Us three, as a core, we just have this, we make playoffs most of the times. Losing in the groups? We don't want to do that, you know? So we push through.

How important is it going to be to get a solid lineup in order to make championship runs, to make the grand finals and win trophies?

It's very important to have a stable five and now I think we have a very good five. This is the lineup I want to see us keep going with. We've been smacking it here thus far, only losing to NAVI — they're not ranked first in the world anymore but I would still say they're probably the best team in the world — and we gave them a really good fight.

We just need a little bit more time, we've only practiced for four weeks in total with this lineup. We changed some roles, es3tag is on the AWP, Plopski a bit more lurking now with Brollan. But yeah, I think having a stable lineup is something you need if you really want to win a lot of tournaments and I believe that we're on a really good path right now.

You've had a couple of months with djL as your coach and THREAT as the head coach. Tell me a bit about how this structure has evolved.

It's djL and THREAT, and me of course, we work together, all three of us. THREAT is now more of like an analyst, you could say, he does a lot of the hard prep. For example, me and djL and THREAT will talk, I'll ask for a tactic in which we do this and this, and then I just need THREAT to perfect it. Same with djL, they're both really smart for the game.

Having djL behind us is very nice because he's a people person. He doesn't just stand there and say 'let's go guys,' he really knows what buttons to press, if you can say it like that. That's something we really needed, THREAT lacked it a bit, but now we have them both and it's perfect.

A lot of people doubted whether you'd make it to the playoffs, it seemed like a lot of pick-ems didn't have you going through. Why do you think there's this perception that you're not a playoff team?

I think the CS community just has such a short memory. Before this tournament we played the BLAST Showdown and lost to Astralis 16-1, but everyone forgot that we played the RMR and qualified straight to the Legends stage. So people just had a short memory. We took that personally and I think it showed.

How is it having the best Danish AWPer?

It's amazing, man!

Jokes aside, es3tag has really been showing up. How has it been, incorporating him into the AWP role and getting it to work out?

It's been good. He had a slow start, of course, but there are a lot of new things for him. Going from being the lurker to an AWPer is a huge difference. As an AWPer he has to communicate a lot more and things like this. djL and THREAT have been working with him a lot, I think, and he's just been getting better day by day.

The practice we had between now and the RMR was huge and he played super well. I just hoped that he would keep it up during the Major and he came in hot. It's his first Major and he's super hyped. It's what he wanted to do his whole career and I'm super happy to see him play this well.

Confidence must be running high now in the team. Where do you see yourselves heading into the playoffs?

We're going to the final! That's the plan and I hope we can do it. I won't be sad if we make the semis because last time we lost in the quarter-finals, so at least one step better. But I'm going for the final, man!