k0nfig joins NIP as hampus goes on break

Ninjas in Pyjamas have announced that Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser will take a break from competition for "the rest of the spring season."

Ninjas in Pyjamas have unveiled that they have signed Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke to a long-term contract. The Dane comes in to replace hampus, who will take the rest of the spring season off due to health reasons.

"Hampus has spent the last few days consulting with our performance director Troels and medical professionals, and we've agreed that he needs a break from competition," a statement from the organization reads. "In order to ensure that he has the time and space needed to get well, Hampus will take the rest of the spring season off with our full support."

hampus takes sudden leave for the first part of the 2023 season

The news hits after hampus unexpectedly left amidst Ninjas in Pyjamas's campaign at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups after just two matches due to "unforeseen personal circumstances." Young Ninjas member Max "⁠maxster⁠" Jansson has stepped in for him at the Copenhagen event.

It comes as a big surprise after Ninjas in Pyjamas seemed to have the roster set in stone for the foreseeable future following the signing of a new AWPer, Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov, in the winter tournament break. In interviews with HLTV.org earlier this month, Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen shared his hopes that the team "aren't going to have any changes for a while" and Chief Operating Officer Jonas "⁠calc⁠" Gundersen built up expectations for the new team for 2023.

"Plan the year, say it out loud, and watch it change after 2 games," calc said on Twitter following the announcement of k0nfig's addition. "There's a silver lining, though. We just started the season and are still getting headtr1ck introduced, and k0nfig is a great player who fits the team well."

k0nfig parted ways in Astralis in October in the aftermath of a highly-publicized altercation, which resulted in the Dane getting injured and missing out weeks of action including qualifiers for the IEM Rio Major, where the team was unsuccessful.

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Since then k0nfig stood in for Heroic at the BLAST Premier World Final late last year. The Dane was also meant to step in for FaZe as a replacement for Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard at the BLAST Premier Spring Groups, until the tournament organizers controversially rejected the replacement at the last minute due to k0nfig being registered as part of Heroic's official roster for the event.

k0nfig now joins Ninjas in Pyjamas at a time when their BLAST campaign is still underway, though he won't be able to play in Copenhagen, where the team is on the brink of elimination and requires two wins in a row to qualify for the Spring Final. k0nfig's debut will come at IEM Katowice, which Ninjas in Pyjamas will begin in the Play-in stage with an opening match against MIBR on Wednesday, February 1 at 12:15 .

Ninjas in Pyjamas have:

Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner
Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin
Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen
Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov
Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke

Daniel "⁠djL⁠" Narancic (coach)

Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser (inactive)
Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen (inactive)