It's confirmed, Damien "HyP" Souville and Enzo "Fearoth" Mestari are no longer holders in the Ninjas in Pyjamas Valorant roster. The team doesn't separate from them, but the two players won't play future NiP competitive games.
Changes seemed to be necessary, as NIP was all too often the red lantern in Europe's Top 4. A role that the team took on all too clearly during the BLAST Invitational where — surprised by both G2's aggressiveness and Liquid's picks — they failed to take a single map.
It's hard to say that Hyp and Fearoth are to blame as all NiP players have been experiencing a rollercoaster performance over the last few weeks. Hyp was certainly absent as his team played their elimination against Liquid on Ascent, but he was one of the players who were holding the boat the day before against G2. Such examples can be found for all the players in the squad.
Charles "CREA" Beauvois, who isn't among the benched players, showed throughout the BLAST Invitational performances below what was seen at LVL Clash2 or the Allied Esports Odyssey.
The issue with NiP is that no player seems to be mechanically lagging behind, so it's hard to point the finger at one and say that he or she is guilty of the group's debacles. Communication and cohesion seem to be lacking and this is the most likely reason why the two Frenchmen were sidelined.
Perhaps Hyp and Fearoth's level of English was lacking. Perhaps it's a problem of agreement between them and other elements... Keep in mind that this is pure speculation, stated while waiting for the players to express themselves more on the reasons for the bench.
To replace them, Saif "Sayf" Jibraeel has already been selected. He comes straight from Bonk, the Swedish team which, although without a sponsor, has produced impressive results in the Ignition Series to the point of being sometimes considered better than NIP (precisely). Egor "chiwawa" Stepanyuk is also reportedly in discussion to become the 5th member of this new ninja squad.
Original content by Augustin "Review" Heliot.
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