This is Part 2 of "Ragnarok - The Swedish Slump." This is a link to Part 1

After the death of Baldur, the situation in Asgaard got progressively worse. Three winters came without summer. Then, Fenrir, the wolf, swallowed the sun and the moon. Every monster was unleashed unto the world, killing all of the gods. All was seemingly lost, but two people emerged from the ashes and the world began anew.

Although I am certain that Sweden will once again become a top Counter-Strike nation, it is by no means certain how it will look. If the Swedish slump were to end following the Major, this article will muse over the possible ways in which their problems may be solved.

Roster Moves

A    f0rest

A    REZ

A    olofmeister

A    flusha

A    THREAT

A    pyth

A    dennis

A    rain

A    RUBINO

A    Maikelele

B    Golden

B    Jumpy

B    KRiMZ

B    MODDII

B    JW

B    Lekr0

C    znajder

C    jkaem

C    cromen

C    GeT_RiGhT

C    friberg

C    Xizt

C    draken

C    pronax

C    disco doplan

D    twist

D    wenton

D    freddieb

D    Jayzwalkingz

D    pauf

Above is a list of players who are Swedish or have played within the Swedish scene at a high level. Players are given a rank A-D based on their performance within the context of their role in recent memory. In the case of players such as pyth, who haven’t played tier 1 or 2 Counter-Strike for a while, their most recent form at the top level was used to determine rank. Several teams have been created in a variety of scenarios based on likelihood of occurring and to provide multiple options. Not all players were included in the composition of teams for the sake of brevity.

Pure Skill - A

olofmeister

rain

f0rest

REZ

dennis

This would be an entirely skill-based team. Such a team would never be formed, but if it were to be formed and the players were to have some level of chemistry, they would be one of the best teams in the world. Olof, rain, and f0rest would be the stable core of the team while REZ and dennis will be relied on for occasional explosive performances. This team lacks a primary AWPer, but olofmeister can AWP to a high enough level as shown during his tenure on Fnatic. This would be an extension of what G2 is now, and if they were to exist, they would most likely be known for good CT holds and fast and overwhelming bombsite takes.

Balanced Dream - A

olofmeister

rain

dennis

THREAT

REZ

This is basically the same team as before but without f0rest. This team is even more unlikely due to the addition of THREAT, but for what is lost in skill through the recruitment of THREAT is made up in tactical input. Unfortunately, THREAT is no longer able to have the same impact because of the Valve coaching rule, but if he were to play—which he competently did at MLG Columbus—THREAT would be able to have great impact. At IEM Oakland, NiP greatly transformed after pauses, assuredly because of what THREAT had to say during those pauses. Imagine what kind of impact he would have if he could do that every round for the entire round.

A Shot in the Dark - B

pronax

pyth

GeT_RiGhT

JW

jkaem

This line-up is unlikely to have success, but rather, this entry serves to call out the players who have shown either a spark or a great big flash of brilliance in the past and may be able to replicate that in the future. If things are to change in the Swedish scene in the near future, keep these players on your radar for any changes in form.

Plausible upgrade/restructuring of the Swedish scene (top 3 teams)

Team 1 - A

f0rest

RUBINO

Maikelele

dennis

Golden

This set of teams was created for the purpose of improving the Swedish scene as a whole in a realistic way. Let’s face it, olofmeister and rain are not voluntarily leaving FaZe any time soon, but these players do stand a chance of forming these teams. Golden was chosen because he appears to be the best and most upwardly mobile in-game leader in the Swedish scene at the moment. Maikelele, despite not having played in a top tier team since FaZe, has shown himself to be just as good as he was on NiP and FaZe, as well as its precursors, in the few showings he has had since then. RUBINO was one of the best support players when he was playing on Dignitas, and it was a shame to see him go. He has continued to prove his ability, like Maikelele, after having stood in for Astralis. dennis has been a hot player in the Swedish scene for a long time now and has shown no signs of cooling off. f0rest has been instrumental in NiP’s victories during and after their era. He is a reliable and skilled rifler with substantial versatility.

Team 2 - B

KRiMZ

pyth

GeT_RiGhT

REZ

flusha

KRiMZ and GeT_RiGhT would be the team’s stable players. Both, in fact, can hold a bombsite alone while on CT side. Contrary to the stable base of players that this team would be formed upon, REZ would be the team’s major playmaker as he has shown himself capable of being since joining NiP. Although conflicting in role with GeT_RiGhT, flusha would most likely not cause any real friction based on his success in the very loose team of Fnatic. pyth was chosen because he was a very good rifler on NiP when he played for him. His declining performance on NiP only occurred when he was forced to AWP. This team lacks a dedicated AWPer, but the success Dignitas achieved without an AWPer shows it is not required.

Team 3 - C

jkaem

MODDII

friberg

Lekr0

JW

jkaem is not a name referenced very often these days, but at Dreamhack Cluj-Napoca, when FaZe was really based around him, he played quite well and was a major reason for getting FaZe further than ever before in a Major. This hypothetical team would focus on enabling him as a star. MODDII and Lekr0, although not incredibly glamorous players, are known quantities and can be counted on for a good performance. JW, who is just as variable and explosive, does these things effectively on his own. This means he won’t take any attention of the supportive players away from jkaem and will instead attract the attention of opponents who must always be on guard for JW’s antics. The most well-known in-game leader in the Swedish CS:GO scene is pronax, yet he was not chosen. This is because he has not been capable of leading teams effectively or fragging well. friberg, however, has proven himself dedicated to the role and a good fragger at the same time.

Ideally, you would want a tier 2 team, such as this one, to be very variable. This is so that they can pull off a run, as NiP has been known to do, once a year and go deep in a tournament. Even though two players on this team have proven they can go off and carry the game, the height of their explosiveness isn’t great enough to ever justify a prediction for a tier 1 tournament win. But that is not to be expected in the third best Swedish team. Instead, this team would be the equivalent of Sweden’s Heroic.

These potential line-ups were created for the purpose of illuminating strengths and possible avenues for the Swedish Counter-Strike scene to go down. In addition to possible roster moves, there are other ways to improve and reform.

Change from the Outside

There are other solutions to Sweden’s slump that are more feasible than putting three specific, or even loosely based, teams together. Particular changes from sources external to the team can be better relied upon more so than changes directly involving the team. This is epitomized by Cloud9’s unwillingness to remove Skadoodle despite poor performance for years or NiP’s resistance to cutting friberg and even Xizt, who remains on the team to this day. Since I understand the difficulty and unlikelihood of the proposed roster moves from happening, I have decided to include solutions that come from sources outside of the team, such as management and support staff, that are specifically tailored to the problems Sweden faces.

Sweden has always had a very deep talent pool. As explained in the previous article, Sweden in CS:GO does not have the depth that it once had in CS 1.6. Without a proper hierarchy to allow for up-and-coming talent to emerge and obtain requisite training, teams like NiP hold onto decaying talent for too long, thus creating a vicious cycle. Players like friberg, if let go sooner, could have imparted valuable experience to junior members of the Swedish scene, meaning Ninjas in Pyjamas will not have to dig deep and trial replacements that they’re not even sure will work.

One such way of artificially boosting the development of up-and-coming players is through academy teams. Players on their way into tier 1 Counter-Strike have a chance to play with pros on their way out. This way orgs can experiment with new talent for a limited cost and won’t have to be at the mercy of other orgs with the insanely high buyouts that are all too common today. If the A team is good on star players for the moment, the org could make a profit on a young star by selling his contract to another team. With the success of academy-born prospects, such as Golden, organizations will be incentivised by potential profit to get an academy team, thereby increasing the depth and bettering the ecosystem of their Counter-Strike country.

The Swedish scene itself is not structured as well as it once was, and that lack of structure is mirrored in Sweden’s teams. Instead of being a team-based and cohesive unit, Sweden’s best CS:GO team, Fnatic, was based on olofmeister having a good performance most of the time and some of the other players having an occasional explosive performance. Fnatic even trended further away from team-based Counter-Strike when they parted ways with pronax. Although beneficial in the short-term, this move would later bite them in the ass and devastate the Swedish scene since Fnatic was Sweden’s one saving grace at the time.

Realistically, one cannot command Swedish teams to be more team focused and to rely less on stars and then expect them to get better over night. Important figures outside of teams may be able to create change through academy teams. Before moving a player up from the B team to the A team, a player will have already scrimmed with the A team. This does not directly solve the issue of teamplay within Swedish Counter-Strike, something that Swedish teams in 1.6 were known for, but it would give players on the A team more choice and provide an artificial means to solving issues within the team.

Also outside of just depending on players to change how they play together is the option of more support staff. Some coaches in CS:GO are very analytical and can offer game-specific advice. That’s very important and has a place, but a person with Counter-Strike knowledge doesn’t necessarily have knowledge of how to build teamwork and facilitate communication. NiP was a revolving door for players replacing Fifflaren’s old role. Since getting a sports psychologist, NiP has worked through that issue and, by extension, how they welcome new players, which is evident in the way in which they won IEM Oakland. NiP is trending away from being about a specific set of players and is instead more about the greater picture.

Ninjas in Pyjamas has won IEM Oakland two times, and the first time did not mark the coming of a new Swedish era. But does the way in which NiP had won IEM Oakland 2017 indicate a coming renaissance of Swedish Counter-Strike? Is this NiP line-up to Giotto as Giotto was to Renaissance art? Perhaps; perhaps not. There are, however, a number of optimistic indicators that Sweden may return to its past Counter-Strike glory and emerge from the darkness that is the Swedish Slump.

Image credit: Lorenz Frølich, Fnatic

Follow the author for more on Twitter at @Bleda412.