Ninjas in Pyjamas 's slim hopes to qualify for the IEM Cologne Major are all but extinguished after a loss to HEROIC put them out of Stake Ranked in 5-6th place.
For HEROIC , the win is a huge step towards their already likely attendance in Cologne, and they can now turn their gaze towards a potential Stage 2 spot should they win the $100k event outright.
After a tough start to 2026 with early exits at BLAST Bounty, IEM Krakow and BLAST Rotterdam, Ninjas in Pyjamas needed to make at least the top three at Stake Ranked to save their season and make the Major, according to VRS expert Mischief .
A big day one win over Gentle Mates opened the door, but losses to GamerLegion and now HEROIC have now ended that dream.
"We've had way too many games we've lost in overtime or 13-11 when we have a million chances to close out." Marco "Snappi" Pfeiffer told HLTV on day one of the event , and that was the case again in Barcelona as they lost two maps 13-11 to GL (after losing all four pistols) and then lost map one against HEROIC 16-14 in overtime.
It's fine margins, but these were games NIP needed to win in order to make the top 17 of the European ranking, and their captain makes no excuses: "We're in the situation we put ourselves in so there's nothing to cry about."
"Episode 15 of us not closing a game on Nuke," Snappi said post-game to Martin "STYKO" Styk in Spain, hitting on the same theme once again. "I would like to say that we are better, because we are always in the games, but we keep losing close games, so then you are not better."
When looking at the season overall, Ninjas in Pyjamas can point to struggles integrating Artem "cairne" Mushynskyi as a vital factor behind their drop-off. After a 1.20 rating in Inner Circle , the Ukrainian rifler has only posted a 1.03 in 2026, just below Michel "ewjerkz" Pinto 's 1.04 on LAN last year . Considering the move was expected to add firepower, not deduct, no wonder Ninjas in Pyjamas have struggled.
The team's journey from 0 VRS points to the Budapest Major in 2025 was a rare post-pandemic success story for the once mighty Swedish organization. But this reversion of form will cause plenty of concern for Björn "THREAT" Pers and the rest of the organization's management, with sharks likely to circle around top prospect Kacper "xKacpersky" Gabara despite his contract being made permanent at the start of the month.