Ninjas in Pyjamas finalize CS2 roster with cairne

On Sunday, January 11, Ninjas in Pyjamas announced the arrival of Artem “cairne” Mushynskyi, who finalizes the new-look Counter-Strike 2 roster ahead of the 2026 season.

Cairne joins Ninjas in Pyjamas as a replacement for Michel “ewjherkz” Pinto, who was benched from the active lineup in December.

The 23-year-old is the first new player to put on NiP’s jersey since Kacper “xKacpersky” Gabara, who joined the Swedish squad in July on a loan.

Cairne arrives at Ninjas in Pyjamas from Inner Circle Esports as a part of the takeover of TEAM NEXT LEVEL. The latter was the Ukrainian player’s first professional team of his career after competing for DASH in various European online events.

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  The bookies' bookie

During his stay at TNL and Inner Circle, cairne has not found much success in the upper echelons of competitive Counter-Strike, with just six low-tier tournament titles to his name. His most notable accomplishments were reaching the finals of CCT Season 3 European Series #5 and Galaxy Battle 2025 Phases 1 and 4.

However, despite the lack of big titles, cairne has stood out individually, averaging a 1.20 performance rating over 291 maps played throughout the 2025 season.

He will now have a chance to take a step up in his career, joining Ninjas in Pyjamas, who aim to reclaim their position as one of the Tier-1 teams in the coming season after a promising end to the year.

After struggling to find traction in bigger events throughout most of the year, Ninjas in Pyjamas successfully qualified for StarLadder Budapest Major, where they made it through Stage 1 and came just one game short of reaching Stage 3 with defeats against 3DMAX, PARIVISION, and FaZe Clan.

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  Fast Payouts

Ninjas in Pyjamas will debut their new roster on Tuesday, January 13, in the online stage of BLAST Bounty Winter.

According to the top Counter-Strike 2 betting sites, NIP are among the heavy favorites to win the event, priced at +6600 , behind Astralis at +5000 and PARIVISION at +4000 .

The reigning Major champions, Team Vitality, are billed as the team to beat in the opening S-Tier tournament of the 2026 CS2 season, at +175 , ahead of FURIA at $3.25, Team Falcons at +300 , and Team Spirit at +375 .