Ninjas in Pyjamas announced this week that they were dropping support for their long-standing Finnish Overwatch roster, despite the team’s position in Contenders and their active roster change process. The latest of those changes sees ex-Cyclowns player Davin move into the starting roster for Rest in Pyjamas, playing this weekend in the second half of the double round robin groups.

Davin is highly rated for his Tracer play, which he showcased on Cyclowns as they rose through the ranks in Europe. After crushing small but highly competitive online tournaments repeatedly, Cyclowns proved themselves as a top team with excellent talent. They were hit with roster catastrophe just before their first major LAN and recently disbanded after a poor showing with replacements in Contenders Group D.

With the Cyclowns players now all free agents, teams have been snapping them up. Davin is confirmed to be playing with RiP in the Contenders games later this week, while flex destro has been seen trialling for Movistar Riders and Lucio CrusaDe is on the Contenders roster page for Laser Kittenz.

The timing is fortuitous for Rest in Pyjamas. They have been struggling in the recent dive patches and missed the individual talent that fit the ‘meta’ heroes. zappis has been the sole dedicated DPS player on the team since their rise, flexing across a huge number of heroes, while Hymzi and mafu did not naturally fit into the D.Va or DPS roles in vogue.

Rest in Pyjamas added LiNkzr on trial just before the Contenders qualifiers, after Finland’s gift to esports - and zappis’ housemate - was made a free agent following the fall of Dignitas. The team were unsure of whether he should replace mafu or Hymzi, with both former players swapped in and out to try out the D.Va / Soldier: 76 role.

With LiNkzr coming in, RiP changed their style completely away from Reinhardt-centric compositions to the triple DPS or Winston and D.Va dive. It was a massive style shift for RiP and the team looked to still be finding their footing in the group stage as they slipped into third place.

Adding Davin into the team gives them a phenomenal Tracer, though zappis was no slouch, and crucially frees zappis up to use his talents in the flex role on Soldier: 76 and D.Va. The hero pools synergise well and still allow RiP to move back to Reinhardt comps if the map lends itself to tanks, with LiNkzr fluidly able to shift between Genji and Roadhog.

With an all-new DPS duo that should work excellently together and a little more natural aptitude on the heroes currently in vogue on the flex role, Rest in Pyjamas are looking better equipped to overtake Vivi’s Adventure or Team Singularity for a playoff spot in Contenders.

With no organisation to pin the players to any obligations, the team is quite open-minded towards their future roster. They aim to play with LiNkzr and Davin this week and simply move on from there depending on the results.

The Contenders roster for Rest in Pyjamas is now:

  • Tuomo "Davin" Leppänen (DPS)
  • Jiri "LiNkzr" Masalin (DPS)
  • Joonas "zappis" Alakurtti (Flex)
  • Joona "fragi" Laine (Tank)
  • Antti "kyynel" Kinnunen (Support)
  • Aleksi "Zuppehw" Kuntsi (Support)
  • Lauri "mafu" Rasi (Substitute)
  • Kalle "hymzi" Honkala (Substitute)