Karim “Krimbo” Moussa spoke to HLTV after Ninjas in Pyjamas opened 1win Private Club Season 1 with a 2:0 victory over 3DMAX, discussing how he became the team’s new IGL, what he wants to change in the NIP playstyle and how the roster is approaching the PGL Singapore Major qualification race.
This is only the second LAN for Krimbo as an in-game leader following the benching of Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer.
Krimbo became IGL after a quick decision
Krimbo revealed that NIP had already approached him several months earlier about joining as a regular anchor and lurker, but the move did not happen.
When the organization returned with another offer, assistant coach DuDe raised the possibility of Krimbo becoming the IGL instead. Krimbo said the role had already been something he wanted to try later in his career, but the opportunity arrived much earlier than expected.
“I for sure considered it, and I wanted to be an IGL sooner or later. But it just was randomly where they asked, and I just wanted to take this opportunity and come back to the server. Nothing in life works as planned.”
Krimbo had previously called before joining the main BIG roster and said that experience helped him develop a broader understanding of the game. He believes being an IGL forces players to think beyond their own positions and gives them a better view of how the full round develops.
Krimbo wants NIP to play with more freedom
One of the biggest changes Krimbo wants to introduce is a less rigid approach.
He praised Snappi and the success he had during his career, but said the previous NIP system relied too heavily on set plays and straightforward execution. Krimbo wants to introduce more defaults and create more room for players to contribute ideas during rounds.
“I think with the team we have right now, they were playing too set and too straightforward, and there wasn’t much room for players also to share their ideas or play. They didn’t play a lot of defaults, let’s put it like this.”
Krimbo also said his time at BIG gave him experience with the opposite problem, when a team can become too dependent on default-heavy play. He wants to find a balance between structure and freedom with NIP.
NIP are still “far from perfect”
The current NIP lineup has had only around a week and a half of proper practice together, and Krimbo admitted the team is still early in the development of its system.
He said NIP do not yet have a deep playbook and he is still learning how some teammates prefer to approach specific situations, including clutch scenarios. Despite that, Krimbo does not want the limited preparation time to become an excuse for losing.
“We obviously know that nothing is perfect right now. Far from perfect. And we have only had one and a half weeks of practice. So we also accept that. But obviously we don’t say, ‘Okay, we didn’t have max practice. It’s okay to lose.’”
Krimbo also said he is not focused on constantly calculating the chances of NIP qualifying for PGL Singapore Major 2026. Instead, the team is concentrating on practice, winning matches and making the most of the current situation.
NIP started 1win Private Club Season 1 with a 2:0 victory over 3DMAX and are scheduled to face SINNERS next.
