"susp" to step in for "Snappi" at PGL Masters Bucharest

susp to step in for Snappi at PGL Masters Bucharest

Ninjas in Pyjamas will head to PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 without their usual in-game leader, Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer. In his absence, the team will field Tim “susp” Ångström (recently benched at Wildcard) as a stand-in. 

Snappi’s absence is due to a “new addition to the family,” according to the team’s announcement, though no details have been disclosed. The organization did not specify who will take over the IGL duties for the event. 

Background on susp’s return

susp has been out of active competition since July, when he was placed on Wildcard’s transfer list after requesting to explore opportunities abroad.  In his announcement on X (formerly Twitter), he explained:

“I’ve taken some time away from competitive play to focus on some IRL stuff I had to take care of. Now it’s finally time to get back in action and devote my full attention to my career and the game I love more than anything.” 

“My plan is to return to a permanent project from January 2026 and I’m currently exploring the market for offers, so please DM me if you want to get in touch. I'm hungry, sharp and motivated as ever and can’t wait to see you on the server.” 

During his time with Wildcard, susp averaged a 1.05 rating across 189 maps. In that period, the team reached the top-16 in the Perfect World Shanghai Major and placed 9–11th in Stage 1 of the BLAST.tv Austin Major. 

This substitution comes about a month after Ninjas in Pyjamas’ run at StarLadder StarSeries Fall, where they finished as runners-up to Natus Vincere. 

NiP’s roster at Bucharest & wider event context

At PGL Masters Bucharest, NiP will compete with the following lineup:

Rasmus “sjuush” Beck (Denmark)

Artem “r1nkle” Moroz (Ukraine)

Michel “ewjerkz” Pinto (Portugal)

Kacper “xKacpersky” Gabara (Poland)

Tim “susp” Ångström (Sweden, stand-in)

The team’s coach will still be Richard “Xizt” Landström. 

Broader tournament situation & scheduling challenges

PGL Masters Bucharest 2025 is scheduled to run from October 26 to November 1, with 16 teams competing for a prize pool of $1.25 million.  Originally, the event was supposed to end on November 2, which would have clashed directly with the start of IEM Chengdu 2025 (November 3).  To mitigate this, PGL announced a schedule change to shorten the event, creating a two-day buffer between the two tournaments. 

Nevertheless, many top teams declined to attend Bucharest — including big names like Vitality, G2 Esports, and Team Spirit — likely due to the tight scheduling and travel concerns.  Among the VRS top-10, only Aurora Gaming and Astralis accepted invitations to Bucharest. The overlap decision between PGL and ESL has caused friction in the esport scheduling community.

In fact, in his column “Strike #6: A long way from Bucharest to Chengdu”, a PGL-affiliated writer admitted that scheduling the two tournaments so close “became grounds for a proxy war of sorts between the two rival TOs.”