Ninjas in Pyjamas, FlyQuest and MIBR each announced a roster change between August 28 and September 2, and Ali “hAdji” Haïnouss announced his retirement from professional play, HLTV reported.
Two teams change in-game leader
Ninjas in Pyjamas announced on September 2 the acquisition of German rifler Karim “Krimbo” Moussa on loan from BIG, where he had been benched since October 2025. Krimbo also takes over in-game leadership, stepping into the roster spot left open when Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer was moved to the bench. On BIG's bench, Krimbo played three matches as a stand-in for Liquid at IEM Kraków 2026 Stage 1, beating Ninjas in Pyjamas before losses to G2 and FUT knocked Liquid out.
Krimbo came up through BIG's academy system in March 2022 and stayed with the German organization until his benching, posting a 1.10 rating and reaching the Legends stage at all three Majors he attended between 2022 and 2024. Krimbo's arrival is the second move Ninjas in Pyjamas have made since the start of the summer, after Artem “cairne” Mushynskyi was transferred to fnatic and academy player Roman “n0te” Hamze came up as a stand-in.
FlyQuest announced on September 2 the return of Australian AWPer Alistair “aliStair” Johnston, who was benched in late 2024 and left the team in 2025. He played for SemperFi in March and THUNDER dOWNUNDER in October, reaching the first stage of the IEM Cologne Major with the latter before FlyQuest eliminated them. aliStair takes the AWP and the in-game leader role, freeing Joshua “INS” Potter, who had been the team's statistical leader before taking up the calling duties in 2025.
These players don't need a lot of corrections and direction; they already know how to play the game. It's just about finding that consistent level where we're all playing together, and we all see the game in a very similar way.
In the interim FlyQuest used Iulian “regali” Harjău, who averaged 1.11 over a year, and João “story” Vieira, who posted 1.10 in the first half of 2026 before joining SAW in Portugal. aliStair averaged 1.02 during his previous tenure. He returned in a 2-0 win over NEXVOID in the IEM Beijing 2026 Asia Closed Qualifier.
MIBR sign tomaszin, hAdji steps away
MIBR announced on August 28 the signing of Argentinian rifler Tomas “tomaszin” Corna from BESTIA, confirming an earlier report from Dust2.com.br. He takes the roster place of Breno “brnz4n” Poletto, who was benched after an underwhelming start to the season. tomaszin averaged a 1.16 rating across three years at BESTIA, and was set to debut for MIBR at the IEM Beijing 2026 Closed Qualifier, which began on September 2.
hAdji announced his retirement on September 1, ending a playing career that stretched back to 2015. “After years of dedication and chasing dreams, I've decided to retire as a player,” he wrote on social media, adding that he intends to stay in Counter-Strike and is open to a staff role. He first drew attention on Envy's academy roster before promotion to the senior team in February 2018, and went on to represent organizations including 3DMAX, LDLC, Falcons and Monte. His deepest run at a notable LAN was a 3-4th place finish with Envy at CAC 2018.
After stepping down from 3DMAX in March 2024, hAdji had two spells with Monte and represented DRILLAS before launching the organization-less illwill project with Volodymyr “Woro2k” Veletniuk in October 2025. He last appeared in July as part of the Moroccan team that won the Esports Nations Cup open qualifier alongside Adil “ScreaM” Benrlitom and Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom.