NiP have now given themselves the firepower that they really needed. When Threat came in he worked with Xizt to integrate a more disciplined, strategy based game plan as opposed to the loose ridged, aim reliant system that they had been used to for the entirety of their lineup. Previously, as the rest of the scene caught up with skill, NiP lost that edge and began to look really unreliable. I remember that they would often be poor on anti-ecos and generally seemed lost with their mid round strategy and utilizing the map and gained information to their advantage. Although this improved with threat, and they seemed better in regards to set executes, it would seem that they would often lose rounds due to poor co-ordination mid execute and post plant. With Rez and Draken, arguably two of the best rising stars in the game atm, they seem to have the firepower to match what they needed since Get_right and, to a lesser extent, f0rest could no longer be relied upon to put up the huge number which would win NiP tournaments back in the day (although f0rest has been amazing lately).
While I agree that Rez and Draken brang NiP a certain fire-power more importantly this move brang them a dedicated awper which wouldn't be put to blame after a certain lack of results and this came obviously with parting ways with Friberg even though it broke the heart of numerous NiP fans, mine included. Rez coming into place, the debuts of this line-up have certainly been encouraging but nothing more than encouraging, lets be honest. It will take way more to see how this team works and how they will react to their first disappointing results / loses, which shouldn't be long to come with the high and fluctuating level of the scene.
One thing which has to be mentionned though and which is highlighted simply because it is a fairly wrong statement in a bunch of very interesting and valid points you've made, is that even when they were heavily struggling (mainly with Pyth but also a bit with Draken), NiP has always seemed to be extremly cautious with anti-eco rounds, not taking much risks and working together to avoid being caught off-guard. Obviously they lost some still but its a strenght they were capable to rely on even in their darker times.
Having said that, NiP still seem to be poor whilst executing onto a site which really kills their game plan a lot of the time with them being very heavy teamwork focused. One of the best plays that they seem to have come up with in their hiatus from top level cs was their A site Mirage execute which, instead of smoking the common stairs. ct and jungle, they threw their smokes shallower into the site so as to create a wall of smokes which gave them the default plant without having to risk angles from connector and Jungle. I thought this was great but obviously with this sort of execute time is key as it needs to be performed within enough time to get a plant and be in post plant positions by the time the smokes dissipate. This is something which NiP struggled with and I think this is really showing how the loss of threat's mid round calling to the valve coach rule has really stumped them. Definitely something they need to work on.
I won't talk much about their executes as I don't think they differ a lot from the others teams' executes (of their level) and this is not an aspect of their game I've really paid attention to however the rest of your point makes sense. That being said, the situation you're describing is one among a thousands though and executes can be done in many various ways. If Threat can no longer call a strategic execute mid-rounds like he used to do, that's something they should normaly easily being able to discuss in-between their games, during praccs and boot-camps so that Xitz can implement it into his lead.
Although that is a pretty big problem and needs to be fixed before they can challenge the upper echelons, NiP have certainly improved. Their cache game is amazing. I love the way they utilize Draken as a dynamic awp, moving between both sites and mid depending on the flow of the round. I think they perfectly mix solid site holds with surprise CT aggression to make their own ct really unpredictable. With Draken's pushes towards squeaky and their double and sometimes triple pushes into main, it really catches other teams off guard, as it did to EnvyUs and Dreamhack Valencia.
Yes they have improved but yet again we've seen too few so that it is possible to make an accurate judgement on what they're gonna be up to. Their good results against good teams have been on Cache and Cache only and they appeared someone limited on other maps even though it was totaly understandable for their first event togethers. Rez was rather impressive and as I too like the way Draken seems to be used within the team, being given a certain amount of freemdom but smartly used to this extend That's definetly promising.
At DreamHack Open Valencia, we saw more maps from them but against teams of arguably same standards as them such as EnvyUs and Heroic, except those two had a bunch of fairly dissapointing results lately and don't have this enthousiasm NiP can have to have their debuts with a new line-up nor this refreshing atmosphere new blood can inspire. I'm glad they can play Inferno well against Red Reverse, but I highly doubt they will meet the same level of sucess against team like Immortals, G2 or others (not to mention SK, Astralis, BIG etc ..). As for many things, time only will tell.
Overall NiP are developing really well and I hope to see them continue that. CT sides are really solid and the new additions are working really well and seem to understand their roles within the team perfectly. Once they perfect T side executes within their system I think that coupled with their talent pool will be a scary prospect for even the championship winning teams like SK, Astralis and Faze.
I agree NiP are doing well so far but as I said, we have only saw them at two events with this line up so far and these results (especially Valencia) have to be taken with a certain perspective when you look at the other teams attending. It will take time if NiP can even think about coming back to a level close to the top (I mean, top 5-6) and more importantly, maintain themselves within such top.
Yes the new additions seem to understand their role quite well but what's going to be interesting to see (and what I will look at) is how the team itself is going to react when the first disappointing results are going to happen. I'm not convinced NiP has a really deep map-pool at the moment and I believe this might be put into lights in the next event. At the moment, they're not anywhere close to be a real contender for teams like SK, Astralis or Faze and I wouldn't be surprised to see them struggling against teams which also have their own problems like G2 or Cloud9.
DreamHack Malmo will be their first real test. There are 42 days which is way enough time to get a decent preparation. They will be at home, and probably crowd's heavy favorite. But the event will be also stacked with a hell lot of Tier 1 and Tier 2 teams which won't make their task easy. I hope their personal relationship with DH Malmo will help them reproduce their old performance and win an event where they won't be seen as top contenders. But I'm not getting carried away just yet, it will take me a few more times.
In any case, don't be too disoriented by the abrupt tone of my answers. I really liked the way you structured your essay and your arguments (even those I disagree with) make sense and are backed up with facts which is always enjoyable and interesting to read. I've personally been a NiP fan since I've started watching/playing CS and I have a lot of emotions and heavy feelings related to this team. But they have also disappointed me more than I could remember which is why I still need time before imagining them at the top of the world again.
But what an amazing feeling it would be.
