NiP win Swedish Championship 2013

NiP have triumphed in the Swedish Championship grand final, defeating Epsilon after a big battle 2-1 (11-16 on de_inferno_se, 16-10 on de_train_se and 16-6 on de_dust2_se), earning a cheque for 100,000 SEK (around $15,500).

The two best Swedish teams according to the previous stages of the tournament, NiP and Epsilon, met in the grand final of Swedish Championship (also known as Esport SM). The stake was 100,000 SEK (~$15,500) for the winner, while the loser would end up with only 40% of that amount.

The match started on de_inferno_se with Epsilon on the harder side – as Terrorists. Despite their solid play earlier in the day, it looked as if the Ninjas copied their performance from last night's clash with Publiclir.se, buying early and stubbornly refusing to have an eco round.

Epsilon took full advantage of their opponent's lack of fire power and the economic disadvantage, and went up 8-0 until NiP finally got on board and won five of the final seven rounds.

Richard "Xizt" Landström's team seemed to be back in the game by taking the pistol round, but Robin "flusha" Rönnquist scored 4 headshots in the B bombsite with his P250 in the following eco round to turn the tides once again.

Epsilon had plenty of reasons to celebrate during the first map

Epsilon quickly went up 14-8 and routinely brought the map to a close 16-11, winning all the important rounds until the end.

After a short break, the action moved to de_train_se where Epsilon continued with their great play and went up 3-0, and then 5-1 after dropping the first buy round as T. However, NiP snapped that streak thanks to a 1-on-2 by Landström with a picked up Glock during an eco and the Ninjas never looked back, taking 7 of the next 8 rounds for a 9-6 lead.

Xizt with another key clutch for NiP at this event

The score got close again after Epsilon won the second pistol round, but NiP took the first buy and hung onto their lead. Rönnquist had a couple of chances to save Epsilon with some clutches, but firstly Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund stood in his way by cleverly moving behind him, and then time simply wasn't on his side as his defuse attempt came less than a second too late, making the score 15-10. The map was obviously lost at that point and the younger and less experienced Swedes had to turn the other cheek and move on to map three.

de_dust2_se started with NiP on the T-side and they finally started a map by winning the first pistol round. Nevertheless, Epsilon responded in the first buy with their double AWP setup featuring Wecksell and Rönnquist, who was later replaced by Andreas "schneider" Lindberg and they brought the score all the way around and took a 4-3 lead.

NiP didn't take too long to catch on though, and the game once again changed direction with with Ninjas taking 5 in a row. The half still went down to the wire, and with the score standing at 8-6 Alesund handled yet another 1-on-1 for 9-6.

After winning the second pistol, it was apparent that NiP have finally broken their opponents whose tank was left empty and they dominated the remaining rounds to clinch the map 16-6 and win the trophy belonging to the Swedish champions.

NiP with their Swedish Championship 2013 trophy and medals

Swedish Championship 2013 final standings

1. NiP – 100,000 SEK (~$15,500)
2. Epsilon – 40,000 SEK (~$6,200)
3-4. Publiclir.se – 20,000 SEK (~$3,100)
3-4. Lemondogs – 20,000 SEK (~$3,100)
5-7. gosu – 5,000 SEK (~$800)
5-7. Refuse – 5,000 SEK (~$800)
5-7. Infused – 5,000 SEK (~$800)