NiP to grand final over Astana

NiP have overcome Astana Dragons 2-1 (16-10 de_inferno_se, 12-16 de_mirage_ce, 16-8 de_dust2_se) to advance to the grand final of DreamHack Bucharest.

The Swedes of Emil "HeatoN" Christensen had a flying start to the best-of-three series, winning five uncontested rounds as counter-terrorists on de_inferno_se, including a four kill performance by Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund in banana.

Yegor "markeloff" Markelov added four kills on the sixth round, but triples from Robin "Fifflaren" Johansson and Alesund pushed their lead to 8-1, with Richard "Xizt" Landström's and Johansson's balcony setup making it 9-1.

Alesund's triple, as Dauren "AdreN" Kystaubayev ran out of time, extended NiP's lead. Markelov scored three on the following round, but Astana were once again unable to get the bomb planted in time.

A failed bombsite B fake made the Dragons' deficit 1-13 on the terrorist side, and Adam "friberg" Friberg added two kills on the final round of the half to secure a devastating 14-1 lead.

NiP and Astana took on each other on the main stage 

Markelov continued impressing in the second half as his three P2000 kills won the CIS based team the pistol round. Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg scored three P250 kills on a save round, but it wasn't enough and NiP opted to save again.

Lindberg then made up for it as his quad kill gave NiP eleven map points to work with in the opener. The former Na`Vi duo put up four frags to keep Astana in the game, and forced the Swedes to save.

Still down 6-15, NiP were completed shut down on the next round, and after another save Ioann "Edward" Sukhariev's triple made it 9-15. Astana wound up getting one more, but Johansson's triple ended de_inferno_se 16-10.

The Ninjas once again started well on de_mirage_ce, with multi-kill rounds from Alesund, Johansson and Landström helping them get a five to nothing lead as counter-terrorists.

Mihail "Dosia" Stolyarov then eliminated the remaining NiP players in a one-on-two but only after they defused the bomb, but Astana finally got on the board with Kirill "ANGE1" Karasiow's quad kill effort.

ANGE1 scored important entries as usual

Facing a 1-6 deficit, Astana started a comeback thanks to well coordinated attacks towards the A bombsite, and a pair of important kills by Sukhariev near the window room.

Johansson was able to win a one-on-two clutch and defuse the bomb to give NiP a 8-6 lead, but his team's defense was once again crippled in the final round as Astana got within one round.

Four frags by Landström and Friberg secured NiP another pistol round, but a double from Markelov helped Astana upset the favorites on a save round, kick starting another comeback.

Landström's entries tied the game at ten, but Alesund's triple wasn't enough as the Dragons got their first lead in the entire series at 11-10. NiP's struggles continued as they lost three more rounds in a row, including a triple from Markelov's M4A1-S.

The world's number one team hung around for two more rounds, including three AK47 kills by the squad's captain, but a retake win in B and Stolyarov's two kills in A secured Astana a 16-12 victory.

The two giants meeting drew a big crowd in Bucharest 

Deciding map de_dust2_se started with Lindberg chipping in a triple and an assist, as his team once again, for the third time in this series, cruised to a comforting 5-0 early lead.

Astana had no answers to NiP's terrorist play on the map, only winning the seventh round in the first twelve rounds of play before an aggressive middle push gave Karasiow's team their second round.

Stolyarov added three kills from his M4A4 barrel to keep Astana in the game at 3-11, but they were unable to ride the momentum to the final round, and had to surrender to a 3-12 deficit.

Karasiow saved Astana on the second pistol round with a one-on-two in the B site, and his two entry kills at long on the fourth round saw the Dragons quickly jump to a 5-0 lead of their own.

From there it was all downhill though, as Landström's auto sniper mowed the Kazakhstani backed team down and Friberg's one-on-two flank extended NiP's lead to 15-8, just a round away from their ultimate 16-8 win.

NiP will face the winner of Lemondogs versus Natus Vincere in the DreamHack Bucharest grand final, set to start soon after the other semi-final finishes. Astana finish 3-4th.