NiP win CS Forever: London

Ninjas in Pyjamas have won their first title of 2014 by defeating fnatic in the final of CS Forever: London (16-12 on de_inferno, 16-7 on de_mirage), earning themselves $1,500.

To commemorate fnatic CS:GO team's visit to the organization's office in London, UK, a minor winner-takes-all $1,500 tournament was hosted online. Aside from the DreamHack Winter champions it featured their big Swedish rivals NiP, as well as local team Infused and former Astana Dragons lineup.

friberg & f0rest put in MVP-worthy performances during NiP's first 2014 triumph

Infused, formerly known as TeamCRG, were at the Meltdown eSports bar in London together with fnatic, and they opened the tournament with a semi-final match against NiP.

The Brits ended up having to play with a stand-in Brandon "weber" Weber, as their newest recruit Ben "b3n" Wood was unable to come to the venue. They didn't fare well against NiP, who were playing from their homes, and they lost two maps convincingly, 16-2 on de_inferno and 16-1 on de_mirage.

The other semi-final clash between fnatic and ASD (ex-Astana) was much more interesting with the teams splitting the first two maps, de_inferno went to fnatic 16-10 and de_nuke to ASD with the same result. Third map de_mirage was even closer, but in the end the Swedes managed to overcome home-bound ASD 16-12 and advance to the repeat of the DreamHack Winter final.

fnatic didn't repeat their DH Winter performance

Starting on de_inferno, NiP took a 10-5 lead on the CT side, and even though fnatic drew closer at 11-9, Adam "friberg" Friberg's strong T-side play helped the Ninjas prevail 16-12.

They continued playing great on de_mirage, taking a 10-3 Terrorist side lead before fnatic brought the last two round back for another 10-5 score at half time. Markus "pronax" Wallsten's team had another window for a comeback after winning the second pistol round, but they then ran into a trap at the B-bombsite, falling victim to Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg's CZ75 and AK47, losing an anti-eco round for 11-6.

It was practically match over at that point, as the Ninjas strolled to a 16-7 victory to collect their $1,500 cheque and defeat fnatic for the second time in a row after their loss in Jönköping.

fnatic	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating1.0
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW	39 - 41	-2	-	-	0.95
Robin 'flusha' Rönnquistflusha	36 - 39	-3	-	-	0.93
Andreas 'znajder' Lindbergznajder	35 - 35	0	-	-	0.89
Jonatan 'Devilwalk' LundbergDevilwalk	21 - 40	-19	-	-	0.61
Markus 'pronax' Wallstenpronax	20 - 39	-19	-	-	0.57

CS Forever: London final standings:

1. NiP - $1,500
2. fnatic
3-4. ASD
3-4. Infused

Both teams will now turn their attention to preparations for EMS One Katowice, although they are also participating in SLTV StarSeries IX and ESEA Invite Season 16 so they will be seen in action a few more times before Poland.

Statistics from this event have been processed and you can find them here, while the demos will be uploaded as soon as possible. VOD of the entire tournament can be found over at FACEIT's Twitch channel.