NiP to ESL One grand final

LDLC took over the B bombsite to win their terrorist pistol round on de_inferno, and they did the same thing on round four to extend their lead to five rounds on the harder side of the map.

An unsuccessful Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg one-on-two made it 0-6, and after a save NiP took a timeout. NiP won the next round, and Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson's triple kill got them round two.

Two AK-47 kills by Hovik "⁠KQLY⁠" Tovmassian made it 9-2, forcing NiP on a save. Two M4A4 kills by Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström didn't stop LDLC next, as KQLY put in one more, edging LDLC to 11-2.

A force buy from NiP saw Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund wake up with three kills in banana to stop NiP, and two by Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg and friberg's one-on-one made it 4-11.

NiP had the terrorist pistol practically won, but crucial mistakes in a four-on-two after plant allowed Kevin "⁠Uzzziii⁠" Vernel to score three USP-S kills and give LDLC a 12-4 lead.

Uzzziii's USP-S heroics practically sealed de_inferno 

The Swedes' force buy was on the verge of working, but again poor two-on-one play by Xizt and friberg saw Mathieu "⁠Maniac⁠" Quiquerez come out on top in B.

Three kills by Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire made it 14-4, and an aggressive round helped LDLC force game point at 15-4. f0rest and Xizt then took out LDLC to NiP some hope.

LDLC were forced to save, and GeT_RiGhT won a one-on-two in B to break the French bank again. NiP continued abusing B, and were able to force LDLC on another save.

At 10-15 LDLC finally reacted by adjusting their defense, and in a two-on-three in B Fifflaren wasn't able to get the bomb planted in time, with time expiring for GeT_RiGhT for a 10-16 loss.

To start off de_nuke, GeT_RiGhT and Xizt clutched a two-on-four in lower. However, apEX quickly equalized things with a four kill performance, including a one-on-one win.

Maniac won a one-on-one versus NiP's force buy to give LDLC the lead, and after a Swedish save, his team retook the lower site in a three-on-three situation to make it 4-1.

GeT_RiGhT clutched huge rounds for NiP on de_nuke 

Then NiP adjusted. First they executed a clean upper take, followed by a two-health clutch by Fifflaren, an anti-eco win, and a three-health clutch by GeT_RiGhT.

All of a sudden up 6-4, friberg put in four kills to give NiP their sixth straight round before apEX's triple stopped the streak. Two entries by Fifflaren forced LDLC to save weapons after.

Down 5-8, NiP took the upper in the fourteenth round without issues, but were stopped by apEX on the final round, as he cut LDCL's deficit to three round at 6-9.

A triple kill by Xizt on the pistol round allowed NiP to get a comfortable 12-6 lead, and they never looked back on de_nuke. They picked LDCL apart outside on round four.

After a save NiP were up 14-6, and multi-kill rounds first by Xizt and then by friberg finally put the second map to bed at 16-6, forcing de_cobblestone as the decider.

NiP were slaughtered in B to begin the deciding map, but the team's captain and in-game leader Xizt secured a win on an almost hopeless one-on-three next round, in a force buy round.

Xizt won a crucial one-on-three clutch early on in de_cobblestone 

Up 3-1, LDLC put up a brick wall around the map. Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer's double shut down B, and the next three rounds NiP got stopped at both sides, and had to save once as well.

Now 5-3 in favor of the French, a quad kill by apEX on an anti-eco saved LDLC, and they stopped NiP's desperate B rush to win their sixth round in a row, making it 7-3.

After a timeout NiP retaliated, with f0rest scoring three AK-47 kills in B. NiP took over B again slowly next round, and then diverted their attacks to A, with success.

LDLC took a timeout of their own at 6-7, and the combination of apEX and KQLY got them a round, before NiP's slow B attack shifted the momentum to NiP again.

Not having scored a single frag as terrorists, Fifflaren showed up with two big USP-S kills on the pistol round, but the real hero was friberg, who won a one-on-one after plant.

Him and GeT_RiGhT combined for five to shut down B, but LDLC had a flawless round in the site after. f0rest scored three next, and another one-on-one by friberg in A kept NiP in it.

apEX's great performance wasn't enough versus NiP 

Up 10-9, two entries by apEX in the A sidehall cleaned A. NiP went for a force buy, but Happy won a crucial one-on-one versus GeT_RiGhT, forcing NiP on a save.

All of a sudden trailing again at 10-12, an entry by f0rest in A and two M4A4 kills by Xizt in the back of B, followed by a triple by GeT_RiGhT in A, tied the game for NiP again.

After an LDLC save f0rest scored three kills to give NiP a lead, but LDLC's connector attack confused NiP, and easy kills on rotating players got them to 13-14.

LDLC then attacked B with KQLY getting three AK-47 kills, tying the game at fourteen each, with a spot in the grand final and a guaranteed $50,000 on the line.

Two kills by Xizt on a weak buy put NiP ahead by one, and the Swedes secured a spot in their third straight grand final by stopping LDLC's final attack in B for a 16-14 win.

NiP have secured a spot in the grand final of ESL One Cologne 2014, where they will take on fnatic for the grand prize of $100,000. LDLC will have to settle for 3-4th and $22,000.