NiP win ESL One Cologne 2014

NiP attacked A on their terrorist pistol round of de_cobblestone, but after trading knife kills lost the round. They dropped an AK for round two, but lost and had to save, going down 0-3.

Three kills by Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist weren't enough to win the first round as a poor peek by Markus "⁠pronax⁠" Wallsten allowed NiP to win. Next round Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg scored four kills to win the round.

After two rounds lost to peeking too much with little time left to plant the bomb, fnatic were forced to save, allowing NiP to tie the score at 3-3 before fnatic won a round  back.

Two kills by pronax and flusha made it 4-3, two by Olof "⁠olofmeister⁠" Kajbjer forced NiP to save, and a pair by both him and Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell extended fnatic's lead to 7-3.

After a save round, olofmeister made it 9-3, winning fnatic their sixth in a row, before Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund woke up from sleep to score three rare AWP kills for a round.

GeT_RiGhT brought out the AWP on de_cobblestone 

NiP ran out of time on the following round despite Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg's four kills, and JW put in two kills in the connector area to give the black and orange an 11-4 lead.

GeT_RiGhT and f0rest put in two kills each in connector to win NiP pistol, and they stopped fnatic's A push on round three. After a save fnatic were shut down in B, making it 9-11.

Robin "⁠Fifflaren⁠" Johansson scored three AWP kills to get NiP within one, and friberg's one-on-two tied the game. f0rest and GeT_RiGhT put NiP up, and the latter with friberg made it 13-11.

f0rest put up two more kills flanking from tower to give NiP round fourteen, Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström and GeT_RiGhT got them game point, and friberg closed the map 16-11.

After Fifflaren's two kills won NiP the terrorist pistol round, the tide turned quickly. fnatic force bought and won the next round, but two kills by friberg and GeT_RiGhT made it 2-1 for NiP.

flusha won fnatic a ton of big rounds 

fnatic went for yet another force buy, and two kills from flusha's CZ-75 tied the game. He added two AK-47 kills to give fnatic the lead, which was extended by JW's quad kill against a save.

olofmeister scored three important kills in a B retake, while flusha shut down the site next round together with Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson for a 6-2 lead. NiP saved, and were next taken down by flusha and olofmeister.

Down 2-8, f0rest got boosted in middleand scored two entry frags, giving his team a round. However, olofmeister quickly reset NiP's money with two openings, followed by two by KRIMZ flanking the vent.

NiP won one more round, thanks to two AK-47 kills by GeT_RiGhT and friberg, but fnatic's JW put up a four kill AWP round to finish the half strong, top of the scoreboard and 11-4.

The Ninjas looked to make a comeback in the second half as they gained a four-on-two advantage on the pistol round, but pronax and KRIMZ, the latter who scored three kills, won the round.

KRiMZ made some big plays to win de_cache 

pronax and olofmeister feasted on the coming save rounds, and a successful A hit that saw flusha and the in-game leader pronax get two kills each forced map point at 15-4.

NiP won four rounds, including a one-on-two, a triple with one-on-one, and a double by their in-game leader Xizt, but ultmiately a triple by KRIMZ closed de_cache out 16-8.

GeT_RiGhT started strong on de_inferno, the decider, by scoring four Glock kills. However, a triple by flusha allowed to fnatic to once again win a force buy, and this time they survived NiP's attempt at it.

Up 4-1, pronax got two kills in the A pit that stopped NiP's attack. Following a save round, friberg scored an ace. Bomb exploded next round, despite five kills combined by JW and olofmeister.

GeT_RiGhT added insult to injury with an important one-on-three clutch, and he tied the game shortly after, before JW's risky apartment push netted him three kills, and fnatic the round.

At 6-5 flusha scored three kills from A pit with his M4A1-S, and after NiP's save round the Ninjas were stopped by JW, whose aggressive play in banana got him two early kills.

GeT_RiGhT's strong play secured him a major title in CS:GO 

Final round saw NiP attack the A bombsite with low money, but after getting entry kills turn a three-on-three into a win, as KRIMZ couldn't clutch the one-on-two.

With a 9-6 lead, fnatic were still in it, and flusha's three Glock kills put them to 10. Three P90 kills by olofmeister won round two, but NiP's CZ-75 stack then won them a round.

Doubles by the two superstars, GeT_RiGhT and f0rest, forced fnatic on a save. Once equipped, they secured a round in B, but were stopped in A, breaking their economy completely.

After one save fnatic were only down by one, and an unsuccessful after plant in B saw NiP tie the game at twelve. flusha once more played the hero, giving fnatic their final lead with three kills on a mid-to-B split.

Then it was NiP's game. Fifflaren's three M4A4 kills tied the game, fnatic were forced to save, and f0rest's double game them two tournament points, which they used to win 16-13.

ESL One Cologne 2014 final standings:

1. NiP - $100,000
2. fnatic - $50,000
3-4. dignitas - $22,000
3-4. LDLC - $22,000
5-8. Virtus.pro - $10,000
5-8. Cloud9 - $10,000
5-8. Epsilon - $10,000
5-8. Na`Vi - $10,000
9-12. HellRaisers - $2,000
9-12. Titan - $2,000
9-12. iBUYPOWER - $2,000
9-12. Copenhagen Wolves - $2,000
13-16. dAT - $2,000
13-16. Vox Eminor - $2,000
13-16. London Conspiracy - $2,000
13-16. Wolf - $2,000

We're going to publish an interview with NiP shortly, and you can expect the highlights to keep coming later today as we wrap up our ESL One Cologne 2014 coverage.