NiP edge past SK into IEM Oakland final

The first match at the Oracle Arena began on SK's map pick, Overpass, where the Brazilians got out to a quick 4-0 lead on the defensive side after retaking the A site in the pistol round and shutting down Ninjas in Pyjamas's third-round buy.

After a brief tactical pause, Ninjas in Pyjamas finally managed to break through the stern SK defense, but only because of a great individual round from Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström, who clutched a 1v2 situation with a stellar spray. SK immediately rallied back, however, resetting the Swedes.

Down 1-7, Ninjas in Pyjamas changed their game plan and began to counter SK's overaggression. Little by little, the Swedish team took control of the economy, setting themselves up for a surprising 8-7 lead with a seven-round win streak.

SK levelled the score in the second half with an A execution in the pistol round, with Marcelo "⁠coldzera⁠" David getting three kills to his name. But Ninjas in Pyjamas would not let their opponents retake the lead as they hit back in an eco round with double-kills from Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg and Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund.

That round swung the momentum back towards Ninjas in Pyjamas, who simply ran away with the lead. SK still managed to take a gun round, reducing the deficit to 9-12, but they could not follow that up and were faced with a hard reset. Strapped for cash, the Brazilians simply could not keep the Ninjas from taking the map, with Xizt capping a great display with a triple kill in the final round.

NiP are through to the grand final

Next up was Cache, Ninjas in Pyjamas's map pick, where the Swedes got off to a slow start, losing the first three rounds, the last of which a buy attempt. The Ninjas then surprisingly reduced the deficit, courtesy of two entry kills from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner on the A site, but SK regained control after finding themselves with a two-man advantage early on.

A massive blunder from SK cost them the next round, saving Ninjas in Pyjamas from an economic reset, but the Brazilians did not let that get to them and increased their lead to 7-2. After that, Ninjas in Pyjamas's offense flourished. Until the end of the half, SK would only get one more round as the Swedish team managed to bring the deficit to a minimum thanks to a solid display from REZ.

The 19-year-old would come up huge in the following pistol round, clutching a 1v3 situation to to restore parity at 8-8. However, his effort did not trouble SK, who rallied back on a force buy and regained control of proceedings.

In the 20th round, GeT_RiGhT came close to ending SK's streak after finding four kills in the storage room, but Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo pulled off a 1v3 clutch - putting Ninjas in Pyjamas against the ropes and setting his team up for a convincing victory.

coldzera's one-man show not enough against the Ninjas

It all came down to Inferno, where SK came out the livelier of the two sides, winning the pistol round and the subsequent anti-ecos to secure a 3-0 lead. After buying up, Ninjas in Pyjamas got a footing in the game as they won four of the next five rounds, one of them a force-buy after being left low on cash.

A 1v2 clutch from coldzera then put SK back in the lead, but not for long. Ninjas in Pyjamas tightened up their defense after getting their economy back on track and brought the scoreline to an 8-6 advantage before the Brazilians reduced the deficit to a minimum with a B execution on an extremely shoddy buy.

Carrying their momentum into the following pistol round, Ninjas in Pyjamas opened things up with a fast A execution that proved successful as they planted the bomb in a 5v2 situation. After winning both anti-ecos, Ninjas in Pyjamas also took the first full gun round, putting the Brazilians in a very difficult economic situation.

After getting a decent bank to work with, SK put a double AWP setup to great use, winning back-to-back rounds and forcing a tactical pause out of Ninjas in Pyjamas. But after that, SK's defense collapsed as the Ninjas took control of the game with a series of B executions to book their spot in Sunday's title decider.

IEM Oakland 2017Best of 3

SK

Matchpage

1

2

18th November 2017

Ninjas in Pyjamas

9

Overpass

16

16

Cache

8

11

Inferno

16

SK	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	74 - 47	+27	92.7	77.6%	1.41
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	52 - 54	-2	80.2	71.1%	1.10
Ricardo 'boltz' Prassboltz	50 - 49	+1	75.4	67.1%	1.00
Fernando 'fer' Alvarengafer	44 - 60	-16	72.4	61.8%	0.87
Epitacio 'TACO' de MeloTACO	28 - 49	-21	41.9	63.2%	0.67

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	60 - 54	+6	91.3	73.7%	1.22
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	54 - 47	+7	81.1	73.7%	1.12
William 'draken' Sundindraken	51 - 45	+6	67.0	72.4%	1.09
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	44 - 52	-8	72.1	68.4%	1.02
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	49 - 51	-2	71.5	63.2%	0.94