NiP see off ENCE to book final Major spot

Ninjas in Pyjamas have assured themselves of a spot in the FACEIT Major's New Challengers Stage after beating ENCE in convincing fashion in the Europe Minor's consolidation final.

The battle for the final spot at the Major, featuring two Nordic teams, began on Overpass, Ninjas in Pyjamas's map pick. ENCE drew first blood after a convincing B retake in the pistol round with a triple-kill from Jani "⁠Aerial⁠" Jussila, and followed it up with an anti-eco. A third-round buy then put Ninjas in Pyjamas on the board for the first time and propelled the Swedes to take a narrow lead.

But things quickly got out of hand for the Ninjas. ENCE set up some good crossfires across the map and showed some solid teamwork, limiting the Swedes to just five rounds after shutting down any chances of them stringing rounds together.

Ninjas in Pyjamas came out of the break determined to overcome the deficit and took the pistol round, but there was no follow-up as Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli pulled off a 1v2 clutch to win a very low buy for ENCE. But the Finnish side got a taste of their own medicine as Ninjas in Pyjamas rallied back immediately following a great flank from Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund.

That ended up being the turning point in the game. The rest of the half was a one-way street as Ninjas in Pyjamas only gave up one more round - in which Jere "⁠sergej⁠" Salo went huge with a trio of frags - before locking down the map at 16-12.

Now just one map away from the Major, Ninjas in Pyjamas entered Inferno with all guns blazing and stormed to a 6-0 lead on the Terrorist side. A quad kill from Aerial on the A site then gave ENCE their first round on the board, with the Finnish side following that up with a round to prevent the reset. Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg then stepped up to the plate and delivered a 1v2 clutch, winning a round that seemed lost after Aerial had secured four more frags inside A.

The Ninjas refused to let their foot off the gas after that and won six more rounds to take a commanding 13-2 lead into the second half.

More misery was about to come for ENCE as Ninjas in Pyjamas won the pistol round after denying the Terrorists' mid-B split. The Swedes followed that up with the next two rounds to wrap things up, sealing a convincing 2-0 victory that puts them back in a Major after a two-year absence.