AVANGAR beat NiP in three maps

AVANGAR took Overpass 16-13, lost Cache 16-10, and won Dust2 16-11, to move on to the Group B winners' match over NiP.

AVANGAR kicked Overpass off with a successful defense in the pistol round despite three frags from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner, but after winning the anti-eco they gave up two rounds to Ninjas in Pyjamas who tied it up, 2-2. The Swedes then won an anti-eco on their own to take the lead. Dennis "⁠dennis⁠" Edman then won a 1vs2 against Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali and Aidyn "⁠KrizzeN⁠" Turlybekov having put the bomb down between frags to keep his team rolling. Ninjas in Pyjamas had a very convincing 8-3 lead early in the half, but once AVANGAR sorted out the economic situation they were able to take the last four rounds as Jame put in a few impactful plays.

Three headshots by Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund from Pit the helped his team take the first round of the second half to stay in the lead, and they won against the pistol and armor buy thanks to Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson who had three kills including a 1vs2. The second half quickly got interesting as both teams went back and forth. AVANGAR took the lead at 12-11, but the Ninjas were able to win the following to bring it back even, 12-12, although they then lost the following to a B play. The Kazakh-Russian side then won against a full eco and followed it up winning a 3vs2 afterplant to get on match point. Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to get one more round, but AVANGAR closed the Swedes’ map pick out.

Ninjas in Pyjamas started winning the defending pistol round on Cache, 3-0, ahead of the first buy round by AVANGAR in which the Kazakh-Russian side got on the board, but were then immediately reset. A huge four-kill round including a 1vs3 with a last-second spray transfer through the smoke by REZ to make it just in time for a defuse kept the Ninjas racking rounds. The Swedes then went on to win the half out 10-5, only giving up the occasional round.

On the attacking side, Ninjas in Pyjamas once again won the pistol round, followed it up, and then kept winning, taking the economic advantage and not giving AVANGAR a chance in the first four rounds of the half. Finally, Aleksei "⁠Qikert⁠" Golubev was able to get three frags in a 2vs3 afterplant to go on to defuse the bomb and get his team on the board for the first time in the second half. AVANGAR then made it to double digits off of the back of that big win, but Ninjas in Pyjamas closed it out, 16-10, to take it to the decider.

AVANGAR started on the defending side on Dust2, and got off to a great start, winning the pistol round and the first gun round. Up 4-0, Qikert got an ace in another gun round to keep his team on a streak and throw Ninjas in Pyjamas back into another eco. AVANGAR then went all the way to 8-0 before Ninjas in Pyjamas could get on the board. They went on to win two more in the half, giving up 5 of the last 7 rounds to Ninjas in Pyjamas.

The second half saw AVANGAR further increase their lead as Timur "⁠buster⁠" Tulepov and KrizzeN opened up the round with their glocks for a 5vs3 afterplant. The Kazakh-Russian side then won the anti-eco and the first gun round. buster then had a big 1vs2 round, bringing his team on the brink of victory, 14-5. With a full buy, Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to win their first round of the second half, as AVANGAR had to play the following round with two CZ75s. The half-buy would be enough, though, as AVANGAR took match point with each player winning his duels. Finally, despite giving up a few more rounds, Qikert & co. were able to take it, 16-11.