NiP qualify for playoffs over Spirit

Ninjas in Pyjamas have defeated Spirit 2-1 in the final round of the Swiss stage to punch their ticket to the playoffs at StarSeries i-League Season 7.

The first game in round five featured Ninjas in Pyjamas and Spirit who started the best-of-three series on Mirage. The CT-sided Ninjas in Pyjamas sealed the pistol round victory thanks to Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson's double kill and made it 2-0 after winning the second round.

Viktor "⁠sdy⁠" Orudzhev and Dmitry "⁠S0tF1k⁠" Forostyanko clutched a 2vs4 in the third round to get Spirit on the scoreboard but the Russian team wasn't able to make it two in a row as William "⁠draken⁠" Sundin picked up a triple kill in the following round.

After Spirit tied the game at 3-3, Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund and Lekr0 got triple kills in consecutive rounds as Ninjas in Pyjamas reclaimed the lead. Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner's quad kill and draken's defuse in a 1vs1 in the ninth round made it 6-3.

Spirit came back from three rounds to tie the game but couldn't go ahead once again. Pavlo "⁠COLDYY1⁠" Veklenko clutched a 1vs2 in the 14th round to make it 7-7 and Spirit finished the half in front after winning the next round.

Spirit kicked off their CT-side campaign with a successful 5vs5 retake, extending their lead to 9-7. The CIS team put up a strong defense and went on to win the map with a 16-12 final scoreline.

Ninjas in Pyjamas were on the T-side to start Dust2 and secured the first two rounds. After taking the first weapon round victory, Spirit lost three in a row to trail 5-1. Leonid "⁠chopper⁠" Vishnyakov and company turned it around after winning the seventh round with pistols and went on to take the lead in the 13th round (7-6).

The Swedish team finished the first half 8-7 ahead and won the second pistol round to keep up the momentum. The Ninjas had a perfect CT-side performance as they didn't lose a single round. Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg's quad kill in the 23rd round was the final nail in the coffin and Ninjas in Pyjamas won the map 16-7.

draken and f0rest picked up double kills to start Nuke where the CT-sided Ninjas in Pyjamas won the first seven rounds. Spirit hit back by winning a 3vs5 in the eighth round and took six of the following seven rounds to trail 8-7 at halftime.

GeT_RiGhT's triple kill paved the way for Ninjas in Pyjamas's second half pistol round victory and Ninjas in Pyjamas reached double digits after taking the next round (10-7). sdy got a quad kill and clutched a 1vs2 in the 18th round to make it 10-8. Then, Spirit tied the game at 10-10 thanks to S0tF1k's impact in the following two rounds.

Ninjas in Pyjamas took charge as GeT_RiGhT and Lekr0 played crucial roles, with both players opening up and closing out rounds (14-10). The Ninjas finished it off with a 16-14 scoreline as f0rest clutched a 1vs2 in the final round. Ninjas in Pyjamas won the series 2-1 and moved on to the playoffs at StarSeries i-League Season 7.