North see off NiP with rampant victory

Ninjas in Pyjamas have been eliminated from the StarLadder Major following a quick two-map defeat to North in the 0-2 pool of the New Legends Stage.

It would be a lie to say that no-one saw it coming. After weeks in which Ninjas in Pyjamas made headlines for the wrong reasons and amid the uncertainty surrounding the future of Counter-Strike legend Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund, it looked like disaster was on the way for the Swedes.

The Ninjas, who were in their third straight Major and had Legend status from IEM Katowice, are out of the Major cycle following yet another unconvincing display against a North side that was simply was superior in every department. There are no positives to take from what was a mess of a Major from Ninjas in Pyjamas - even star player Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg recorded a career-worst 0.54 tournament rating -, and the question right now is who will be left to pick up the pieces from such a disastrous campaign in Berlin.

Ninjas in Pyjamas got off on the wrong foot on Train and were completely run over by the North offense during the early stages of the game, with only two of their players picking up frags during the first five rounds. After that, the Swedes began to show signs of life as they strung three rounds together, but North were too strong to handle and went into the break with a commanding 11-4 lead.

North refused to take their foot off the pedal after switching over to the CT side and hit map point without losing a single round. Ninjas in Pyjamas still picked up a few rounds as they sought a response, but the Danes remained strong and soon put the game to rest.

Next up was Dust2, where it appeared at first that Ninjas in Pyjamas were showing some signs of improvement as they rallied back after losing the pistol round and put together a string of rounds. However, that hope was quickly shattered as the Swedes looked completely lost on the map for the remainder of the half, resulting in an 11-4 scoreline at the break.

More misery was to come for the helpless Swedes as North won a 2v2 in the pistol round to get within touching distance of victory. After watching their opponents reach series point at 15-4, Ninjas in Pyjamas still had a full buy to work with, but it was in vain as the Danes hammered the final nail in the Ninjas' coffin with an A split to keep their hopes alive in Berlin in the stacked 1-2 pool of teams.