fnatic defeat NiP; book semi-final spot in Malmö

fnatic claimed the victory in the Swedish derby, defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1 (16-12 Dust2, 8-16 Nuke, 16-9 Overpass), and advancing to the semi-finals of DreamHack Masters Malmö.

The series started on Dust2, fnatic's pick, where messy rounds were traded back-and-forth at the start. Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora's 3K gave Ninjas in Pyjamas the lead after they lost the pistol, but after surviving an anti-force, fnatic snatched away the next one on an almost-full-eco. It was 3-2 before Ninjas in Pyjamas won another half-buy themselves as Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg entried his way into B. The veteran was looking to extend the lead shortly by claiming a 1v3 clutch, but he was shut down by Jesper "⁠JW⁠" Wecksell in the end, which started fnatic's comeback as CT.

The half finished with fnatic having a 9-6 lead, but Ninjas in Pyjamas clawed their way back with a 4-1 start on the defense, largely thanks to two late-round triple-kills from Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson. However, fnatic broke them with a force buy push into B and started grabbing hold of the game. In a key round, Freddy "⁠KRIMZ⁠" Johansson secured four kills on a mid-B play, giving his side the round and the economy advantage that helped fnatic close out the map 16-10.

Action then moved to Nuke, where Ninjas in Pyjamas took control on the Terrorist side, sitting on a 5-1 lead after winning the pistol, losing a force-buy, and then winning a force buy of their own. fnatic then managed their first rifle round, but it was instantly replied on by Ninjas in Pyjamas with a fast upper hit that found success. fnatic was able to bring the score back to 8-4 and had Ninjas in Pyjamas on a half-buy, but Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson found an entry on Ramp which his team capitalized on to further advance the Ninjas' lead (9-4).

The first half finished with fnatic closing the gap down to three rounds (9-6), with JW's 1v2 clutch in the pistol giving them hope of comeback. However, twist showed up with the Scout in the followup and spoiled fnatic's plans with a quad-kill. Any chances of fnatic coming back were shut down after f0rest got a triple while holding against an A split, with Ninjas in Pyjamas claiming their map pick 16-8 shortly.

On the decider, Overpass, Ninjas in Pyjamas claimed the CT pistol and narrowly survived the anti-force buy, but managed to fumble in the following one where Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin was the only fnatic member with a substantial investment, grabbing an SG 553 and three kills with it. The "Black and Orange" built momentum off the back of it, with Brollan and Maikil "⁠Golden⁠" Selim securing two entries on B in the first rifle round helping that cause.

fnatic reached a 7-2 lead before Ninjas in Pyjamas managed to win an eco round, starting to find their footing after it. Three back-to-back lockouts from the Ninjas brought the score back to 7-5, but fnatic kept things competitive and broke their opponents bank at the end of the half, grabbing a 10-5 lead. The second half pistol saw fnatic pull of a 4v4 A site retake, which Robin "⁠flusha⁠" Rönnquist spiced up with a knife kill on f0rest. From 13-5 down, Ninjas in Pyjamas pulled it back with four back-to-back rounds, but KRIMZ and flusha combining on B stopped their opponents comeback and saw fnatic seal the deal on Overpass, 16-9.