NAVI take down NiP to seal playoff spot in DreamHack Masters Spring

Natus Vincere secured a 2-0 victory with wins on Overpass (16-8) and Nuke (16-14) to leave the Swedes' playoff chances hanging in the balance with a 0-2 record.

Ninjas in Pyjamas’s hardships persisted following a 2-0 defeat to NAVI, adding to their dismantling at the hands of Vitality in their previous match. The Swedish side is yet to record a single map win under new leadership, with the Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser-led team set to face off against ENCE in their third and final group match to determine if they will make it out of Group D and advance to the playoffs.

Natus Vincere immediately took control of Ninjas in Pyjamas’s map pick of Overpass as the pistol round commenced, with the CIS squad claiming an early 3-0 lead on the CT side. A fantastic 2v4 clutch turnaround from Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev and Denis "⁠electroNic⁠" Sharipov added one more to the team's tally before the Swedes could post their first round on the board. Four rounds were traded back and forth until NAVI tightened up the defence to win six straight and attain a 12-3 score, with electroNic amassing 23 kills and 116.7 ADR at the break.

s1mple spearheaded NAVI to victory with a series-high 1.52 rating

Ninjas in Pyjamas continued to struggle in the second half despite a Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora 1v3 pistol clutch as Natus Vincere replied with three successes of their own to continue to rack up rounds. Down 4-15, the Swedes strung together rounds for the first time to begin to garner some momentum. However, an incredible s1mple ace stopped Ninjas in Pyjamas in their tracks as NAVI closed out Overpass 16-8, with s1mple and electroNic concluding the map with 1.69 and 1.61 ratings, respectively.

Nuke kicked off in a provoking way for NAVI as a Egor "⁠flamie⁠" Vasilyev crash resulted in electroNic needing to team kill to retrieve the bomb, with Ninjas in Pyjamas securing the round thanks to the player advantage. Moving forward, Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson and Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner led the charge for the Swedish squad on the defence to storm to a 7-0 scoreline and put themselves in a promising position to claim an extensive halftime lead. Natus Vincere then buckled down and found some success, narrowing the score difference to three rounds as the teams switched sides.

A nawwk and Plopski 2v4 clutch in the opening round of the second half helped bolster Ninjas in Pyjamas’s lead by two, but NAVI responded with three rounds off the back of a pistol buy to stay hot on the Swedes’ heels. It was all Natus Vincere as the map progressed as the CIS side locked down six consecutive rounds to pull in front at 15-12 and put Ninjas in Pyjamas in a precarious position. nawwk continued his outstanding performance on Nuke in the final rounds with numerous multi-kills to keep his team in the series, but his heroics proved futile as Ninjas in Pyjamas could not win the last round of regulation force overtime.

DreamHack Masters Spring 2020 - EuropeBest of 3

Natus Vincere

Matchpage

2

0

29th May 2020

Ninjas in Pyjamas

16

Overpass

8

16

Nuke

14

Natus Vincere	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	53 - 30	+23	95.1	85.2%	1.52
Denis 'electroNic' SharipovelectroNic	49 - 36	+13	91.0	70.4%	1.32
Egor 'flamie' Vasilyevflamie	39 - 33	+6	75.2	66.7%	1.13
Kirill 'Boombl4' MikhailovBoombl4	30 - 41	-11	74.2	75.9%	0.93
Ilya 'Perfecto' ZalutskiyPerfecto	29 - 35	-6	69.1	75.9%	0.91

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Tim 'nawwk' Jonassonnawwk	54 - 38	+16	94.5	70.4%	1.33
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	37 - 43	-6	81.5	75.9%	1.06
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski	34 - 36	-2	64.1	68.5%	1.00
Simon 'twist' Eliassontwist	28 - 43	-15	63.1	61.1%	0.83
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	20 - 41	-21	52.1	68.5%	0.66

Ninjas in Pyjamas will need to beat ENCE in their final group match to secure passage to the DreamHack Masters Spring playoffs, with the anticipated clash set to kick off on Saturday at 14:00 .

Group D

TEAM

M

P

Vitality

3

6

Natus Vincere

3

6

ENCE

2

3

Ninjas in Pyjamas

2

0