NIP move past FaZe to throw ESL Pro League Group B wide open

The Ninjas picked up their second win in a row in the group stage, leaving the international team closer to the foot of the table.

Ninjas in Pyjamas moved up to second in ESL Pro League Group B on Monday with a 2-0 victory over FaZe, who find themselves in a must-win situation heading into Wednesday's clash with G2. The Swedish team, fresh off a 2-1 win over ENCE, were on the front foot for large parts of the series and shut down an off-colour FaZe side who struggled in the final stages of Overpass and then were outclassed on their own map pick of Train.

"I think FaZe had a grip on the game on Overpass, but they made some bad decisions that made us win some easy rounds," Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser said after the match. "I was 100% sure that they were going to pick Dust2. They had played just one game on Train with karrigan and had lost it. In my head, there was no reason for them to pick Train. When they did it, I was super happy."

Plopksi led the charge as NIP won their second EPL match

Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora carried the form from Sunday's decider map against ENCE into this series and spearheaded Ninjas in Pyjamas's efforts in the first half of Overpass, averaging 117 damage per round and winning all five opening duels in which he took part as the Ninjas went 9-6 up. The second half was evenly contested as neither side managed to chain more than a few rounds together at a time, but hampus and Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson came through in the end and rallied the team to victory.

After a quiet performance on Overpass, Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner came alive on Train, powering Ninjas in Pyjamas to an 11-4 half with some impressive numbers (19-8 K-D and 129 ADR). FaZe then enjoyed a period of dominance following a flawless pistol round, going on a 7-1 run to bring the deficit to a solitary round, but a comeback was beyond them as the Ninjas picked up the pace and won four rounds straight to secure the map.

ESL Pro League Season 13Best of 3

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Matchpage

2

0

15th March 2021

FaZe

16

Overpass

14

16

Train

11

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski	45 - 37	+8	84.4	82.5%	1.29
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	40 - 40	0	84.0	68.4%	1.12
Tim 'nawwk' Jonassonnawwk	37 - 28	+9	65.6	73.7%	1.11
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	35 - 39	-4	71.9	70.2%	0.96
Erik 'ztr' Gustafssonztr	35 - 35	0	63.6	70.2%	0.96

FaZe	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Russel 'Twistzz' Van DulkenTwistzz	44 - 37	+7	74.4	70.2%	1.07
Helvijs 'broky' Saukantsbroky	40 - 40	0	76.2	63.2%	1.05
Håvard 'rain' Nygaardrain	30 - 39	-9	61.8	71.9%	0.95
Marcelo 'coldzera' Davidcoldzera	32 - 39	-7	65.7	64.9%	0.90
Finn 'karrigan' Andersenkarrigan	32 - 37	-5	59.3	59.6%	0.88

Group B

TEAM

M

P

G2

2

6

Ninjas in Pyjamas

3

6

Vitality

2

3

ENCE

2

3

FaZe

3

3

MOUZ

2

0