hampus heroics rescue win as NIP outlast mousesports in ESL Pro League

The Swedes fought tooth and nail to pull off a comeback on Mirage.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have bolstered their playoff chances with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over MOUZ after coming back from an opening map defeat. Surprisingly, the two teams traded each other’s map picks of Inferno and Dust2 with 16-9 scorelines to leave a Mirage decider to settle the contest. There, Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser came alive with a 2.04 impact rating to lead his team from 5-13 down to a 16-14 victory.

MOUZ headed into the matchup with no pressure on their shoulders after being eliminated from the playoff running in their previous loss in the group. Ninjas in Pyjamas, however, had a lot to play for to boost their playoff chances as they sat on a 2-1 record with three other teams at the start of the day.

"There was a lot on the line," Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora said in a post-match interview. "We were playing mousesports, who didn't have a lot to lose. I'm happy with the result, but we still have a lot to work on."

nawwk and co. will be hugely thankful for hampus' massive Mirage impact

Ninjas in Pyjamas started the series in a sluggish fashion as MOUZ came out of the gates strongly with a 5-1 lead. The Swedes hit back with a flurry of rounds to level the score at 6-6 before the Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong-led squad closed out their defence for a three-round lead at the midway point. Despite picking up the crucial early rounds of the second half, Ninjas in Pyjamas failed to shut down the MOUZ offence moving forward as the European side cruised to a 16-9 map win, with Robin "⁠ropz⁠" Kool ending the game with a 1.73 rating.

Dust2 saw a 3-2 lead and economic advantage for MOUZ swiftly flipped on its head as an unlikely full eco round with a Erik "⁠ztr⁠" Gustafsson quad kill put the Ninjas in a promising position on the CT side. MOUZ kept Ninjas in Pyjamas within reaching distance until the Swedes yet again picked up a pistol round, this time with Deagles in hand, to pull away from their opponents. A Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner P250 4K in the second half pistol set Ninjas in Pyjamas on a path to 15 rounds, but MOUZ showed a brief sign of resistance as they secured a trio of successes. It wasn’t enough, though, as hampus and co. closed out Dust2 16-9 to level the series.

Mirage played host to the decider, where the trio of ropz, David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský and Frederik "⁠acoR⁠" Gyldstrand ran riot in the first half for a 10-5 lead, extending it further to 13-5 as they began T side brightly. Ninjas in Pyjamas eventually stabilised to turn the tide of the map with a colossal streak to restore parity, spearheaded by consistent multi-kills from hampus. The Swedes continued their phenomenal comeback and dominantly shut down their opposition to snatch the win from the jaws of MOUZ after a 30-round contest.

ESL Pro League Season 13Best of 3

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Matchpage

2

1

17th March 2021

MOUZ

9

Inferno

16

16

Dust2

9

16

Mirage

14

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	68 - 63	+5	87.1	66.2%	1.18
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski	49 - 55	-6	71.7	73.8%	0.98
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	51 - 57	-6	75.8	66.2%	0.95
Tim 'nawwk' Jonassonnawwk	42 - 51	-9	61.5	68.8%	0.95
Erik 'ztr' Gustafssonztr	46 - 53	-7	59.1	66.2%	0.89

MOUZ	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Robin 'ropz' Koolropz	78 - 51	+27	97.1	81.2%	1.44
Frederik 'acoR' GyldstrandacoR	62 - 51	+11	76.5	66.2%	1.15
David 'frozen' Čerňanskýfrozen	49 - 52	-3	78.5	76.2%	1.07
Christopher 'dexter' Nongdexter	51 - 54	-3	77.3	71.2%	1.03
Aurimas 'Bymas' PipirasBymas	37 - 49	-12	51.0	67.5%	0.80

Group B

TEAM

M

P

G2

4

9

Ninjas in Pyjamas

4

9

Vitality

3

6

ENCE

3

6

FaZe

4

3

MOUZ

4

0