Heroic beat NIP to book Pro League semi-final berth

The Danish team remain undefeated in the $750,000 competition.

HEROIC extended their winning streak in ESL Pro League 13 to six matches following a 2-0 victory against Ninjas in Pyjamas in the Play-In stage. With the result, the Danes booked a spot in the semi-finals, while the Swedish team will have to face Complexity on Friday in the quarter-finals.

Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's troops came out of the break revitalised on both maps, first displaying a solid T side performance on Inferno and later putting in a masterclass on the CT side of Nuke. "We were feeling very confident going into this game," the in-game leader revealed in the post-match interview.

"We had three weeks of preparation and we used that time wisely. I feel like we have upgraded our team with the recent roster changes, so the question should not be if we are capable, because we were capable with the previous roster, but if the time has come or if we need to get more experience under our belt."

It took eight rounds on Inferno for HEROIC to stabilize and fix their defensive setup against Ninjas in Pyjamas's powerful executes, going into the break with a three-round deficit. The Ninjas were leading 11-6 when the Danish team stole the 18th round with a scrappy buy, and gained enough momentum to win five in a row and break the CTs' economy. The Swedes still attempted to respond, but their efforts were in vain as they couldn't fight against HEROIC's banana control and fast plays through mid.

Ninjas in Pyjamas claimed the first pistol on Nuke, but their CT economy was shattered after HEROIC won the following round. The Ninjas chained four together once they had rifles, and thanks to Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson and Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser's efforts, were able to secure an 8-7 advantage.

The Danish team won their first pistol round in the series as Martin "⁠stavn⁠" Lund killed two players with Dual Berettas on top of the A hut and delayed Ninjas in Pyjamas's execution. That was the start of a flawless CT side display from the Danish team, who had the right setup for every situation, including a triple-stack on the A bombsite in the final round.