EG's woes continue as NIP progress in BLAST Premier Spring Final lower bracket

After showing promise at IEM Summer, Peter "⁠stanislaw⁠" Jarguz's team exited the BLAST event in last place.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have progressed in the BLAST Premier Spring Final lower bracket following a 2-0 victory over Evil Geniuses (Overpass 16-11, Dust2 16-12). Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz & co. will next face the losing side of the upper bracket semi-final match between BIG and Natus Vincere, on Friday at 15:30 .

The match saw Evil Geniuses eliminated in last place after the North American-European combine fell to the lower bracket at the hands of Gambit in the opening round. Despite showing promise with a playoffs finish at IEM Summer, stanislaw's team's track record has once again taken a turn for the worse as they've been unable to pick up wins despite several close results.

EG will hope to turn their luck around after they get a few more weeks of practice ahead of the last event of the season, IEM Cologne, where the team will begin their campaign in the Play-in stage on July 6. Until then, Evil Geniuses will keep bootcamping in Europe, according to Owen "⁠oBo⁠" Schlatter.

Evil Geniuses hoped to turn their record around on Overpass after having lost the previous five out of six encounters on the map in the past three months, but they were unable to get out of the rut despite a solid start on the offense after running into a strong-looking Ninjas in Pyjamas. Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser & co. took a couple of gunrounds to warm up to the map but once they got the economy on their side they took over the half, turning it around from a 2-6 with a flawless run from then on.

With the second pistol round going their way, the Swedes and Dane quickly reached 14 while Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner continued to run rampant following a great first half, finishing just shy of the 30-kill mark as he helped his team secure the series lead at 16-11.

Dust2 was a much more closely-contested battle from start to finish. After Ninjas in Pyjamas got off to the better start, Evil Geniuses remained within touching distance of their opponents as the two went back and forth. It was the Swedes who came out of the half with a one-round lead and clinched the following pistol to reach double digits first, but the North American-European side were quickly hot on their heels after powering through the A bombsite in consecutive rounds. After more blows were traded between the two teams, Ninjas in Pyjamas found some momentum at 12-12 on the back of early openings and busted EG's economy, rallying to a 16-12 victory.