BLAST Premier Spring Final 2021NIP take down BIG to progress in BLAST Premier Spring Final lower bracket
Fredrik "REZ" Sterner and Linus "LNZ" Holtäng were the driving force for the Swedish side in the elimination series.
Ninjas in Pyjamas live to see another day in the BLAST Premier Spring Final after beating BIG 2-0 (Dust2 16-10, Inferno 16-12) in the lower bracket semi-final. Björn "THREAT" Pers's men await the winner of Complexity and G2 in the next round on Saturday at 18:30 .
Despite getting dismantled by Natus Vincere on Dust2 in the upper semi-finals, BIG decided to stick to their guns and select the map against Ninjas in Pyjamas, with Johannes "tabseN" Wodarz's troops still boasting a 76% win rate over 25 times played in the previous three months. The two teams could barely be separated at halftime, but a lacklustre defence saw Nicolai "device" Reedtz and company overrun BIG to strike first blood in the series before putting up a stellar defence of their own on Inferno to close the series out.
"I feel very confident. If you get the chance and don’t feel confident, you will not make it." LNZ’s post-match words reflected his performance in the series, with the 18-year-old posting a 1.30 average rating across the two maps, second only to a razor-sharp REZ (1.45).
The German squad started brightly on the offence on Dust2, comfortably racking up a 5-1 lead off the back of a number of tabseN multi-kills. However, Ninjas in Pyjamas quickly regrouped to get a foothold in the half as the Swedes shut down their opponents across the map, with a LNZ 3K crucially securing the eighth round for a one-round advantage at the side switch.
The two teams traded two rounds apiece to kick off the second half before an Ismailcan "XANTARES" Dörtkardeş ace tied up the score at 10-10, but the Swedes went on to hit a higher gear to overwhelm BIG’s defence for a 16-10 win.
A three-round streak that started BIG’s CT side was replied to in kind by Ninjas in Pyjamas, who briefly prevented their opponents from pulling too far ahead. Their efforts proved futile, though, as tabseN and XANTARES made sure to keep their team in front with a 128 ADR each to power BIG to a 10-5 half, with Nils "k1to" Gruhne not too far behind them.
Ninjas in Pyjamas needed a stellar defence to turn proceedings around, and they did just that. Spearheaded by an on-point REZ and a now awoken device, the Swedish side comprehensively shut out BIG round after round to rapidly approach series point, with seven consecutive successes wrapping up the map.
  Ninjas in Pyjamas |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 - 34 | +18 | 96.6 | 70.4% | 1.45 | |
| 43 - 28 | +15 | 85.4 | 72.2% | 1.30 | |
| 36 - 27 | +9 | 72.7 | 75.9% | 1.18 | |
| 32 - 33 | -1 | 66.4 | 68.5% | 0.94 | |
| 22 - 40 | -18 | 60.9 | 68.5% | 0.81 |
  BIG |
K - D | +/- | ADR | KAST | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 - 35 | +10 | 87.1 | 64.8% | 1.17 | |
| 38 - 39 | -1 | 86.3 | 57.4% | 1.09 | |
| 29 - 32 | -3 | 60.2 | 72.2% | 0.94 | |
| 24 - 40 | -16 | 60.6 | 66.7% | 0.75 | |
| 25 - 40 | -15 | 51.1 | 61.1% | 0.72 |
Ismailcan 'XANTARES' Dörtkardeş
Justin 'jks' Savage
William 'RUSH' Wierzba
Valentin 'poizon' Vasilev
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev
Audric 'JACKZ' Jug
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač
Nemanja 'nexa' Isaković
EatmyAspirin
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COLD_BEST_BRAZIL
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