NIP bounce back from opening loss to beat Entropiq 2-0

The Ninjas looked much improved in this series, with three players posting above a 1.20 rating.

Ninjas in Pyjamas shook off the disappointment of their opening loss to Liquid by quickly dispatching Entropiq 2-0 on Dust2 and Ancient. The Russian squad will be rueing their inability to take their own map pick of Dust2, the 16-14 score line a testament to the fact that they had chances to take the map win.

Speaking in the winners' interview, Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser was keen to put the Liquid loss behind him: "We just choked yesterday, nothing more to it. We played very very bad."

When asked about his expectations for the rest of the group, the Ninjas in Pyjamas IGL was positive: "I think top three is a very realistic goal for us. We should make top three in my opinion."

We kicked off this series with Entropiq's pick of Dust2, and we were in for a tightly fought contest. Ninjas in Pyjamas began on their CT side and got off to a good start, winning the pistol and converting. From this point the Ninjas began to struggle, particularly due to their inability to find an effective way to hold A. Entropiq found repeated success at this site and translated that success to a 9-6 lead at the half.

A strangely similar story developed on Entropiq's CT side, except their problem bombsite was B; Ninjas in Pyjamas were able to abuse that site with multiple quick tunnel pops and mid-to-B splits.

Despite some heroic work from Vladislav "⁠Krad⁠" Kravchenko throughout the half, as well as some excellent deagle rounds from the rest of the Russian squad, the Ninjas were able to squeak over the line in the first map 16-14.

The Ninjas can thank Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora for a big fragging performance on this map to drag them to victory, with the fact they won and converted both pistols also playing a pivotal role.

The second map, Ninjas in Pyjamas's pick of Ancient and a map Entropiq have struggled on, was nowhere near as competitive. After winning the pistol and converting on their CT side, Entropiq started to get rolled over by Ninjas in Pyjamas's B focus combined with hampus' mid control. The Russian squad managed to close the half out with three in a row to keep it somewhat close, 8-7 in the Ninjas' favour.

Unfortunately for the Russian squad seven rounds was simply not enough on the favoured CT side, and they managed a measly two rounds on their T half as the Ninjas comfortably closed the map out quickly, 16-9. Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz was the workhorse for Ninjas in Pyjamas on Ancient, both in terms of opening kills and raw fragging.