NIP beat mouz to set up OG quarter-final

A flawless defense on the deciding Inferno put Ninjas in Pyjamas through to the next round.

The first quarter-final of ESL Pro League Season 14 is set after Ninjas in Pyjamas took down MOUZ in the round of 12. A risk in the veto did not pay off for the Swedes as the European side called their bluff with a Vertigo pick, but Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser and company came out on top nonetheless, picking up a close victory on Ancient and the closing Inferno with a convincing defense.

"[The veto] didn't really end up the way we wanted, we kind of let Vertigo float a bit," Linus "⁠LNZ⁠" Holtäng said after the match. "I think it was fine, we were really confident that we were going to win either way, even though Vertigo was the second map."

The victory sets Ninjas in Pyjamas up for a match against OG in the quarter-finals on Thursday in a bout that will see the two sides face for the first time in a series this year. The two teams had only met in a best-of-one with their current lineups, with Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's team coming out on top on Mirage at IEM Summer, shortly after LNZ was added to the Ninjas in Pyjamas roster.

After Ninjas in Pyjamas had picked Ancient every chance they got in the past couple of tournaments, it was of little surprise that they did so again in their first playoffs series at ESL Pro League. The opening map was full of turns, which mainly happened on the back of low-buy triumphs from the Swedish side, who won three key rounds with just pistols.

The first came in round three, when a few opening kills with Deagles gave Ninjas in Pyjamas the B bombsite and the momentum to gain their first lead in the series. MOUZ ended up putting together a solid defense nonetheless, but another antieco loss meant they would only be ahead by one round at the end of the half on the heavily CT-sided map.

A back-and-forth ensued at the beginning of the second half, set off by another round victory from the Swedes with just pistols in hand and one saved weapon. Ninjas in Pyjamas finally grasped control of the map at the tail end, stringing together seven rounds on the defense with LNZ stepping up with a couple of key multikills to help close it 16-12.

MOUZ called Ninjas in Pyjamas's bluff in the veto after the Swedes floated Vertigo, with Christopher "⁠dexter⁠" Nong's team punishing their opponents for the choice despite having lost the map every time they played it in the past three months. The European side dominated the map, with Ninjas in Pyjamas left scrapping for solitary rounds in what quickly turned out a losing battle. After a 12-3 first half in which mouz had everyone firing on all cylinders, it was just a matter of time before the series reached the deciding Inferno.

The first half rested on a knife's edge on the decider as Ninjas in Pyjamas grabbed an early lead before MOUZ caught up thanks to a Aurimas "⁠Bymas⁠" Pipiras quad-kill in an eco round. After the two sides kept trading blows, the half turned in the European team's favor in the end, but that was where their fortunes ended. Once on the defense, Ninjas in Pyjamas always had the majority of their team where they needed them thanks to good reads and well-timed rotations, with hampus leading the way and making a couple of key aggressive plays to secure a flawless CT side and a 16-8 closing.