NIP shock G2, advance to IEM Winter grand final

11-12-2021 23:35

Despite a last-minute stand-in, Ninjas in Pyjamas stole away the victory 2-1.

Ninjas in Pyjamas managed to overcome G2 in the semi-finals of IEM Winter without their star AWPer Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, who missed out on the match due to health issues. Academy player Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant had big shoes to fill but performed above expectations, averaging a 1.04 rating, the second-highest in the team.

According to the team's in-game leader Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser, Ninjas in Pyjamas's time with the 19-year-old sniper was extremely limited, as they only met with him a few hours before the match against G2 and prepared solely on Nuke. "On Inferno and Dust2 we had no tactics," he said in a post-match interview.

NIP to field phzy instead of device at IEM Winter

Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač put in another outstanding individual performance (1.33 rating, on par with his event average), but the lack of an in-game leader and coach was felt for G2, who dropped big leads on both Nuke and Inferno. "It felt like they took it for granted on Nuke," hampus explained, saying that G2 was overpeeking and gave Ninjas in Pyjamas what they needed to secure the win, while Inferno was all about avoiding the in-form Bosnian. "NiKo is playing on B, so lets not go B and go A," is how hampus explained the comeback from 13-8 down on the T side.

Ninjas in Pyjamas head on to the grand final where they will face a Vitality that has been looking dangerous at recent times, with their star Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut sitting on a 1.24 rating for the event. The two sides clash in a BO5 on Sunday at 16:00 .

hampus showed up in key rounds for NIP

G2's 6-0 lead on the defense of Nuke turned out to be a fragile one, as just one round going Ninjas in Pyjamas's way saw G2's economy pressured and the Swedes chaining three to narrow the gap. NiKo was outstanding as G2 put the foot down again, reaching 10, but Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen's back-to-back clutches saw the Ninjas switch with five round to their name.

Ninjas in Pyjamas then cleaned up the pistol and withheld G2's initial pushes to take the lead at 14-13. The inability to close out a 2v4 against François "⁠amanek⁠" Delaunay and Nemanja "⁠huNter-⁠" Kovač meant the map was headed for overtime, but hampus and co. remained in the driver's seat and closed out their map pick, 19-16.

es3tag: "I'm starting to get to that age where I just want to build a legacy"

It was all about G2's clutches as things moved to Dust2. NiKo's 1v3, Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub's 1v2, and huNter-'s 1v2 made for a great start to the offense, while amanek's 1v2 locked in an amazing 12-3 lead for the half. It seemed like G2's Nuke woes were forgotten but hampus didn't let go. The in-game leader called a relentless T side and opened up sites to chain seven in a row (12-10). NiKo's hero hold of B was crucial to G2 stopping the bleeding, with a four-round streak pushing the series to the decider, Inferno.

Both sides found force-buy success as the final map descended into chaos in no time. hampus stood out for one and huNter- for the other team as the scoreline was tied at 5-5. The teams were neck-and-neck until the half-time swap when G2 chained six in a row to take hold of the lead (13-8). A clutch from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner and a lurk from hampus stopped G2's momentum, and the international team seemingly buckled under the pressure of the Swedes' comeback, who stole away the victory, 16-14.

IEM Winter 2021Best of 3

Matchpage

11th December 2021

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Nuke

Dust2

Inferno

G2	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač NiKo	80 - 65	+15	98.4	72.5%	1.33
Nemanja 'huNter-' Kovač huNter-	77 - 59	+18	86.5	74.7%	1.25
François 'amanek' Delaunay amanek	62 - 64	-2	71.7	74.7%	1.06
Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub kennyS	51 - 60	-9	58.7	68.1%	0.95
Audric 'JACKZ' Jug JACKZ	41 - 65	-24	56.6	69.2%	0.82

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner REZ	67 - 63	+4	77.2	72.5%	1.09
Love 'phzy' Smidebrant phzy	58 - 58	0	68.6	75.8%	1.05
Hampus 'hampus' Poser hampus	68 - 71	-3	83.6	60.4%	1.02
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansen es3tag	61 - 60	+1	70.2	73.6%	1.00
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez Zamora Plopski	59 - 63	-4	71.8	68.1%	0.98

Not really a shock! Typical NiP W

2021-12-11 23:36

7 replies

No, g2 were playing 4v5

2021-12-11 23:41

5 replies

so is nip, 4v4

2021-12-11 23:50

4 replies

G2 had Niko igl and kennys awper, I'd say they were in worse situation than NiP

2021-12-12 01:08

3 replies

Look their t side, G2 didn't have any gameplan, while phz had to replace the awper and nothing more.

2021-12-12 01:38

2 replies

So awper is never part of the game and tactics? Not to mention that an awper most likely will only play with awp 70% of the rounds.

2021-12-12 10:19

1 reply

Sure but awper vs igl about a gameplan. Nip look more like a team. I like that. Phz did well, but device would do better. Ppl acting like device had less than 1.00 rating.

2021-12-12 15:07

2021-12-11 23:58

Not a shock, honestly

Device definitely not the Ronaldo of CSGO, laughable hilarious phrase

2021-12-12 03:44

EZ TAG 2ND TITLE

The curse is real. G2 and loosing to stand-ins, name a more iconic duo

Losing with stand in

2021-12-11 23:46

Losing against stand in

2021-12-12 00:32

Losing when niko is calling and their t side was random. I don't think it is cursed. If nip lost to that kind of team, he was even more embarassing.

2021-12-12 01:39

They literally got 12 T rounds on dust2 and on inferno. You have no brain

2021-12-12 12:17

Nuke is one of the hardest map for t. Usually, nip suck on him. Im pretty sure if It was with nexa, they would ban automatically. And nip dust 2 is mesh. Niko igling vs nexa/Malek igling is a world of difference. Jack and kennys was horrible, but their t side was not the same standard.

2021-12-12 15:11

wheres device

2021-12-12 21:12

lmao

2021-12-12 10:00

Hampus is bloody underrated. Modest, sharp and smart.

Hampus is good but he needs a second caller or something

2021-12-12 00:59

ztr 😞

2021-12-12 02:28

Thats why they took in es3tag

2021-12-12 11:07

not really underrated, many pro's mentioned its annoying to play against hampus since twist's time, the only missing piece for NIP is consistent individuals. hampus had to play academy stand-ins for most of the year. we should be seeing nip easily slot in top 1 - 5 once they get their groove and if plopski finally play's consistently.

2021-12-12 01:48

was not expecting this but I'll take it

CURSED ORG

Don't mess with Love!

phzy is the DHL MVP

♿2

Sucks man

2021-12-11 23:38

its impossible XD

phzy second best in NiP with the least kills

shows how much the rating is skewed by the survival/dpr stat and therefore why awpers often have the best rating

2021-12-12 01:21

Es3tag low impact fragger

2021-12-12 02:30

K/D never matters. Only ADR, T entry, and CT survival. You can have 0 kills and be the best player without being IGL.

2021-12-12 06:43

Niko rekt

2021-12-11 23:40

cursed2 sad

nice

Feelsbad for niKo :(

2021-12-11 23:42

No lol he called Rez overrated before the match

based niKo Hampus is nip's best player anyway rn

2021-12-12 04:04

It's funny how people have to "shit on device" with comments like "Hampus is the best player on nip anyways". You wouldn't say this about any other "star" player, only about device, cause you are such a fucking hater. Imagine being SO jealous ^^

2021-12-12 06:09

Hampus was $0 and not $1,000,000. Slight difference.

2021-12-12 06:45

2021-12-12 22:01

-24 wtf

es3tag underrated

2021-12-11 23:43

yeah he can stay, but plopski needs to go

2021-12-11 23:59

easy for es3tag 🙂

G2 LITERALLY played 4v5 and 3v5 Inferno

2021-12-11 23:48

Haha how?

2021-12-11 23:54

They could've won if they don't tilt off the face of Earth.

2021-12-12 00:23

Damn those odds. Missed out Gg Wp

2021-12-11 23:51

Ez mvp for Zywoo

Trash team vs lucky xitter duo. If this lucky xitter dead teams win, they may not go for duoreeh and magisk

u mad cuz Gambit lost to them chill they played better that day than Gambit I'm a Gambit fan too

2021-12-12 06:07

Nice comeback Kenny

2021-12-11 23:55

Imagine praccing 5 whole days and then you lose to a team with a stand-in from an academy team, who only spent hours with the other team before the matchup. FeelsBadMan

youtube.com/watch?v=blpe_sGnnP4

2021-12-11 23:56

device was the problem

2021-12-11 23:57

"Who needs Devve?" - Hampus

2021-12-12 01:11

kenny -9 amanek -24 We can see the problem here

2021-12-12 00:01

amanek? jackz-24

2021-12-12 00:09

sorry I tripped but yeah

2021-12-12 00:17

nip played ok but g2 was garbage TBH niko+hunter vs5

2021-12-12 00:22

This match shows how bad rating 2.0 can be lmao

2021-12-12 01:00

NiKo a BEAST

2021-12-12 00:02

- Win - KennyS Pick one

2021-12-12 00:04

win

2021-12-12 04:27

who is KennyS?

2021-12-12 10:38

I pick KennyS

2021-12-12 11:19

still won more than monesy and niko combined

2021-12-12 12:39

jackz throw for france, to give vitality a trophee

2021-12-12 00:05

hampus to Phzy: follow us, Niko is B, we go A

2021-12-12 00:11

Niko trashtalking REZ... Upsy daisy

2021-12-12 00:12

Niko was igling with a dead team. If Rez lost to that, he should retired.

2021-12-12 01:41

So Vitality should retire then cause they lost against G2 in group?

2021-12-12 15:42

+1 goat igl always trashtalking, and the overrated igl is calm like a dog with a leash around his neck

2021-12-12 03:47

What to expect from choke2. They just will not win anything at all

2021-12-12 00:14

nexa was not there use your brain please with a washed up awper and no igl how could they win lol

2021-12-12 00:27

G2 had 1.2 odds while NiP had 4.20

2021-12-12 04:08

yeah it was about full roster with device and nexa

2021-12-12 17:03

are they win anything with nexa?

2021-12-23 03:54

What device doing in NIP again? Ah, he's just there to drag NIP down and make NIP become danish team LOL

2021-12-12 00:34

NiKo, come again? ”REZ overrated” IRONIC

10 replies

Nice fake quote

2021-12-12 00:35

??? youtu.be/aNbbN47dakA

2021-12-12 00:38

fake

2021-12-12 00:41

Copeeeeee fanboy Maybe Vitality wins tomorrow idc, was fun seeing NiKo pull his hair

2021-12-12 00:44

Rez is winning against a team without their igl. Man, you have low standards about irony.

2021-12-12 01:43

More like NIP is winning with a player with no tier 1 lan experience against a team with which on paper should beat them 9/10 times. Love to see the Kovacs get destroyed. Big egos, people still talk about Niko > Simple. Rank 1 players actually win trophies. Nice "superteam".

2021-12-12 11:44

What is ironic is calling a player ”overrated” but then having your team demolished and picked apart by him. Nice excuses, phzy is an academy player yet the top-tier team of G2 couldn’t handle him. You make it sound like NiP had odds on their side but they were literally missing device, the top #3 player in the world. And i thought AmaNEk is the IGL now?

2021-12-12 13:17

I was a mix of amanek and niko the igling. Demolished is a big word 16-14. The dust game was anything but easy for nip. Sure, niko is arrogant, but rez was too before he became so badly inconsistent. .90 .85 at the major and blast, niko is right even it sounds like an asshole.

2021-12-12 15:15

Just saying, no matter how you twist and turn it, wasn’t enough to beat NiP, missing a star player and replacing him with an academy player.

2021-12-12 16:41

Sure the odds was against nip, but betting on g2 on this kind of game was suicidal. It just finds the situation not that ironic. Nip put the bar so low, since they were losing to death team. Niko was not bottom fragging, the academy player did better than kennys. It shows how rusty and how off was kennys. But yeah, niko was wrong for this match.

2021-12-12 17:42

On one hand it sucks that G2 lost but on the other, it's nice that Vitality is going to win their final tournament together

Not final, they will be playing on BLAST Finals

2021-12-12 06:33

Easy 2:0 for zywoo and friends

2021-12-12 07:25

Who are ZywOo friends?

2021-12-12 07:28

The second ranked team rn

2021-12-12 12:29

Watch Vitality completely shit on NiP in the finals lol.

2021-12-12 00:47

Feels bad for NiKo

G2 things the only team that can lose like this

2021-12-12 01:02

Kenny.... Ur time at G2. r officially done. Admit it .. leave as a king or stay as a clown. .....

2021-12-12 01:14

G2 losing to NiP with a stand in that arrived jours before... in place of their best player. Yes they played with Kenny but still... OMEGALUL

Niko, 1.33 rating and still lost, this guy is cursed

2021-12-12 01:31

+phzy -dev0ce

2021-12-12 01:35

This is why g2 are making changes so they arent french anymore

2021-12-12 01:42

KennyS the imposter, took 1 last dig at G2 before the roster gets flushed off the frenchmen. I hope they create 1 good team with the leftovers who i believe could do some damage in the tier 1 scene.

2021-12-12 01:45

why you try a dead awper as stand in then the result will always be a shock!

2021-12-12 01:58

Just nexa with some visa problems lol, no one will stand in Kenny if not that factor

2021-12-12 06:36

I know he is good but is Plopski really better than, for example, Lekr0?

2021-12-12 02:25

No plopski isnt better than lekro, But hes younger

2021-12-12 08:49

And a team player and not toxic...

2021-12-12 10:33

Is lekro supposed to be toxic or what are you saying?

2021-12-12 11:47

What rumor says. There must be a reason why he always struggled staying in a team.

2021-12-12 15:32

right now that may be true, but Plopski in 2019 was a better player than both lekr0 and REZ. He can come back, he has shown glimpses of his old form in some recent matches.

what shock?

2021-12-12 03:45

Great job phzy on the fill in. Amazing job to be honest. Never hesitate to give someone who isn't a big name but someone with rising talent a chance and most of the time they will shine, especially with great teammates around you.

2021-12-12 04:19