OG edge past NIP to secure BLAST Premier Spring Finals spot

The European team came back from an 8-14 deficit on the deciding Mirage to beat Ninjas in Pyjamas in overtime and send the Swedes to the Last Chance series.

OG are the second team to lock in a spot at the BLAST Premier Spring Finals, joining Vitality on the team list at the June competition after a 2-1 victory over Ninjas in Pyjamas in the Spring Groups knockout stage. The European side had gone through the best-of-one phase untested, and although it was a labored effort in their first series, they completed their debut tournament with newest addition Nemanja "⁠nexa⁠" Isaković undefeated.

The team around Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser will have another chance to qualify on Sunday at around 16:30 in the Last Chance stage, where they're set on a collision course with a struggling Natus Vincere side in a rematch from the second round of the knockout bracket.

Ninjas in Pyjamas were having a difficult time getting anything to work on Overpass, as the European team played a fantastic debut on the map with their new in-game leader, nexa.

Constantly caught off-guard by flanks and information plays, the Swedes were left with no space to work with on the Terrorist side and got severely outgunned by an OG squad firing on all cylinders. A 12-3 defensive half from nexa and company had Ninjas in Pyjamas's backs against the wall, and a couple of simple contact plays through monster from OG swiftly ended the Swedish team's misery.

Ninjas in Pyjamas needed someone to step up to fire them up again going into Ancient, and they got exactly that in hampus, with the in-game leader kicking off the second map with a quad-kill in the pistol round and providing the brunt of the kills over the course of what turned out to be a close first half.

For a moment it looked like OG would start running away with the map once they got on the board with a quick A split and a couple of B executes, but despite dropping six rounds in a row Ninjas in Pyjamas closed out the half in successful fashion on the back of a key Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner flank and another hampus quad-kill.

A labored second half saw Valdemar "⁠valde⁠" Bjørn Vangså's team get off the line first with a pistol round victory, but after a brief back-and-forth Ninjas in Pyjamas began to take over the game. Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen's triple in a 2v4 situation and a 1v1 clutch from REZ helped them reach map point, and despite threatening for overtime OG fell in the 30th round, as the Swedes closed it with just pistols in hand and a quick A play.

A great combination from Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski and Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan started the deciding Mirage, but it was Ninjas in Pyjamas who dominated once they got a hold of the economy and were able to buy up weaponry. It was only thanks to the great start that OG were able to hold on and finish the half just one round behind, finally adapting to the Swedes' relentless A attacks.

hampus and company immediately got back on the horse and reached 14 without much of a response, but finishing OG off proved difficult. The European combine fought back from the big deficit in big part thanks to flameZ's openers as well as a Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen 1v2 clutch, forcing the game to go to overtime, where they finished off the job at 19-17.