Gambit eliminate Vitality, NIP knock out MOUZ in Katowice

Both Ninjas in Pyjamas and Gambit were comfortably the better sides in their series, with Vitality in particular disappointing.

The two Group A lower bracket semi-finals, featuring Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. MOUZ and Gambit vs. Vitality, ran similar courses, ending 2-0 and featuring a blowout map and a closer one each.

Despite having Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen back behind them after a period of absence, Vitality were still crushed on the opener of Mirage, and Gambit got the better of a tight Inferno by virtue of stellar mid-round calling. Ninjas in Pyjamas took home a reasonably close Vertigo before stomping MOUZ on Ancient.

The much-anticipated matchup between Vitality and Gambit began with the Russian squad's pick of Mirage, and they opened with an outstanding T side. Vitality picked up the pistol and converted, grabbing a couple more in a back-and-forth exchange to get to five, but once Gambit got their economy in order, they began to take over the map.

With a style much like a boa constrictor they methodically squeezed the map and picked apart Vitality's defence, with Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut noticeably poor for the French-Danish squad, leading to a solid 10-5 lead for Gambit.

The Russians picked up the pistol and converted to 13 at the start of the second period, and really it was only a matter of time before they closed the map. Vitality managed to pick up a couple of rounds, but the map quickly ended 16-7 in Gambit's favour; ZywOo posted the worst map of his LAN career here with three frags, 25 ADR and a 0.32 rating.

A beautiful game of chess took place on Inferno in the first half, with Vitality on their T side, as Gambit opted to try and manoeuvre into the right setups to counter the executes rather than get tangled in early aggression. They traded rounds evenly, with the half ending in a narrow 8-7 victory for Vitality on their map pick; had Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen clinched one of two 1v4 clutches he nearly won in the middle of the half, it may have been a different story.

Vitality won the second half pistol and converted to give themselves some breathing room on the CT side, but once again when the economy was back under control, Gambit began to turn the screw. They grabbed five rounds in a row before Vitality stopped them, but the economy had grown such that Vitality were facing constant buys and pressure on their defence. This pressure, combined with some beautiful mid-round calling from Gambit, was too much for the French-Danish squad and they fell to a disappointing 16-12 loss.

Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov deserves special mention for an outstanding series, posting many high impact rounds and finishing with over 100 ADR and a 1.47 rating to top the scoreboards. As for Vitality this was a disappointing showing, particularly from their star player ZywOo, and they will need to go back to the drawing board if this series is anything to go by.

MOUZ opened their pick of Vertigo on the T side and started well, getting to a 5-1 lead off the back of Nathan "⁠NBK-⁠" Schmitt and Jon "⁠JDC⁠" de Castro cracking open the rounds. Ninjas in Pyjamas recovered once they regained control of their own economy, with Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner in particular stepping up as they put up a wall on defence, grabbing eight of the next nine rounds to close out the half with a 9-6 lead.

The Ninjas grabbed the second pistol and converted to put themselves up at 12-6, realistically leaving MOUZ with too much to do on their T side, and despite some rounds traded back and forth Ninjas in Pyjamas did eventually close the map 16-11; the 17:10 first kill score in their favour was key for the Ninjas.

Ninjas in Pyjamas started their pick of Ancient on the unfavoured T side, but set about putting together an excellent offense. They first had to overcome a 2-0 MOUZ lead off the back off the pistol which they quickly did, the entire team contributing impact as they racked up a 9-6 half win with MOUZ not looking comfortable at all on CT; Love "⁠phzy⁠" Smidebrant deserves a mention for his stellar rifle work throughout the half.

MOUZ couldn't win the second half pistol which was mandatory if they wanted to put up a fight on this map, and as such the Ninjas comfortably closed this one out with seven CT rounds straight, a 16-6 score reflecting their dominance.

As a result of these matches Gambit will take on Ninjas in Pyjamas in the lower bracket final of Group A on Sunday at 16:00 , with a spot in the playoffs on the line.