NIP send Heroic to Group A lower bracket in Cologne

Ninjas in Pyjamas now await the winner of Natus Vincere and MOUZ's quarter-final series to determine their semi-final opponent.

IEM Cologne is now well and truly underway, with Ninjas in Pyjamas and HEROIC being two of the first to battle it out in their opening group stage matchup. At the end of two maps, the Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser-led side emerged victorious over their Danish rivals, winning 16-13 on Ancient, and 16-13 on Inferno.

On the other hand, HEROIC's IEM Cologne journey has gotten off to a bumpy start after being swept by Ninjas in Pyjamas in the upper bracket. The result means they will play in Group A's lower bracket, requiring a flawless run from here on to keep their campaign alive at the million-dollar tournament. Only one team out of HEROIC, G2, and the loser of Vitality - ENCE will be able to advance to the playoffs through the lower-bracket gauntlet.

NIP's captain, hampus, had a solid series

Ancient saw a lot of firepower on dsplay early on, as both squads reached a 3-3 scoreline with Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin and Rasmus "⁠sjuush⁠" Beck leading the way for their teams in the kills department. Ninjas in Pyjamas were then able to pull ahead slightly thanks to their successful B site defense and effective utility usage, before HEROIC's attack recovered and brought the game back to a 6-6 stalemate. Up until the very last round of the half, neither side gave in and in the end it was Ninjas in Pyjamas who secured the narrow 8-7 lead heading into the break.

HEROIC took over the lead coming out of the break with back-to-back rounds scored, and were also looking good to take the 18th before Patrick "⁠es3tag⁠" Hansen clutched a 1vs2 afterplant situation, levelling the score once again at 9-9. After that, the Danes collapsed and Ninjas in Pyjamas continued to find their way onto site with relative ease against HEROIC's defense, finding match point at 15-10. While the Danes put up a valiant effort towards the end, Casper "⁠cadiaN⁠" Møller's crew couldn't do much to prevent hampus and company from wrapping up Ancient, 16-13.

Over on Inferno, Ninjas in Pyjamas immediately showcased their dominance and T side prowess as HEROIC struggled to find an answer for anything the Ninjas threw their way, with the majority Swedish roster cruising to a swift 7-0 lead. Right when everything seemed to be going their opponents' way, HEROIC winning five consecutive rounds to bring them right back into the game behind Jakob "⁠jabbi⁠" Nygaard and sjuush's impactful fragging, reducing Ninjas in Pyjamas's lead to two. Not allowing the Danes to completely erase their advantage, hampus' men fought back to claim the last three rounds of the half and a 10-5 score at the switch.

After swapping sides, HEROIC's offense went on a tear, deleting Ninjas in Pyjamas's five-round advantage as the scoreline stood equal at 10-10. The subsequent rounds would be extremely close between both teams, however it was ultimately Ninjas in Pyjamas who were able to close out both Inferno and the series, spearheaded by the captain himself, hampus, along with Nicolas "⁠Plopski⁠" Gonzalez Zamora's round-defining kills.

IEM Cologne 2022Best of 3

Ninjas in Pyjamas

Matchpage

2

0

7th July 2022

HEROIC

16

Ancient

13

16

Inferno

13

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus	52 - 35	+17	97.3	75.9%	1.40
Patrick 'es3tag' Hansenes3tag	45 - 28	+17	65.5	86.2%	1.36
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	35 - 42	-7	64.7	69.0%	0.93
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski	29 - 35	-6	63.7	72.4%	0.91
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	29 - 43	-14	73.0	67.2%	0.84

HEROIC	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Martin 'stavn' Lundstavn	39 - 33	+6	81.4	79.3%	1.23
René 'TeSeS' MadsenTeSeS	42 - 39	+3	75.1	77.6%	1.13
Jakob 'jabbi' Nygaardjabbi	36 - 40	-4	68.2	67.2%	0.93
Rasmus 'sjuush' Becksjuush	36 - 38	-2	65.4	65.5%	0.92
Casper 'cadiaN' MøllercadiaN	29 - 40	-11	60.4	65.5%	0.84