fnatic decimate NIP in EPL opening match

The Swedes were barely seen on the server as fnatic lay waste to them 16-4 on Ancient and Overpass.

fnatic have gotten off to a blistering start in ESL Pro League Season 16, annihilating Ninjas in Pyjamas in one of the most one-sided series of the year at a top level thus far. The Swedish team were offered no respite and were at the mercy of unrelenting aggression from the international squad on both Ancient and Overpass, with Nico "⁠nicoodoz⁠" Tamjidi and Dion "⁠FASHR⁠" Derksen stepping up on the first map and Fredrik "⁠roeJ⁠" Jørgensen joining in on the latter to help their side cruise to victory.

"It's a lot of confidence in the team," William "⁠mezii⁠" Merriman explained of the dominant win after the match. "We've built a really good team atmosphere and everyone is having fun. We said before the game 'just play with confidence and we'll see what happens,' and it turned out well."

It was the nicoodoz and FASHR show on Ancient, the two players leading the charge on the T side of fnatic's map pick as they took an early lead. Ninjas in Pyjamas's first round win was immediately responded to by a 1vs2 clutch by roeJ, keeping fnatic in control, and dominance from their side just continued with Ninjas in Pyjamas managing just three more rounds for the entirety of the map before it was closed out, 16-4. nicoodoz was at the forefront of the victory, posting a 2.04 rating and finding six first kills en route to a 25-11 K-D, but FASHR was not far behind, ending the map with a 21-9 K-D and 1.68 rating of his own.

Overpass was even more lopsided as constant aggression, stacks, and information plays from fnatic left Ninjas in Pyjamas next to no room to maneuver. Attempts to default were picked apart by the stellar fragging and trading of fnatic's individuals, and straight up bombsite attacks were immediately flanked or stacked against in a half that ended with fnatic up 14-1, Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin winning a 1vs3 just before the side swap to deny the complete sweep. Hampus "⁠hampus⁠" Poser's troops added three to that tally after moving to defense, but the map was well and done before that, a masterclass from fnatic shutting things down in swift fashion.