NIP move past paiN in EPL Group C opener

Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin came alive on Vertigo with 32 kills to carry his side to a 2-0 victory over the Brazilians.

Ninjas in Pyjamas inaugurated their run through ESL Pro League Season 17's Group C with a 2-0 victory over paiN, casting the Brazilian roster down to the lower bracket of the triple-elimination group stage following 16-13 victories on Nuke and Vertigo.

Ninjas in Pyjamas made the trip to Malta shortly after their disappointing outing at IEM Katowice. The Nordic ensemble, who had recently signed the services of Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke and Daniil "⁠headtr1ck⁠" Valitov, bowed out of the Polish spectacle in 13-16th place after suffering back-to-back losses to Vitality and Outsiders.

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and company have seemingly made good use of their downtime since then, however, and now advance to the Group C upper bracket semi-final, where a win versus FaZe on Thursday at 19:30 would guarantee the side a playoff berth at the $850,000 LAN event.

Conversely, paiN showed signs of promise throughout the series and can be proud that they made the Nordic team work hard to take home the 2-0 victory. Alas, the Brazilians also took their eye off the ball at a number of key moments, with losses to low-investment buys, a notable area of weakness for the No. 30 team in the world.

An ace from k0nfig and his Dual Berettas in the pistol round got Nuke underway, but it was paiN who was able to nurture an early lead as 10 kills — and a 1vs3 clutch in round four — from Romeu "⁠zevy⁠" Rocco gifted the Brazilians an opening 4-2 score on the T-side. This advantage was soon whittled away once Ninjas in Pyjamas got rifles in hand; another ace, this time from Aleksib, allowed his team to take the lead 5-4, with the European side then using their new-found energy to put up a well-rounded defense to head into the interval sporting a three-round cushion.

Ninjas in Pyjamas continued their momentum when their T-side effort began, abusing Ramp three rounds on the trot to comfortably pass the double-digit marker, 12-6. The Ninjas were unable to convert their strong start on the attacking side, though, being outmaneuvered by a proactive Brazilian defense to have their lead slashed all the way down to 12-12. Alas, paiN's stellar comeback proved to all be in vain, as a rejuvenated Ninjas in Pyjamas — carried forward from a server-leading 24 frags from their Finnish captain — pulled a four-round spree out of their hat to close things out and steal away map one, 16-13.

paiN laid down the law at the outset of Vertigo, conditioning their opponents into unfavorable positions to cruise to a 4-0 lead on the defensive side. A crucial quad kill from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner on the A bombsite in round five got Ninjas in Pyjamas on the scoresheet, a play that flipped the game on its head and subsequently began a long streak of Nordic dominance. The Ninjas conceded just two rounds throughout the rest of the half, made possible thanks to a sublime performance from Brollan, who ended Ninjas in Pyjamas' T-side campaign with 21 kills to his name to allow the squad to boast a 9-6 advantage at the side swap.

paiN won the first two rounds of the second half to reduce the deficit, but a fumble to Ninjas in Pyjamas' pistols in round 18 gifted Aleksib's men a way back into the driver's seat all the way to map point, 15-9. paiN enjoyed a late-map revival courtesy of an in-your-face and aggressive T-side, and managed to bring things to within two, but were ultimately no match for Ninjas in Pyjamas — the Nordic outfit closed things out in round 29, with Brollan gunning down two to wrap up his 32-kill map, 16-13.