NIP eliminate OG from ESL Pro League Season 17

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen's men will face off against the winner of Grayhound vs. 00NATION for a spot in the playoffs.

Ninjas in Pyjamas have kept themselves alive in the last chance bracket of ESL Pro League Season 17 Group C, ousting OG from the competition in the process following a 2-0 series victory (16-11 Vertigo, 22-18 Mirage).

The Swedish organization made their way past the side playing with Nikolaj "⁠niko⁠" Kristensen as a stand-in with a dominant showing on the CT side of Vertigo, but were made to work for the victory on Mirage, a map that came down to the wire and consisted of messy Counter-Strike from both teams.

Ninjas in Pyjamas will need to keep their momentum going if they hope to qualify for the playoffs of ESL Pro League Season 17. They have one match standing between them and that goal on Sunday at 19:30 , where they will either face 00NATION, or go up against Grayhound in a rematch of the lower bracket game where the Australian side had come out victorious.

Ninjas in Pyjamas got the better of OG at the onset of Vertigo, a three-round spree off the back of a pistol round victory helping Aleksib's men establish a foothold on the attack. That foothold quickly crumbled, however, and it was instead OG who gained the upper hand on the CT side thanks to a handful of multi-kill rounds from Shahar "⁠flameZ⁠" Shushan and Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov. That defensive dominance continued for much of the first half as NIP failed to consistently make their way onto bombsites, allowing OG to muster a firm 10-5 lead heading into their own attacking effort.

A pistol round victory from Ninjas in Pyjamas was swiftly responded to by OG, and it seemed like the map could be due for an early finish. degster's side failed to convert on their advantage, though, and the momentum they had held throughout the map began to fizzle out. Stalwart B site holds from Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner and relentless early round aggression from Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin repeatedly shut down OG's efforts to fight for control on the map, and NIP looked unstoppable as they shut down their opponent's defaults and won ten rounds in a row en route to a 16-11 finish.

OG showcased better form on the T side of their own map pick, Mirage, coming out on top of a brawl in the early stages of the map to establish a 6-3 lead. Back-to-back triple kill rounds from Kristian "⁠k0nfig⁠" Wienecke allowed NIP to turn the tides and briefly tie up the match, but OG maintained their edge heading into the side swap by piecing together three final rounds for a 9-6 scoreline as they moved to the defense.

Another three rounds off the break pushed OG up to a 12-6 lead, and again victory seemed to be within reach for degster's side. Messy Counter-Strike and an inability to come out on top of strong trading from Ninjas in Pyjamas' individuals left OG destitute once again and gave Aleksib's side the chance to fight back from the deficit, and though OG attained match point at 15-12 and even sat upon a 4vs2 advantage on round 30, the Ninjas managed to push the map to overtime, where they eventually came out victorious 22-18 after a flawless CT-side effort in the second set of extra rounds.