Ninjas in Pyjamas secure spot at the BLAST Paris Major

BIG were relegated to the Last Chance Qualifier bracket after leaving the Swiss group with a 2-3 record.

Ninjas in Pyjamas became the latest team to quality for the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 after taking down BIG 2-0. The European mix took their map pick of Vertigo (16-11) before going all the way to double-overtime on Mirage (22-20) to close the series.

Aleksi "⁠Aleksib⁠" Virolainen and company will start their journey at the last CS:GO Major from the Challengers Stage after going 3-2 in the Swiss group of the RMR, counting victories over Eternal Fire, Astralis, and BIG. Meanwhile, the Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz-led squad will have to go through the Last Chance Qualifier, where they will face either B8, Falcons, or FaZe in the first round of play.

REZ and headtr1ck were the two standout players for NIP against BIG

Ninjas in Pyjamas is one of the most decorated teams in Major history, appearing in the grand final at all of the first five Valve-sponsored events between 2013-2015 and with a trophy from ESL One Cologne 2014. Their attendance in Paris will mark the organization's seventeenth appearance at a Major over their ten-year history in Global Offensive as they only missed out on the PGL Krakow 2017 and ELEAGUE Boston 2018.

Their last outing at IEM Rio 2022 saw the European squad crash out of the Legends Stage with a 0-3 record following losses to fnatic, Outsiders, and Sprout. The team now has the opportunity to shake off their failure from Rio and put out a better performance in Paris, ahead of the switch to Counter-Strike 2.

The qualification run for Daniel "⁠djL⁠" Narancic's team saw them face off against Eternal Fire, FORZE, and Vitality in the first three matches, losing against the Russians and Danny "⁠zonic⁠" Sørensen's men. Ninjas in Pyjamas then made quick work of Astralis in the 1-2 match, before securing their ticket to the Major against BIG, sending the German squad to the gauntlet stage.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR BBest of 3

BIG

Matchpage

0

2

14th April 2023

Ninjas in Pyjamas

11

Vertigo

16

20

Mirage

22

BIG	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Nils 'k1to' Gruhnek1to	48 - 50	-2	79.7	69.6%	1.12
Marcel 'hyped' Köhnhyped	50 - 46	+4	67.8	71.0%	1.05
Johannes 'tabseN' WodarztabseN	41 - 52	-11	80.5	62.3%	0.94
Josef 'faveN' BaumannfaveN	47 - 47	0	63.7	65.2%	0.94
Karim 'Krimbo' MoussaKrimbo	39 - 47	-8	67.6	69.6%	0.87

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	KAST	Rating2.0
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	53 - 39	+14	83.9	71.0%	1.24
Daniil 'headtr1ck' Valitovheadtr1ck	54 - 43	+11	75.1	72.5%	1.17
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan	46 - 45	+1	75.7	72.5%	1.11
Kristian 'k0nfig' Wieneckek0nfig	48 - 50	-2	78.2	69.6%	1.06
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib	40 - 48	-8	67.2	73.9%	0.90

The current list of teams qualified for the BLAST.tv Paris Major is:

Legends stage
HEROIC
Natus Vincere
FURIA
fnatic
Bad News Eagles
Into the Breach
9INE

TBD
G2
Vitality
Monte

Challengers stage
Liquid
MOUZ
paiN
FORZE
OG
Complexity
Ninjas in Pyjamas
Grayhound
GamerLegion
The MongolZ
Apeks
Fluxo