NIP best fnatic despite stand-in as Roobet Cup group stage continues

fnatic could not take advantage of Ninjas in Pyjamas playing without Ludvig "⁠Brollan⁠" Brolin.

Roobet Cup’s second day has concluded with Ninjas in Pyjamas, BIG, 9INE and Monte all securing wins in the opening games of Groups C and D. All teams are still in contention for a playoff spot however, with the GSL-style group stage giving teams a chance to recover in the elimination round.

The headline result saw Ninjas in Pyjamas take down fnatic 2-1 with Max "⁠maxster⁠" Jansson playing in place of Brollan, and the 19-year-old impressed with a server-leading 1.42 rating to help guide his team to victory.

The teams each took their own map pick, fnatic winning Inferno (13-9) before maxster came alive to carry Ninjas in Pyjamas to a win on Ancient (13-10). Then it was Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner who took centre stage, shrugging off a quiet first two maps to produce a monstrous 2.34-rated Overpass, securing an easy 13-2 win to close the series.

Ninjas in Pyjamas' announcement of the substitution said that maxster was standing in for tonight's game, but did not clarify if the youngster would continue to play further into the tournament.

The other game in Group D saw Monte brush aside OG with ease, comfortable wins on Mirage (13-5) and Anubis (13-7) granting them a 2-0 victory. Volodymyr "⁠Woro2k⁠" Veletniuk was in sublime form throughout, posting over 100 ADR on his way to a 1.72 series rating.

Ninjas in Pyjamas and Monte will now play each other in a playoff-qualifying matchup, whilst fnatic and OG will fight for their tournament lives.

Date	Matches
Roobet Cup 2023
28/10/2023	Monte 15:00 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match
28/10/2023	OG 18:00 fnatic	Match
26/10/2023	Monte Finished 2:0 OG	Match
26/10/2023	fnatic Finished 1:2 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match

Over in Group C, 9INE grabbed a 2-0 win over Astralis to kick off the day's play, taking the Danes down on Ancient (13-9) and Mirage (13-11).

It was a typical team performance that got 9INE over the line, as although Olek "⁠hades⁠" Miskiewicz topped the scoreboards for his side, four of the team posted 30-33 frags across the series. Astralis were troubled by an uncharacteristically poor showing by Nicolai "⁠device⁠" Reedtz, and Benjamin "⁠blameF⁠" Bremer's 1.33-rated efforts could not make up the difference.

BIG secured a 2-0 victory of their own in the other Group C matchup, defeating Apeks on Vertigo (13-7) and Anubis (16-13).

Karim "⁠Krimbo⁠" Moussa stood tall on the defensive side of Vertigo to ensure a comfortable score line after a tight first half, and he was joined by Johannes "⁠tabseN⁠" Wodarz and Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski in putting up big fragging performances on Anubis, hauling their team over the line in a hard-fought overtime game.

BIG and 9INE will do battle in the winners' match later in the group, whilst Astralis and Apeks fight to avoid early elimination.

Date	Matches
Roobet Cup 2023
28/10/2023	9INE 15:00 BIG	Match
28/10/2023	Astralis 18:35 Apeks	Match
26/10/2023	Astralis Finished 0:2 9INE	Match
26/10/2023	BIG Finished 2:0 Apeks	Match