NIP, HEROIC banished to Last Chance Stage at EPL

The two European sides saw their poor runs of form exacerbated in ESL Pro League's group stage.

HEROIC and Ninjas in Pyjamas will have to fight for their ESL Pro League lives in the Last Chance Stage after they lost their group stage lower bracket semi-finals to Sangal and FaZe, respectively.

Neither HEROIC nor Ninjas in Pyjamas were in good shape heading into ESL Pro League, the former having failed BLAST Premier Showdown and BetBoom Dacha Belgrade in recent weeks, whilst the latter count losses to GUN5, AMKAL and Monte among their recent resume.

Due to the results today HEROIC and Ninjas in Pyjamas will battle for their tournament lives in the Last Chance Stage, whilst FaZe will get to seek revenge for their opening game loss to Sangal in the lower bracket final, with a playoff berth on the line.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
06/09/2024	Sangal 16:45 FaZe	Match
07/09/2024	HEROIC 16:30 Ninjas in Pyjamas	Match

HEROIC crashed down to the Last Chance Stage after a disastrous performance on the favoured CT side of Nuke, letting an 11-3 lead slip through their fingers on the deciding map.

It was a hard-fought series across all three maps, with Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz and Abdul "⁠degster⁠" Gasanov driving HEROIC to an OT win on Mirage before Simon "⁠yxngstxr⁠" Boije and Yasin "⁠xfl0ud⁠" Koç answered back on Ancient to level the series.

Nuke seemed all but sealed after HEROIC backed up a strong T side with the first two rounds on their defensive effort but a woeful performance ensued, accentuated by repeated mid-round collapses, allowing Sangal to steal the series to send HEROIC to the Last Change Stage.

Ninjas in Pyjamas were also banished to the Last Chance Stage, pushing FaZe hard on the first two maps of their series before folding in the decider.

A 1.78-rated masterclass from David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský was not enough to prevent Ninjas in Pyjamas from clinching their own pick of Ancient, but an imperious CT side on Mirage allowed FaZe to send the series to a Dust2 decider.

FaZe truly awoke on the final map, Håvard "⁠rain⁠" Nygaard's vintage T-half performance the pick of the bunch as the European combine roared to an 11-1 halftime lead that was far too much for Ninjas in Pyjamas to overcome.

Earlier in the day G2 bested 3DMAX to earn a playoff spot, recovering from a loss on Anubis where their T side failed them to cruise to a 2-1 series win, while 9z comfortably dispelled Wildcard to the Last Chance Stage.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
05/09/2024	9z Finished 2:0 Wildcard	Match
05/09/2024	G2 Finished 2:1 3DMAX	Match

G2 will now contest MIBR for playoff seeding, 9z and 3DMAX will fight to avoid the Last Chance Stage, whilst Wildcard seek to avoid early tournament elimination against KOI.

Date	Matches
ESL Pro League Season 20
06/09/2024	9z 13:30 3DMAX	Match
06/09/2024	KOI 20:05 Wildcard	Match
08/09/2024	MIBR 19:30 G2	Match