Ninjas in Pyjamas reach Grand final at IEM Winter without device

Ninjas in Pyjamas have claimed the second grand final spot at IEM Winter following a hard-fought 2-1 victory over NiKo and company from G2 in the semi-finals of the event. REZ and company will be facing off against the Frenchmen from Team Vitality in the Grand final on Sunday at 16:00 (CET). The winner of the Grand final will take home $100.000 with them.

The French-Balkan mixture kicked off the game on the right foot, storming to a 0-6 CT-side lead before the Ninjas added three of their own to the scoreboard. Despite some good efforts from NiP who tried to approach the following rounds with more aggression, they were only able to grab another two rounds before halftime due to a strong G2 defense. When the two sides switched, G2 tried to quickly run away from the Ninjas as they hit 9-13 on the board, until REZ and company did the unexpected and climbed their way back into the game, ending up leading by one round at 14-13. Moments after, the Ninjas hit match point before G2 pushed the game to overtime where NiP didn’t let go of their second chance to take the first map of the series, closing out Nuke 19-16.

On Dust2, G2 meant business and they quickly made it clear that they had no intentions of letting this one go their opponents way, as they finished off the first half with a massive 12-3 lead after a stellar T-side. NiP on the other hand, did everything in their power to not get completely demolished by G2, and early on in the second half they made it clear by ripping apart G2’s defense in several rounds. The Ninjas won seven rounds in a row and closed the game to just 2 rounds. But unfortunately for them, G2 kept their composure and denied the comeback by winning four rounds in a row to take the map 16-10 and force the decider.

The decider of Inferno witnessed another close game, but it was NiP who closed out the deal in the very end and wrapped up the series 2-1 to lock in a spot in the Grand final where Vitality awaits.

Nuke: 19-16 | NiKo – 1.47 Rating / 34-28 K-D / 107.9 ADR
Dust2: 10-16 | huNter – 1.54 Rating / 27-14 K-D / 99.0 ADR
Inferno: 16-14 | huNter – 1.49 Rating / 29-18 K-D / 104.5 ADR

MVP:

Nikola “NiKo” Kovac – 1.33 Rating / 80-65 K-D / 98.4 ADR / 72.5% KAST

The Grand final will begin tomorrow at 16:00 (CET).