NiP avoid elimination with back-to-back comebacks

After Astralis' confident victory against Movistar Riders to secure themselves a spot in the Semi-finals of BLAST Premier Spring Showdown, it was time to find out which opponent they would be facing the day after tomorrow in the Semi-finals of the event. Locking horns in their own Quarter-final brawl were NiP and Bad News Eagles. It is perhaps no surprise that NiP were the favorites going into the Bo3-series, seeing that they are ranked quite a bit higher than the underdogs of Bad News Eagles. What was a surprise, however, was the performance from Bad News Eagles. With confidence, they managed to make NiP look completely discombobulated on Mirage and to force an incredible comeback from the Scandinavians on Ancient. Ultimately it all came down to the third and final map. After their crucial comeback on Ancient, NiP found themselves behind again on Inferno. Once again the Scandinavians managed an incredible comeback and took home the series 2-1.

The first map of the Bo3-series was picked by Bad News Eagles and saw the brawl kick off on Mirage. Whilst it wasn't a big surprise that Bad News Eagles opted for Mirage as their map pick, seeing that they are currently sitting on a 71% to NiP's 43% win-rate in the past three months (7 maps), it is still a map that is known to favor players with great mechanical skill, players such as NiP's superstar "REZ". The threat of "REZ", however, never came to be a reality. Instead, it was Bad News Eagles to take control over Mirage from the get-go. A great T-sided half concluded with Bad News Eagles in the lead at 9-6. If the second half showed a promising Bad News Eagles, the second half was spectacular. Not allowing NiP to take home a single round on their T-side of Mirage, Bad News Eagles silenced the Scandinavians and took home the victory on Mirage at the scoreline of 16-6.

The second map of the Bo3-series was, of course, picked by NiP and meant a trip to the Jungle for the second map of the series. Ancient is a map that NiP have picked into a fair bit and a map where, if allowed, "hampus" can be a real headache for his opponents with aggressive plays, creative lurks, and punishing rotations. Starting on their T-side, the theme from Mirage continued as NiP had trouble finding a way through the defense of Bad News Eagles. Carrying over their momentum from Mirage, an early lead was established by the Bad News Eagles boys. At the scoreline of 11-4, it seemed as if Bad News Eagles had already managed to post an incredible upset against NiP. This, however, wasn't the case. As bad as their T-side had been, as impressive was the CT-side of NiP. Stringing round after round together, the Scandinavians were able to force a third and final map by taking Ancient at the scoreline of 16-12.

The third and final map of the Bo3-series was decided to be Inferno, notorious for being the deciding factor in any great Bo3-series. After the impressive comeback on Ancient, NiP had proven that perhaps they had finally woken up. This, however, didn't seem to be the case once Inferno got underway. This time starting on their CT-side, NiP were challenged by an aggressive Bad News Eagles roster from start to finish in the first half. The offense of Bad News Eagles managed to secure an even bigger lead this time at halftime. At the scoreline of 12-3, NiP had to muster up yet another incredible comeback to avoid elimination from the event. Whilst it seemed almost impossible for NiP to do what they had just on Ancient once again on Inferno, it slowly but surely became a reality. A close to perfect T-sided half sent Bad News Eagles in turmoil and at the scoreline of 13-13 things were all tied up between the two rosters. At the scoreline of 15-15, overtime was needed to find a victor between the two rosters. Feeling themselves more than ever, NiP closed out overtime with confidence and managed to claim the victory at the scoreline of 19-17.

Highlight of the Bo3-series

NiP – Bad News Eagles 2-1 | BLAST Premier Spring Showdown 2022 Europe

6-16 (Mirage) |  sinnopsyy - 2.00 Rating / 26-11 K-D / 120.8 ADR

16-12 (Ancient) |  REZ - 1.54 Rating / 30-17 K-D / 111.8 ADR

19-17 (Inferno) |  Brollan - 1.53 Rating / 31-20 K-D / 102.3 ADR

MVP:  Frederik "REZ" Sterner - 1.34 Rating / 79-56 K-D / 97.3 ADR