NIP moves on at IEM Winter, OG out

The last elimination match of the day featured Ninjas in Pyjamas and OG. The last couple of times the teams have faced each other it has been OG that have had the upper hand, but this time it was the Ninjas' turn to come out as the winners.

”Aleksib” and OG chose that the first battleground of the match was to be Inferno, a map on which both teams are well-versed.
OG, starting on the T-side, started out best with lots of convincing openers and site-takes that prompted several immediate save calls from the Ninjas. OG managed to bring themselves to an 8-3 scoreline without ever really being able to break the bank of NIP due to all the saves. The Danish/Swedish combo was luckily able to pull some rounds back before halftime and were able to go into the second half with more confidence and an 8-7 scoreline.
NIP were able to take the lead early in the second half, but there was never much separation between the teams, who looked extremely evenly matched. After a very back-and-forth map, NIP were able to bring it to map point at 15-12. OG were able to take one round more before they were laid to rest by the Ninjas at 16-13.

NIP picked into Ancient as the second map, maybe a targeted pick as OG have only played this map in three official matches.
After the narrow loss on Inferno OG looked hungry early on, as they devoured the NIP offense. They made it very clear from the start, that this is not a weak map for them. With a little bit of a lackluster performance from “mantuu” and “flameZ” on Inferno it seemed like they had something to prove on Ancient, as they in combination with “valde” led the team to an 11-4 lead at halftime.
The Ninjas wanted to close the match out in two maps, so they started mounding a comeback, grinding away the rounds from OG one at a time. OG were still the first to reach map point at 15-12, and they closed the game at 16-13.

The third and final map to be played was Nuke which saw OG start as the terrorist while NIP would be defending.
The hot hand from the start of this third map was one attached to “device”, who led the way for his team to take a commanding 8-0 lead. OG were able to answer back in a small way, but then “REZ” stepped up to the plate and silenced them completely, leading the Ninjas to a halftime lead of 13-2.
OG managed to pick up the first three rounds of the second half, making a comeback look more plausible. But it was too little too late from the OG boys as the Scandinavian Ninjas only had to win a stray round here and there. NIP win Nuke 16-8.

With the result, OG is eliminated at IEM Winter 2021, while NIP will face Team Liquid tomorrow in the Group A Lower Final.

Highlight of the BO3-series:

NIP – OG (2-1) | IEM Winter 2021 

16-13 (Inferno) |

Plopski – 1.44 Rating / 26-19 K-D / 90.7 ADR

13-16 (Ancient) |

mantuu – 1.44 Rating / 27-15 K-D / 95.5 ADR

16-8 (Nuke) |

REZ – 1.63 Rating / 22-11 K-D / 90.8 ADR

IEM Winter 2021 overview – BIG vs. GODSENT (1-2)

16-9 (Inferno) |

syrsoN – 1.56 Rating / 27-14 K-D / 93.6 ADR

12-16 (Mirage) |

syrsoN – 1.50 Rating / 26-17 K-D / 96.9 ADR

12-16 (Nuke) |

dumau – 1.44 Rating / 24-15 K-D / 97.5 ADR