ropz behind huge FaZe comeback at BLAST Fall Finals
NIP had everything in their hands but lost everything on the floor against FaZe.
Ninjas in Pyjamas is perhaps the hardest team to predict in modern Counter-Strike. The Swedish Ninjas are constantly performing against the odds, and today they did it again.
Against FaZe in the Semi-Finals at BLAST Fall Finals in front of a packed Royal Arena, NIP proved, that they can beat the best, but also melt down when least expected.
The match got kickstarted by in-game leader Aleksi 'Aleksib' Virolainen, who not only called a superb map but also came through individually with a huge performance on Overpass. NIP won seven T rounds on the CT heavy map, and got the job done in the second half with a stellar CT side winning 16-11.
FaZe had picked Nuke as the second map of the match. At 6-1 up everything looked according to plan, but then NIP won all of the remaining eight rounds of the half to take the lead 9-6. Royal Arena went quiet, as the desperation of the faces of rain, broky, and Twistzz started to tell the story of another downfall of the tournament favorites, who has had a nightmarish second half of the season after winning everything in the first six months of the year.
Robin "ropz" Kool was the only player that gave NIP problems. The Estonian kept FaZe in the match at 7-14 down and helped his team initiate a last-minute comeback. FaZe made it all the way back to 14-14 before NIP finally broke the streak. In the 30th and final round, NIP had a 5vs3 situation to seal the match, but once again it was ropz standing tall on the B-site to deny NIP the victory in regulation. In overtime, FaZe had regained enough composure to seal their map. So Mirage had to come into use as the decider map.
Here FaZe was clearly the better team, and what could have been a huge upset win for NIP turned into a story about missed chances. The Swedish Ninjas had every opportunity to close the match out on Nuke, but will instead have to watch the Grand Final from a distance, as FaZe won Mirage and the match.
FaZe will now face Heroic in the Grand Final tomorrow at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen.
FaZe – Ninjas in Pyjamas 2-1| BLAST Premier Fall Finals
11-16 (Overpass) 
Aleksib – 1.36 Rating / 23-13 K-D / 87.2 ADR
19-17 (Nuke) | 
ropz – 1.42 Rating / 33-19 K-D / 91.6 ADR
16-8 (Nuke) | 
broky – 1.54 Rating / 25-11 K-D / 91.1 ADR
MVP: Helvijs "broky" Saukants - 1.30 Rating / 74-51 K-D / 84.1 ADR
