Bad News Eagles and ECSTATIC took to the server for a chance to go to the semi-final at Pinnacle Cup IV. On paper, the Eagles were the favorites but ECSTATIC proved themselves in a big way.

ECSTATIC took the opening pistol round of the Eagles' pick of Dust2. The fun didn't last long though, as BNE only allowed them to take three more rounds throughout the entire game. It was almost not surprising that ECSTATIC only managed to take four rounds, seeing as "juanflatroo" and "sinnopsyy" were absolutely devastating them.

The second map of Vertigo was somehow even more one-sided than Dust2, but this time it was ECSTATIC who did the damage. "birdfromsky" started out very hot, and was soon accompanied by star player "FASHR" who played lights-out throughout the entire game. Noone from the Eagles really found their usual high individual level, which resulted in one measly round at the end of the map.

After that devastating loss on Vertigo, "juanflatroo" was once again ready to take the heads off of the ECSTATIC players. He led them to a 6-1 T side start, but suddenly they had their momentum broken by back-to-back aces, first from "XELLOW" and then from "FASHR". ECSTATIC pulled some rounds back before the break but were definitely not happy as they were down by one round at halftime.

After being down at the half, ECSTATIC pulled a rabbit out of the hat and started the second half with a six-round streak. They kept up the good play and by way of some great calls and "FASHR" doing what he does best, ECSTATIC took down the Eagles while only allowing them 4 CT rounds.

Bad News Eagles - ECSTATIC 1-2 | Pinnacle Cup IV

16-4 (Dust2) | {cflag:XK} juanflatroo - 1.90 Rating / 23-9 K-D / 121.3 ADR

1-16 (Vertigo) | {cflag:NL} FASHR - 2.11 Rating / 22-8 K-D / 139.6 ADR

12-16 (Ancient) | {cflag:NL} FASHR - 1.73 Rating / 33-18 K-D / 117.6 ADR

MVP: {cflag:NL} Dion "FASHR" Derksen - 1.54 Rating / 68-40 K-D / 104.9 ADR

juanflatroo

sinnopsyy

FASHR

birdfromsky

XELLOW

Bad News Eagles

ECSTATIC

It was all-or-nothing for both MIBR and Bad News Eagles on the fourth and final day of the Challengers Stage at PGL Antwerpen Major.

For Bad News Eagles the match started brilliantly with Rigon "rigoN" Gashi’s crisp USB, who took down four MIBR players in six shots in round one. A performance that pushed his teammates to a stellar first half that left MIBR with a mountain to climb going down 11-4 on their own map pick, Nuke. But then it was MIBR’s turn on the CT side. And suddenly the momentum shifted and the Brazilians ran over the Balkan roster and stole away the map with a 16-13 win.

On Ancient it was again Bad News Eagles who started best. Dionis 'sinnopsyy' Budeci gave a monster performance to deny MIBR the 2-0 victory. The in-game leader averaged 124 damage pr. round during the map that ended one-sided in favor of BNE.

The decider map was Vertigo. A rare sight as a decider, but it was here the two rosters had to settle the score. With nine of the ten players on the two rosters making their debuts at a Major, it was safe to say, that this encounter on Vertigo was the biggest and most important map for almost all of the players on the server. Marcelo 'chelo' Cespedes was the only player with previous experience in a Major.

But as seen in the clip below, it was not something that seemed to have a big impact on the players.

For the third time today, Bad News Eagles got off to a good start leading 9-6 at the break. Quickly MIBR made it 9-9, but then Bad News Eagles won five rounds in a row to give themselves a prime position to seal the deal. Despite chelo's best efforts, it was not enough for MIBR. The Brazilians could not keep up with the Balkan boys, who does the unthinkable and qualified for the Legends Stage without an organization. 

Bad News Eagles - MIBR 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

13-16 (Nuke) | {cflag:CH} rigoN - 1.36 Rating / 28-22 K-D / 94.7 ADR

16-8 (Ancient) | {cflag:XK} sinnopsyy - 1.66 Rating / 26-16 K-D / 124.0 ADR

16-10 (Vertigo) | {cflag:BR} chelo - 1.52 Rating / 26-18 K-D / 108.3 ADR

MVP: {cflag:CH} Rigon "rigoN" Gashi - 1.41 Rating / 75-58 K-D / 96.1 ADR

rigoN

MIBR

The B-stream of PGL Antwerp Major kicked off with an early key match between Bad News Eagles and Eternal Fire. Both teams are expected to be in the pool of teams that could go 3-1 or 3-2 at the Challenger Stage of the Major.

Dust2 was chosen as the fighting ground for the rosters, who have faced each other one time before with the Turks in the driver's seat.

It was however Bad News Eagles, who found themselves ahead early on. A 6-1 lead was established after a superb start from Dionis "sinnopsyy" Budeci. The Major debutants from Kosovo could not hold on to the big lead, and had to settle with an 8-7 score at the break.

In the second half, the Balkan Eagles stepped up again. With the margins on their side, BNE began to extend its lead once again in a very intense half. Eternal Fire did everything they could to hang on, but Bad News Eagles prevailed in the end and won the map and match.

Both teams will be back in action later today.

Bad News Eagles – Eternal Fire 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp Challengers Stage

16-14 (Dust2) | {cflag:TR} Özgür 'woxic' Eker – 1.37 Rating / 23-16 K-D / 89.7 ADR

woxic

Eternal Fire

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. 

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) | {cflag:SE} REZ - 1.54 Rating / 30-17 K-D / 111.8 ADR

19-17 (Inferno) | {cflag:SE} Brollan - 1.53 Rating / 31-20 K-D / 102.3 ADR

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

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Ninjas in Pyjamas

A huge celebration was in order after Bad News Eagles secured their spot at the Antwerp Major with a 2-1 win against SINNERS.

The Balkan team has been one of the positive surprises at the European RMR event and could complete their journey with a qualification for the upcoming Major. The only team that stood in their way was SINNERS. The Czech team had taken down Spirit and HEET at the tournament and was also looking to represent their home country in the biggest CS:GO tournament on the calendar.

The match started upside down. On BNE’s map pick, it was SINNERS who were the better team. The Czechs won both halves to take don Mirage 16-10. On Nuke it was the other way around. Bad News Eagles played a perfect CT-half and dominated their opponents leading 12-3 at the break before converting it to a 16-6 map win.

The mother of all decider maps, Inferno was left as the ultimate decider for the most important match of all ten players on the server, who had never attended a Major before. And Inferno delivered! Right from the get-go, it was a back and forth game of Counter-Strike. SINNERS took a 9-6 lead at the break, but could not hold on to the lead in the second half. Bad News Eagles grinded their way back into the match and made history with a 16-14 victory on Inferno to secure a win and qualification for the Major in Antwerp!

Bad News Eagles - SINNERS 2-1 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR B

10-16 (Mirage) | NEOFRAG - 1.45 Rating / 28-17 K-D / 110.6 ADR

16-6 (Nuke) | sinnopsyy - 1.69 Rating / 20-15 K-D / 129.6 ADR

16-14 (Inferno) | juanflatroo - 1.29 Rating / 24-18 K-D / 80.4 ADR

MVP: {cflag:CZ} Adam 'NEOFRAG' Zouhar - 1.24 Rating / 66-58 K-D / 93.1 ADR

NEOFRAG

SinnerS

The second matchup of the 1-0 teams was the battle between Ninjas in Pyjamas and Bad News Eagles, who went head-to-head on Ancient.

NIP showed right from the get-go why they were the heavy favorites in this Bo1. Starting on the heavily favored CT side, a hot and fiery "REZ" led his team to a colossal 9-0 lead. The Bad News Eagles, who at times looked lost for answers and a bit uncoordinated, only managed to take two rounds before the break, putting them in a really tough spot as they switch to the CT-side.

It turned out that all the Bad News Eagles needed was to get on the CT-side, because as soon as they did everything looked much smoother for the Kosovars. The Eagles impressively pulled 9 rounds back with "sinnopsyy" doing an extremely stellar job in the fragging department, before the Ninjas were able to close the game at 16-11.

NIP now join the Players at 2-0, while the Eagles go to the 1-1 bracket.

NIP - Bad News Eagles 1-0 | PGL Major Antwerp 2022 Europe RMR B

16-11 (Inferno) | {cflag:SE} REZ - 1.97 Rating / 33-12 K-D / 116.0 ADR

	30 days	90 days
Fixture count	9	20
Maps count	15	35

sinnopsyy

Player stats

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