Ninjas In Pyjamas secured their qualifying spot in the FACEIT Major alongside OpTic Gaming.
NiP faced OpTic Gaming during the Europe Minor Championship on July 22. While OpTic Gaming has a strong showing, NiP proved to hold the competitive edge and shut out Optic during the finals.
Throughout the entire tournament, NiP were looked at as a strong contender for qualification. Beating both Sprout and ENCE during their road to the finals put NiP in position to succeed. The team was confident in their strategy, especially when defending as CTs.
During the semifinals, NiP and OpTic faced off for the first time. OpTic’s Jakob “JUGI” Hansen and Nicklas ‘gade’ Gade’s used strong aggression to force NIP into the lower bracket with a 2-1 series victory.
When it came time for the two teams to face each other once more in the finals, NiP was ready. The first game was held on Dust2 and saw NiP carry an 8-7 lead into the second half before taking over entirely. Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson finished the game with 28 kills. Lekr0’s uncontested dominance helped NiP to a 16-8 victory.
Game two was held on Nuke. The second game followed a similar narrative, with both Fredrick “REZ” Sterner and Dennis “dennis” Edman stepping up for the Ninjas. Their combined efforts along allowed NiP to take Nuke with little resistance, 16-7.
The Swedish team’s pair of map wins allotted them the grand prize of $30,000.
Though Optic was unable to defeat NIP a second time at the European Minor, the team will have a chance at revenge when both squads return to London for the FACEIT Major in September.
