Ninjas in Pyjamas qualified for the $425,000 BLAST Premier Fall Finals in November following a 2-1 victory over G2 Esports today in the BLAST Premier Fall Group B upper bracket final.
It wasn’t easy by any means, though. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač had a formidable performance, finishing the CS:GO series with a 1.45 rating.
The Ninjas lost on Ancient (16-7), the first map of the series and one of their best picks as of late, and had to give it their all on Mirage (16-14) to take the action to Inferno. NiP really carried their momentum into the decider and had a dominant T side (11-4). Their two stars, Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz and Fredrik “REZ” Sterner, popped off and closed out the map 16-9.
G2 aren’t out of the tournament yet and will play against the winner of BIG vs. MIBR tomorrow for a spot in the BLAST Premier Fall Finals. They’re coming off a terrible performance in ESL Pro League season 14 where they left the competition in the group stage after five losses. It’s likely worrying for G2 fans that NiKo had one of his best performances of the year on Mirage (33-19 K/D) and that still wasn’t enough to push the team across the finish line.
BIG are clearly the favorites against MIBR, who are playing with two stand-ins, and they may have an edge over G2. The Germans are known to be one of the most tactical squads and NiKo and crew’s team play hasn’t been great since the summer player break.
