Ninjas in Pyjamas on brink of elimination after losing to Liquid at ESL One Los Angeles Online

Team Liquid won their first series of the ESL One Los Angeles Online league earlier today. Squaring off against Ninjas in Pyjamas, Liquid won two straight games to break their losing streak at the competition.

Liquid was 0-5 through the group stage, and had the curious record of losing every game two in the competition until now. They won the first game four times before losing the next two, except for when they got swept vs. Team Secret.

NiP is now on the brink of elimination. Ppd’s team is 2-4 in the standings, with Alliance directly above them at 3-3. NiP prevailed over Alliance previously in the groups, however, so the tiebreak series favors them. Should NiP win vs. Team Spirit and Alliance loses tomorrow, NiP will qualify for the playoffs. If Alliance wins against Chicken Fighters, NiP will be eliminated from the competition.

Related: Vikin.gg eliminate Dendi and B8 from ESL One Los Angeles Online

Liquid used an interesting support combo in Grimstroke and Weaver for both games. The team augmented the already slippery Weaver with Ink Swell, providing the hero with a further boost in movement speed and Ink Swell’s stun to initiate fights and pick off supports. It proved to be a dangerous combo that NiP fell victim to throughout the series.

Game one opened with a bizarre game of musical lanes. NiP had picked up the Dragon Knight, and Liquid responded with a lane counter in Monkey King. NiP answered with a Troll Warlord, a Monkey King counter due to the miss chance on melee Whirling Axes.

Liquid wanted the Monkey King against the Dragon Knight, while NiP wanted the Troll vs. Monkey matchup. In order to secure an advantageous lane for their cores, the two teams proceeded to constantly move their heroes for the first few minutes with Chen’s Divine Favor and Town Portal Scrolls.

Unfortunately, it was NiP’s Jason “TANNER” Weedon that got the worst end of the trade. While it was interesting for a viewer to watch, TANNER’s Dragon Knight was forced to stack jungle camps and even fed first blood to Liquid.

TANNER had a hard time recovering, and the overfocus on lane swaps allowed Liquid’s qojqva to have a free game on the Lone Druid. Liquid quickly grouped around qojqva, using the Spirit Bear as a wrecking ball to demolish their opponents.

From the get go, the second game was much less of a clownfest. NiP secured four bounty runes and looked to be running over the laning stage with a Templar Assassin, but Liquid had other ideas. 

Liquid destroyed NiP’s mid tower early on, using the additional map space for some breathing room. Once again, they relied on the Grimstroke and Weaver combo to create pressure.

One immense four-man stun later, Liquid managed to stop the Aegis from entering the hands of NiP’s Templar Assassin. With the game now firmly in Liquid’s favor, Liquid showed class and composure that they had not presented so far in the tournament, closing the game out in relative ease.