NiP advance to New Legends Stage over ViCi

Ninjas in Pyjamas have defeated ViCi 2-1 to secure their place in the New Legends Stage at IEM Katowice (16-7 on Train, 13-16 on Inferno, and 16-10 on Mirage).

The first game of the 2-2 pool featured Ninjas in Pyjamas and ViCi who kicked off the best-of-three series on Train. ViCi started the map on the CT-side and won the pistol as WingHei "⁠Freeman⁠" Cheung and ZhiHong "⁠aumaN⁠" Liu got double kills. Ninjas in Pyjamas responded in the fourth round, with Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg and Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner opening up the B-site (3-1).

aumaN and WeiJie "⁠zhokiNg⁠" Zhong's double kills in the following round made it 4-1 in ViCi's favor. f0rest picked up a triple kill in the sixth round, initiating a four-round streak for Ninjas in Pyjamas which gave them the lead (5-4). aumaN got an AUG quad kill in the tenth round to tie things up at 5-5 and ViCi secured two more to lead 7-5. Ninjas in Pyjamas won the last three rounds of the half to finish it 8-7 ahead.

NiP are through to the next stage

f0rest played a crucial role in the second pistol as he picked up three kills in a 2vs3 post-plant. The Swedish squad had an impeccable CT-side campaign and earned eight match points after Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson and Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund clutched a 2vs4 in the 22nd round. The Ninjas closed out the map swiftly as REZ secured the victory with a triple kill (16-7).

Inferno started with ViCi winning the first three rounds without much trouble on the T-side. The Chinese team made it four in a row after aumaN and Andrew "⁠kaze⁠" Khong clutched a 2vs4. Ninjas in Pyjamas got on the scoreboard in the sixth round and followed it up with four more to tie the game at 5-5. f0rest's incredible ace gave the lead to Ninjas in Pyjamas who went on to finish the first half 8-7 in front.

ViCi have gone out with a 2-3 record

ViCi came out on top in the second pistol round and reclaimed the lead after aumaN won a 1vs2 in the following round (9-8). Ninjas in Pyjamas took their first round on the T-side during a force buy but ViCi extended their lead to 14-9 to respond. Lekr0 kept Ninjas in Pyjamas in the game with a 1vs3 clutch in the 24th round but ViCi managed to finish it off in the 29th round by winning a 3vs3 post-plant on the B-site (16-13).

GeT_RiGhT won a 1vs2 and got a quad kill to kick off Mirage as the T-sided Ninjas in Pyjamas took the pistol round victory. After losing the first weapon round, Ninjas in Pyjamas hit back swiftly with a force buy to make it 3-1. ViCi weren't able to string together more than two rounds and the Swedes won the half 11-4.

ViCi managed to get the bomb down on the B-site in the second pistol round but Ninjas in Pyjamas's successful retake extended their lead to 12-4 and the Swedish side won the map with a 16-10 final scoreline, taking the series 2-1 and punching their ticket to the New Legends Stage.

IEM Katowice 2019 Challengers StageBest of 3 Ninjas in PyjamasMatchpage 2 1 17th February 2019 ViCi 16Train 7 13Inferno 16 16Mirage 10

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	63 - 49	+14	85.6	1.27
Jonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonLekr0	55 - 48	+7	76.7	1.18
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ	58 - 52	+6	78.1	1.15
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	54 - 53	+1	78.2	1.13
Dennis 'dennis' Edmandennis	51 - 51	0	65.1	0.96

ViCi	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
ZhiHong 'aumaN' LiuaumaN	65 - 54	+11	86.3	1.12
Andrew 'kaze' Khongkaze	56 - 55	+1	82.8	1.10
WingHei 'Freeman' CheungFreeman	60 - 60	0	81.5	1.09
WeiJie 'zhokiNg' ZhongzhokiNg	43 - 57	-14	68.1	0.83
Zhuo 'advent' Liangadvent	28 - 56	-28	46.3	0.65

The New Challengers stage 3W - 0L NRG Renegades 3W - 1L Vitality AVANGAR ENCE 3W - 2L Ninjas in Pyjamas 2W - 2L TYLOO Winstrike G2 Cloud9 2W - 3L ViCi 1W - 3L FURIA fnatic Vega Squadron 0W - 3L Spirit Grayhound Andrew 'kaze' Khong Age: 24 Team: ViCi Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 425 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.62 WingHei 'Freeman' Cheung Age: 19 Team: ViCi Rating 1.0: 1.19 Maps played: 478 KPR: 0.81 DPR: 0.64 Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Age: 28 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 1493 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.64 ViCi #35 Zhuo 'advent' LiangWeiJie 'zhokiNg' ZhongZhiHong 'aumaN' LiuAndrew 'kaze' KhongWingHei 'Freeman' Cheung Ninjas in Pyjamas #14 Patrik 'f0rest' LindbergChristopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundDennis 'dennis' EdmanJonas 'Lekr0' OlofssonFredrik 'REZ' Sterner WeiJie 'zhokiNg' Zhong Age: 25 Team: ViCi Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 813 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.70 ZhiHong 'aumaN' Liu Age: 24 Team: ViCi Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 481 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.67 Jonas 'Lekr0' Olofsson Age: 25 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 704 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66 Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Age: 30 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1464 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.65 Fredrik 'REZ' Sterner Age: 21 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 728 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.66