NiP to grand final over Virtus

NiP have made their fourth consecutive major final with a 2-1 (22-18 de_nuke, 9-16 de_cache, 16-8 de_inferno) victory over Virtus.pro.

Virtus.pro started de_nuke in tip top form, as they won the opening pistol round as counter-terrorists and jumped to an early 3-0 lead despite NiP's second round force buy.

The Polish side ran up their lead to 7-0 with Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski winning a tough one-on-two before NiP could reply. However, the Swedes lost the next round with time running out in lower.

Still, Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg survived in the round where time expired and put up four AK-47 kills to win his team the next round. Then Virtus.pro stepped up and finished the half 12-3.

NiP won their defensive pistol round and also started the half up 40, but then Virtus.pro's CZ-75 buy proved fatal as they were able to take down all of NiP without any deaths.

Virtus won the next gun round in lower, and friberg's one-on-three effort with a Five-SeveN proved to be for nothing, as the Poles gained map point at a 15-7 score.

Virtus.pro had a strong start on de_nuke 

However, the Swedes refused to give in, and mounted a massive comeback that saw them steam roll the Poles for eight straight rounds to force overtime from an unthinkable position.

In the first overtime Virtus put up two terrorist side rounds, but NiP quickly did the same. They had a chance to close out the map against a broken Polish buy, but NiP's rush was stopped to force a second overtime.

The Swedes then put up an even more impressive effort as terrorists, scoring three straight rounds. Virtus won the first two, including a Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski one-on-two, but eventually fell short 18-22.

To start de_cache pashaBiceps scored a quad kill to win his team the pistol round. NiP's won round four, but Virtus quickly broke their money three times in a row, forcing them to save.

Just like that NiP found themselves trailing 1-9 on the easier side of the map, so they adjusted by using double AWPs on Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg and Mikail "⁠Maikelele⁠" Bill.

Nothing seemed to work for NiP on de_cache 

The fresh setup paid dividends instantly as NiP won three rounds in a row before splitting the final two, thus converting a lost cause into at least a plausible 5-10 deficit.

Second half it was Snax whose four pistol kills, and Virtus's defuse inside of a smoke in two-on-one, forced NiP on a save and gave the Poles a commanding 12-5 lead.

Double kills by Maikelele and Richard "⁠Xizt⁠" Landström forced NiP on a save, and NiP won the next gunround as well to get within four. Then it all unraveled with Virtus winning a save round in A.

NiP's save and a lost buy got Virtus.pro map point, and though NiP's force buy won them a round, this time Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski and company wouldn't let them back in, and closed the map 16-9.

Virtus.pro continued strong on de_inferno, as they opened the map with a pistol round win as terrorists. However, that's when it all started going devastatingly wrong.

NiP's force buy won round two with only pistols, and they survived a three-on-three afterplant in B next round. They then completele shut down Virtus in B to make it 4-1.

NiP make their fourth consecutive grand final 

Next round saw Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund score a quad kill, and add insult to injury with a knife kill on Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas - a fitting reveng after Snax had knifed Maikelele in the previous map.

From that point on Virtus never really stood a chance as they hardly even came close to winning a round. Maikelele and friberg split the frags to make it 10-1 shortly after.

Despite their best efforts the Poles were simply outmatched on de_inferno, and could not win a second round in the half, thus forced to change sides at a 1-14 deficit.

The Poles attempted a comeback of their own in the second half, and were off to a good start as they won the first four rounds. However, Maikelele clutched a one-on-one on a save round to give NiP game point.

Virtus still won the next few rounds to keep their hopes alive for a while longer, but then Maikelele's two AWP kills secured NiP a 16-8 victory in the B bombsite. DreamHack Winter 2014Best of 3 Ninjas in PyjamasMatchpage 2 1 29th November 2014 Virtus.pro 22Nuke 20 9Cache 16 16Inferno 8

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Adam 'friberg' Fribergfriberg	80 - 61	+19	-	1.29
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	66 - 64	+2	-	1.01
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	65 - 63	+2	-	0.98
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	57 - 63	-6	-	0.89
Mikail 'Maikelele' BillMaikelele	51 - 58	-7	-	0.84

Virtus.pro	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 1.0
Janusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiSnax	70 - 59	+11	-	1.13
Paweł 'byali' Bielińskibyali	71 - 65	+6	-	1.07
Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskipashaBiceps	65 - 63	+2	-	1.02
Filip 'NEO' KubskiNEO	51 - 66	-15	-	0.78
Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasTaZ	52 - 66	-14	-	0.76

NiP have now guaranteed themselves a spot in the grand final of DreamHack Winter. They will face the winner of the second semi-final between Na`Vi and LDLC.

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 506 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.66 Richard 'Xizt' Landström Age: 23 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 563 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 27 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.04 Maps played: 504 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.65 Mikail 'Maikelele' Bill Age: 23 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 170 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.63 Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' Alesund Age: 24 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.27 Maps played: 566 KPR: 0.84 DPR: 0.58 Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 21 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 338 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.62 Adam 'friberg' Friberg Age: 23 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 560 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.64 Patrik 'f0rest' Lindberg Age: 26 Team: Ninjas in Pyjamas Rating 1.0: 1.23 Maps played: 557 KPR: 0.83 DPR: 0.61 Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 26 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 466 KPR: 0.78 DPR: 0.68