ESL One Cologne EU: NiP & G2 To Semis

The Ninjas in Pyjamas shocked fans with an incredibly strong display against Astralis. G2 had to go up against OG, who wound up becoming stronger each map. At the end, both teams managed to succeed in their Quarter Finals engagements and are now heading to the Semis.

G2 2-1 OG

On Nuke, G2 quickly ran away with a sizeable lead on their CT side. François “AmaNEk” Delaunay made sure that his team already had 12 rounds on the board at halftime. Despite the heroics of Mateusz “mantuu” Wilczewski, who was the strongest player on the server with a 1.41 rating, G2 achieved a 16-6 map victory.

OG appeared to be out of the fight, considering that Nuke had been their own pick. On Train, however, they finally found their groove. Settling for 10 rounds straight on the CT side, Aleksi “Aleksib” Viroulainen got 18 kills – with zero deaths! The final comeback of G2 to end the half 5-10 didn’t even matter at that point. On the T side, OG only needed to win a few more rounds to win the map on a 16-10 scoreline. Issa “ISSAA” Murad, who had finally awoken from his deep slumber, got 20 kills as well.

The match was now more or less equal leading into the deciding map. On Dust 2, the top players gave it their all. ISSAA broke the 30 bomb and on the other side of the playing field, Nemanja “nexa” Isaković secured 25 kills. After the first half, OG were leading 9-6. They wound up losing their advantage quickly, though. Still, they eventually reached the 15 points mark. This close to victory, they were unfortunately unable to get the last round win on the board. G2 fought through to overtime, where they eventually succeeded on a 19-17 scoreline.

NIP 2-0 ASTRALIS

Aside from their Opening Match against OG, NiP have definitely shown great form at ESL One Cologne. With Astralis, they had finally met an opponent that was maybe one or two levels above them. But the Swedes didn’t see it that way, instead they got onto the attack. In the first half of Train, the teams fought an incredibly close duel. With 8 rounds on the T side, however, NiP had amassed a gigantic advantage. This forced Astralis into the offense, where the Danes had to scour for entries and openings into the rounds. Unable to do so, they conceded the map with 10-16.

On Inferno, they met a similar fate, despite giving a strong impression on the T side this time around. Overall, the Ninjas were just a tiny bit better and managed to secure enough rounds on their own T side for a 16-13 victory. Should we really fault Astralis for not playing to their usual level with two new players and an entirely new leadership structure? Lucas “Bubzkji” Andersen had a particularly bad day, but Patrick “es3tag” presented himself in full force. Following the return of Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander, the players will regain their tactical backbone and be able to shine individually again.

The pairings for the Semi Finals are thus locked in. G2 Esports are going up against Heroic, whom they had beaten already during the Group Stage. Back then, it was an incredibly narrow affair and G2 only succeeded with a 19-17 victory on the last map. The Ninjas are bound to face Vitality, who have recently lost to Astralis. While this isn’t a guarantee for the Ninjas, it can sure give them some reassurance. The Semi Finals are coming up tomorrow and the Grand Finals will commence Sunday evening.