This year’s edition of Dreamhack Malmö has lived up to the hype so far.

The Ninjas in Pyjamas have shown up in championship-winning form. Meanwhile, the major champions on the rocks Gambit fended off FaZe Clan’s advances. Astralis moved on to the quarterfinals unscathed. However, their Brazilian counterparts SK Gaming dropped a map to Valde’s North. With the tournament moving into the arena today, this article will highlight some of the insane plays that occurred in the group stages.

William “draken” Sundin’s ridiculous 1v2 clutch

The Ninjas in Pyjamas have been in dire need of a flashy dedicated AWPer for well over a year now. The Swede is NiP’s highest rated player at the tournament so far and is the biggest factor as to why they look so strong. It’s clear to see why fans are in awe over this clip – to get the second kill with his crosshair that distance away with that little time is something we likely won’t see again for some time. The play was even huge in the context of the game. Sundin kept Gambit off of match point, allowing the Ninjas to push the game into overtime. I can’t imagine the scene if this happened in the Malmö Arena.

Richard “shox” Papillon’s pistol 1v2

This clip is a glimpse of Shox’s true form for those who haven’t been around too long. Not only is the killing blow a nice flick onto the jumping counter-terrorist, but the decision to even go for the kill makes it so much greater. The Frenchman decides to get off the bomb with three seconds left. 99 times out of 100 in that situation, the terrorist would be left standing around after giving up the round, but not Shox. Lucas’s decision to jump peek for information is one that he will certainly be regretting now.

Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s 1v5 clutch

By now it’s no secret that I’m a bit of a s1mple fan boy and this clip tells you why. Not only does he demonstrate his raw skill by instantly trading three of his teammate’s deaths, he shows off his game sense. He makes a quiet but swift rotation to the A bomb site and then gives Nifty no chance by getting aggressive after planting. The clutch put Natus Vincere on map point and put any chance of a Renegades come back to bed.

Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund’s double wall bang on Cache

A vintage Ninjas in Pyjamas showing wouldn’t be complete without GeT_RiGhT. The clip had me reminiscing about the 1.6 days and in particular, 1.6 GeT_RiGhT. While it’s not uncommon for players to get kills through the garage door on Cache, it was made better that he kept teammate Rez alive, meaning they didn’t lose the B bomb site. A rare time where VAC was appropriate in Twitch chat.

Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer Gustafsson’s ninja defuse

Despite the new FaZe Clan not making the playoffs, they did leave us with a little parting gift. It came in the second half pistol which is incredibly important for obvious reasons. While it may not be one of the best ninja defuses we’ve seen in Counter-Strike history it is nice to see one every now and again. As caster Moses said on stream, usually when a sneaky defuse happens the pros get anxious about leaving the bomb too early for a while after.

You can ‘Like’ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles. If I missed any clips let me know on Twitter at @JackWrightIGL. Feature image courtesy of HLTV. Props to MrSpotter and DiFendo for uploading the clips to YouTube.

To continue enjoying great content from your favourite writers, please contribute to our Patreon account! Every little bit counts. We greatly appreciate all of your amazing support! #TGHPatreon