With an emotional and cut throat end to IEM Oakland, NiP managed to steal the win from SK Gaming in the deciding 16-14 victory on de_cbble. A magical victory bolstered by the massive fan base of NiP, not to mention the raw emotion and dedication the players had put in to that game to be able to bounce back after getting smashed 16-5 on Train. The scene absolutely loves these guys and it’s hard not to after watching their performance in Oakland. But did they pick up the trophy in a convincing fashion? Or was it all down to luck on their part? In short, 50/50 from this point. Many different factors and events had to have happened to lead NiP to the final. Only managing to scrape out of the group stages after a 3-2 record for example and then potentially having to play a 3 way tie breaker with SK and Heroic had Heroic beaten Cloud9. Not to mention almost losing to FaZe in OT on Nuke and the close 16-14 final two maps with SK Gaming. Had any one of those events had gone differently, we could have been crowing SK the champions instead.

After this week, I finally understand what NiP magic actually is and why so many spectators and professionals around the world love these guys. It all boils down to just how likeable they are as a team; how gracious they are, the personality and style you can visibly watch while they play. It’s personable, nail-biting and great fun to watch. In stark comparison you can watch SK gaming or the old Fnatic, at peak, stomp their competitors and the show is, for lack of a better word, boring. They are the scenes true underdogs and Rocky Balboa’s that can never be counted out and although regarded as one of the most consistent teams in the world they always win these tournaments in a magical and fairy tale like fashion. Top #1 teams have come and gone, Envyus, Fnatic, SK Gaming but NiP are always there to challenge them.

NiP in no way closed this tournament in a clean fashion with one of the lowest ratings at an average 0.99 across all maps. But you could see how much this win meant for these guys as they break the streak in which a different team has won a big tournament in 7 months (NiP won Dreamhack Malmo around that time).

Stand out performance for me goes to Pyth, played an absolutely blinding tournament for his first back with the team after a long hiatus with a wrist injury and although many will argue F0rest was the MvP, and in no way would I disagree with them, I don’t think the win would have been possible without Pyth. He showed extreme resilience and pick up key frags in the face of total defeat keeping the team alive for that split second longer, allowing players like Friberg and F0rest to close out the game. After an abysmal performance through 2015-early 2016 and having taken the loss of their Legends status to heart, hopefully this is the NiP that is here to stay.