After almost exiting from the Faceit Europe Minor, the Ninjas in Pyjamas bounced back against Optic Gaming to claim redemption and earn the spot for the FACEIT Major: London 2018 alongside $30,000 prize money.

At the playoffs of the Europe Minor, NiP seemed to be the underdog in front of teams like ENCE, Optic Gaming and Sprout. The team met Optic Gaming for the first time in the semi-finals and at the end of the series it was NiP going into the lower bracket.

Losing now meant NiP was out of the event and it was almost a miracle as NiP edged out Sprout in a close best of three with the final map score 16-13. Moving on NiP met allu’s ENCE esports. The Finish squad didn’t bring much to the table and NiP was easily able to defeat the opponents with a 16-12 and 16-2 scoreline. However, the win itself was a huge burden release for the team as making it to the finals also meant securing a Major spot for them.

Moving on, Nip met Optic Gaming in the finals and it was their chance of redemption. The first map of the series was Dust2. While a pick from NiP, the map didn’t seem to be going their way as the first half ended with an 8-7 score in their favor. Switching sides, NiP’s Jonas “Lekr0” Olofsson stepped up and allowed his team a win in the pistol round which later lead them to a 13-7 scoreline. After losing one round, the team bounced back with a triple-AWP strategy to catch Optic off guard and allowed a victory to NiP.

In the next map, NiP had the momentum and despite being on T-side on Nuke, the team was able to make a 9-6 score in the first half. Going into the CT-side, NiP never gave an opening that Optic could bounce back from. On the back of some spectacular plays and defensive approach, NiP closed the map and won the Europe Minor.

This is a huge victory for NiP who have been desperate to make an impact and have been failing to win an event for almost a year. After a series of disappointing results and roster changes, NiP finally seems to have found their groove, something Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund is certainly most happy with.