Ninjas in Pyjamas are through to the semi-finals at ESL One Katowice following a 2-1 victory over Team SoloMid (16-8 on de_dust2, 4-16 on de_inferno and 16-12 on de_nuke.)

On de_dust2, NiP, who began on the Terrorist side, got the start they needed as they won the opening four rounds of the half thanks to a triple kill from Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg in the pistol round and some quality sniper work from Aleksi "⁠allu⁠" Jalli with the Scout and the AWP afterwards.

The fifth round then went to Team SoloMid as NiP ran out of time to plant the bomb, but the Swedish team immediately regained control of the match and restored a four-round lead.

In the seventh round, Team SoloMid denied a mid-B split from NiP, which allowed Finn "⁠karrigan⁠" Andersen’s men to cut the gap to 3-6. Two more rounds then went NiP’s way, but the Swedes’ streak was cut short after they failed to sell a mid fake. Still, that did not stop the ESL One Cologne champions from winning the remaining rounds, the last of which thanks to an amazing 1-on-3 clutch from Christopher "⁠GeT_RiGhT⁠" Alesund in the A site.

In the second half, NiP got off to a great start as they denied Team SoloMid's A push from long, despite Peter "⁠dupreeh⁠" Rasmussen getting three kills to his name, but then the Swedish team were taken by surprise in the first anti-eco round.

NiP replied immediately after and took the score to 14-5, but then TSM found a lifeline after executing a mid-B split. Two more rounds then went to the Danish team, who were, however, unable to prevent their opponents from closing the map out at 16-8.



f0rest topped the scoreboard on de_dust2

Next up was de_inferno, where TSM, who began on the Terrorist side, came out the brighter following a textbook B push in the pistol round. NiP came close to winning the second eco round, but a 1v3 clutch from dupreeh kept TSM in the driving seat.

The first gun round also went TSM’s way following a B push, but then NiP broke the Danes’ momentum with just a little piece of equipment. Still, the Swedish team were immediately pegged back following yet another B entry from their opponents.

A 1v3 clutch from Andreas "⁠Xyp9x⁠" Højsleth in B in the next round enlarged TSM's lead to 6-1 and forced NiP to go on eco. In the following gun round, Adam "⁠friberg⁠" Friberg put his team back in the game with four kills, but the former dignitas team kept piling the pressure on their opponents and took the score to 9-3.

NiP scored their fourth round of the half thanks to a mid-banana push, but they were unable to capitalize on that as TSM won the final two rounds of the half with ease.

Things went from bad to worse for NiP right after as they were completely obliterated in the pistol round following a mid push towards archside, and in the first gun round they were aback by a stunning Famas ace from Xyp9x in B, which powered TSM to secure an impressive 16-4 lead and tie the series 1-1.



Xyp9x was on fire on de_inferno

It all came down to de_nuke, where NiP were able to capitalise on the fact that they started on the highly-favoured CT side as they picked up the first three rounds of the map. The first gun round then went to TSM, who executed a great entry into the upper site, but NiP regained control of the proceedings and took the score to 5-1.

A secret push with smokes and flashes towards the Lower site then put TSM back in the game and powered them to equalise the score on five rounds. The rest of the half was a really close affair, with NiP eventually taking a 9-6 lead into the second half.

Now playing on the Terrorist side, NiP tried to rush the lower site in the pistol round but it went horribly wrong for them, which allowed TSM to reduce the gap to just two rounds. Nevertheless, the Swedish team refused to give up and won three consecutive rounds, taking the score to 12-7 in their favour.

TSM then embarked on a five-round winning streak to level the score, which served as a wake-up call for NiP, who picked up four rounds in a row to seal passage into the semi-final stage of the tournament.