Ninjas in Pyjamas claim the first spot in the Grand Finals of MLG X Games by defeating Fnatic in a very close semifinals match.
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The map pick was very interesting, judging the by the comments it went slightly into Fnatic's favor. Ninjas in Pyjamas removed de_overpass, while Fnatic removed de_cobblestone and picked de_cache. NiP went for de_inferno pick and the random choice fell into de_mirage to be the third map.
As de_cache was Fnatic's map of choice, NiP chose to start on a more favored CT side. They won the pistol round, but Fnatic immediately returned by winning the next one and turning it around to 3-1 in their favor. The first half was back and forth, but in the end Fnatic could have been more happier with the score of 6-9. The second pistol round was won once again by NiP, and Fnatic had to wait for the first full buy to claim their first round in the second half. At the score of 14-14, GeT_RiGhT made an insane clutch. NiP rushed in the A site being in a full eco and planted the bomb where in the end everything fell on GeT_RiGhT who managed to pick up an awp and win the round 1v3 to bring to his team at match point we they eventually won the first map with the score of 16-14.
The second map, de_inferno was like a mirror of the first one with just reversed roles. Fnatic started on the CT side not in a great fashion finishing the first half with an only 1 round lead, 8-7. It was looking like NiP would just walk away with a 2-0 win in the series, however pronax just blew them away strategy wise, making insane fakes and turning the match around. At the score of 15-12 for Fnatic, NiP was pushed to a force buy to keep themselves in this map, and they prevailed with Friberg going totally insane on banana making 4 kills and stopping Fnatic's rush. However, Fnatic returned the favor with a tec9 rush winning the last round to make it 16-14.
The final map of this duel was one of the Fnatic's favorite, de_mirage. They even had that luxury to start it on a CT side, but NiP didn't allow them to make a lot of space there, as they took an early lead by winning a pistol round and making it 4-1 in their favor. In the end they had almost a perfect score at the end of the first half, finishing it 6-9 on T side against Fnatic. The second half was even closer; Fnatic showed some amazing entries at the site, especially at the B one with Tec-9's, however in the crucial moments of the game Maikelele made some critical shots and kept his team in the game which in the end resulted with the win of 16-12.
In the winner's interview GeT_RiGhT expressed his feelings, saying that he felt happy after this win and on the question who will win the other semi final match, he couldn't give an answer, pointing out that all the matches were so close yesterday so both teams have a chance of advancing. In the end he turned back to this match and said how it was a very tight one.
Ninjas in Pyjamas will now wait for their opponent who will come from the match between Team LDLC and Team Dignitas, while Fnatic will play against the loser of that match in the bronze medal match.
Remaining schedule for Day 2:
03.00 CET - Team LDLC vs Team Dignitas - Bo3
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