Coming into the tournament as heavy favourites, Team Spirit dominated Ninjas in Pyjamas to go 2-0 up in PGL Astana. This result puts them one win away from qualifying for the playoffs, and with little to no competition on the way, Spirit is in the perfect place to go all the way.
VETO
- Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Mirage
- Spirit removed Inferno
- Ninjas in Pyjamas picked Train
- Spirit picked Dust2
- Spirit removed Ancient
- Ninjas in Pyjamas removed Anubis
- Nuke was left over
Map 1: Train; Pick: NiP; Winner: Spirit
Winning the force buy after losing the pistol round, Spirit managed to get ahead of NiP to get going. NiP did manage to win a few rounds across the half, leading to a close scoreline before switching sides. Spirit did manage to extend the lead, winning the pistol round, but NiP almost levelled the scoreline before Spirit got back on the board. Both teams traded rounds for a while before Spirit outlasted NiP in an exchange of rounds to get the lead in the series.
Map 2: Dust2; Pick: Spirit; Winner: Spirit
A stellar start for Spirit saw them obliterating the NiP defence to go 11-1 up before NiP could start their offence. An underprepared NiP side was systematically picked apart by Spirit, with Donk leading the charge for them. NiP had little to no room to play in the first half, but they started the second one with two rounds to their name before Spirit took back control of the game. A no-nonsense approach from Spirit wasted no time in closing the map, thus going 2-0 in the group stage.
While NiP had a promising start to the tournament, facing what is arguably one of the top 3 teams would not have yielded a result different from the current one. With little experience to their name, NiP continues to impress with their youngsters, and now they need two more wins if they are to make it to the playoffs, but the cushion has dropped down to that of one match.