Photo Credit: HLTV
The veteran team of Ninjas in Pyjamas has once again added another trophy to their wide cupboard as they took StarSeries Season 2 Finals by storm. In addition, they took home the grand prize of $130,000. NiP dropped only 1 map throughout the tournament and did not lose a single series to win their title. Also, NiP played with a stand-in, Maikelele, as one of their players was recovering from a wrist injury. G2 took second place while dignitas and Cloud9 took 3rd/4th.
Groups
Photo Credit: HLTV
NiP’s first group stage match was played on Cache while their second was on Overpass. Their first opponent was the CIS mix team of Hellraisers. Despite going down 6-9 as the Terrorist, the Ninjas put up a stone wall on defense as they grabbed a nine round streak before losing their first round. The game was quickly finished as they immediately answered back to close out the game.
Their second group stage match was against the newly rebranded GODSENT, with three of the five members of the dominant Fnatic legacy. Once again, the Ninjas put up a solid defense against their fellow countrymen as they blitzed through them 16-5 to move on as the first seed of their group.
Quarterfinals
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NiP’s quarterfinals match-up was against the Danish super-team of Astralis. The Danes came out strong and actually took Cache off of NiP, the map where they had won against Hellraisers on in the group stages. Things started to go downhill as Astralis rattled off an 11-4 Counter-Terrorist half on Dust II, a notoriously Terrorist-sided map. However, NiP answered back with an almost flawless CT half of their own to take the second map and push the series into Overpass. Astralis’ journey ended here as NiP started off with another strong CT half, going up 12-3. The lead was enough as they quickly rattled off a quick four round streak after losing the second half pistol round.
Semifinals
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Cloud9 had recently picked up autimatic and become a very formidable team, easily defeating all of their regional opponents back in the United States. They were the team that stood in the way of NiP’s berth to the finals. The match kicked off on Dust II, where NiP got to showcase their excellence on both sides of the map to win 16-9. Interestingly enough, it was Cloud9’s newest pickup of autimatic that performed the best for his team on this map.
The second match took place on Cobblestone which the Ninjas started on the Terrorist side. They crushed the Cloud9 defense by taking an 11-4 half to start off the map. The streak continued onto the second half as NiP won the pistol round to go up 14-4. A last minute comeback attempt by the Americans was not enough to deny NiP from closing out the map 16-7 and moving on to the finals.
Finals
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The Ninjas’ opponents for the finals was G2, one of the French teams that has recently been on a rise. Map 1 was NiP’s trusty Cache and they showed why it was their pocket pick as they smashed the French defense. They dropped only three rounds on the Terrorist side and four rounds on the Counter-Terrorist side to easily win the first map 16-7.
The second map was Overpass and the game started off in a tug-o-war manner as NiP and G2 traded streaks of rounds. G2 won the first three rounds, NiP grabbed the next three, and G2 countered with another three rounds of their own. After that, NiP managed to break away with a six round streak to end the half up 9-6. The second half began poorly for NiP as G2 caught up and even went ahead of them by two rounds. A five round streak quickly ended their worries as they secured three match points and overtime at the least. G2 won the next three rounds to deny the Ninjas an opportunity to close out the map in regular time. The first overtime ended indecisively as both teams took three rounds to take the map into second overtime. It was here that G2 collapsed as NiP rattled off four straight rounds to win the map and the tournament.