Despite being pushed to three maps for the first time at ESL Pro League Season 15, Ninjas in Pyjamas remained the only unbeaten squad Friday thus far by winning their third match in three days.
NiP staked their claim as the top team in Group A by outlasting MOUZ 2-1. In other Group A action, Fnatic rallied to beat G2 Esports 2-1 and Entropiq swept winless LookingForOrg 2-0.
The 24-team event is divided into four groups. All teams will play each other one time in the group stage. The winners from each group will advance to the quarterfinals while second- and third-place teams advance to the Round of 12.
The winner of the $823,000 event earns $175,000 and entry to the BLAST World Final 2022. They’ll also garner 1,300 Pro Tour points.
NiP used an 11-2 run in their opening map to take Inferno 16-10, but MOUZ evened the match with a 19-16 overtime decision on Vertigo. MOUZ built a 7-1 lead in the final map (Mirage), but NiP stormed back for a 16-11 triumph. Sweden’s Fredrik “REZ” Sterner led all players with 68 kills and a plus-17 kills-to-deaths differential, while MOUZ was topped by Frenchman Nathan “NBK-” Schmitt and his 67 kills.
The day’s other three-map battle went to Fnatic, but not without drama as the victors dropped the first map to G2 16-14 on Inferno. But Fnatic used a late 8-2 spurt in that loss to catapult them for the rest of a dominant performance, winning 16-2 on Dust2 and 16-7 on Mirage. Fnatic was powered by Bulgaria’s Valentin “poizon” Vasilev and his match-high 79 kills and plus-29 K/D differental. Bosnia’s Nemanja “huNter-” Kovac had a team-best 53 kills for G2.
Entropiq used a 12-0 run to win 16-7 over LookingForOrg on Dust2, then finished the match with 10 straight scores in a 16-9 victory on Ancient. Aleksei “El1an” Gusev of Russia led a balanced Entropiq attack with 45 kills and a plus-23 K/D differential, while Euan “sterling” Moore had 34 kills and a team-best plus-1 K/D ratio for the all-New Zealand LookingForOrg unit.
Group A action continues Saturday with three matches:
Ninjas in Pyjamas vs. LookingForOrg
Fnatic vs. MOUZ
G2 Esports vs. Entropiq
Group A standings, score differential:
1. Ninjas in Pyjamas 3-0, +45
T2. Fnatic 2-1, +14
T2. Entropiq 2-1, +9
T4. MOUZ 1-2, -11
T4. G2 Esports 1-2, -12
6. LookingForOrg 0-3, -45
–Field Level Media