NiP are not out of the fight just yet.
NiP are not out of the BLAST Premier Fall Groups just yet. The Ninjas had a good showing against Cloud9 on Aug. 1 and advanced to the consolidation Group C finals against FaZe Clan.
The two CS2 teams clashed at the Group C lower bracket final of BLAST Premier Fall Groups, and NiP came out on top following a reverse sweep.
This result means Cloud9 are eliminated from BLAST Premier Fall Groups and will have to play well at the Showdown to qualify for the Fall Finals, while NiP can still secure one of the Fall Final spots in the Fall Groups depending on their next results.
BLAST Premier Fall Groups: NiP 2-1 Cloud9
Game | Map | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mirage | Cloud9 13-4 NiP |
| 2 | Ancient | NiP 13-11 NiP |
| 3 | Anubis | NiP 13-11 |
Cloud9 shine on Mirage
Despite winning the pistol round, NiP failed to get the ball rolling and lost all the momentum early on after Cloud9's support player Timofey "interz" Yakushin got a beautiful, albeit unlikely, ace clutch.
That round broke NiP's morale and Cloud9 won the first half by 8-4. Once Cloud9 switched to the CT side, they finished the work quickly without conceding a single round to NiP. Interz, Sergey "Ax1Le" Rykhtorov, and Nikita "HeavyGod" Martynenko led the way for Cloud9 with 47 frags in total, while only Artem "r1nkle" Moroz finished with a positive KD on NiP. The Ukrainian got 17 frags, more than anyone in the match, even though NiP got demolished.
Related articles
NiP force the decider after narrow win on Ancient
Though this map could have gone Cloud9's way in the end, it was NiP's best map in the tournament. The Ninjas built a good advantage early on thanks to a powerful T-side in the first half, which granted them eight rounds.
As much as Cloud9 nearly took the game to overtime thanks to a great T-side of their own, NiP didn't collapse and ran away with a narrow 13-11 victory on Ancient. R1nkle was once again their best player as he grabbed 19 kills this time around.
NiP survive the battle on Anubis
Both teams delivered quite an entertaining match on Anubis. The first half saw NiP and Cloud9 tie 6-6 as both of them were decent, however, we all know that Anubis considerably favors the T-side, and thus Cloud9 probably needed more than six points.
NiP won a couple of crucial rounds on the T-side on the second half that kept Cloud9's economy in a bad state. This ultimately hurt their buy rounds and NiP kept their cool to close the series with another 13-11 victory. R1nkle didn't shine as much, but NiP had Fredrik "REZ" Sterner to make up for him, and the veteran delivered 24 frags on Anubis.
With this result, NiP will come back to the BLAST Premier Fall Groups servers on Aug. 2 at 8 a.m. PT to play against FaZe Clan. The winner will face G2 in the Group C finals on Aug. 3.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more BLAST Premier Fall Groups 2024 coverage.