NiP is back in the playoffs of an S-tier CS2 tournament for the first time in over a year.
G2 has been left to lick their wounds at PGL Astana, with the visa-impacted squad left shaken by NiP at the final hurdle of the Swiss stage. NiP took the win 2-0 (13-10, 13-10), consigning G2 to an early flight to the U.S. in preparation for IEM Dallas and the Austin Major.
The win is huge for NiP, who storm back into the top 30 a year on from their last S-tier playoffs run at YaLLa Compass 2024.
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Young NiP squad show resilience with G2 sweep at PGL Astana
NiP's wins in Astana weren't super impressive to say the least, taking down an out-of-form Virtus.pro, underdogs HOTU, and now a G2 squad affected by stand-ins and visa issues — but it's a significant step in the right direction for the organization that has otherwise been irrelevant in CS2.
This was the debut of the new NiP squad at this level, and they held off a G2 fightback in the two-map series to join NaVi, MongolZ, Spirit, Astralis, and FURIA in the PGL Astana playoffs. Rafael "arrozdoce" Wing (35-30, 97 ADR, 1.28 HLTV rating) topped the charts for NiP.
NiP held a commanding 10-2 lead on Dust 2 before G2 began working their way back into the map on the CT side. A livewire performance from on-loan AWPer Olek "hades" Miskiewicz saw G2 inch back into the map, but the Polish sniper was unable to get the job done on his own.
It took the whole NiP team to complete the sweep on Nuke, with all five players recording double-digit kills in the 13-10 win that was capped by a brilliant four-kill closer by Ukrainian AWPer Artem "r1nkle" Moroz.
Rasmus "sjuush" Beck has led from the front for NiP in Astana this week, but when queried about whether he believed the squad would make it back to a tier-one playoff stage this soon, he wasn't shocked. "I wouldn't say I'm surprised," he said in the post-game recap on the analyst desk. "In the beginning it was looking a little bit rough but I could see the potential growing so, so fast."
"I knew when I joined the team I had to do more. I'm way more vocal, I setup a lot of rounds, I help Snappi with a lot of things... I think I play better because I have better roots in my life, more stability."
NiP came from 0-2 down in the Swiss stage, completing the reverse sweep over G2 to qualify for the playoffs. They'll resume play tomorrow as they push for a surprise title, while for G2, their PGL Astana campaign ends early.
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