NiP beat OpTic twice in Atlanta

Week two of ELEAGUE Season 1 began with an intercontinental clash between OpTic Gaming, riding the wave after winning the Americas Minor Championship, and Ninjas in Pyjamas, who recently took third-fourth at the ESL Pro League Season 3 finals.

The first map was Cobblestone, where NiP (Terrorist), got out to a quick 3-0 lead. When we finally reached gun play, rounds finally started going OpTic's way, but their inability to string rounds together proved costly and allowed NiP to take control of the economy.

NiP gain two points in Atlanta 

The Swedes continued in the driving seat, with the scoreline blooming to an 11-2 advantage before OpTic secured the final two rounds of the half to reduce the deficit to seven rounds and keep their hopes alive.

But sadly for the Canadian team, there was no comeback for them, as NiP controlled the pace of the game in the second half and took five rounds in a row to cruise to a comfortable 16-4 success.

Ninjas in Pyjamas	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Christopher 'GeT_RiGhT' AlesundGeT_RiGhT	22 - 11	+11	114.8	1.76
Richard 'Xizt' LandströmXizt	16 - 9	+7	88.0	1.59
Adam 'friberg' Fribergfriberg	16 - 13	+3	88.8	1.34
Patrik 'f0rest' Lindbergf0rest	14 - 9	+5	72.4	1.25
Jacob 'pyth' Mourujärvipyth	12 - 10	+2	52.6	1.06

OpTic	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Oscar 'mixwell' Cañellasmixwell	16 - 15	+1	79.2	1.08
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	10 - 18	-8	68.1	0.75
Peter 'stanislaw' Jarguzstanislaw	9 - 15	-6	62.0	0.71
William 'RUSH' WierzbaRUSH	10 - 16	-6	52.9	0.70
Damian 'daps' Steeledaps	7 - 16	-9	42.9	0.43

The map that followed was Train, where OpTic, who began on the CT side, stopped NiP's B push in the pistol round with a triple kill from William "⁠RUSH⁠" Wierzba and followed it up with an anti-eco round. But the momentum of the game changed completely once NiP's players got AKs in their hands.

On two occasions, OpTic were able to cut the gap to just two rounds, but NiP were simply dominant during the final stages of the half and took a 10-5 lead heading into the CT side.

mixwell put in great numbers, but it was just not enough

NiP piled more pressure on OpTic and won the pistol round in convincing fashion, with Patrik "⁠f0rest⁠" Lindberg getting three headshots to his name. After a lengthy break due to technical problems, the Swedes were back at it again and won the next four rounds to reach match point.

Down 5-15, OpTic had no margin for error, and they desperately clung on to life, winning five rounds in a row. But it was simply too little, too late as NiP secured the following round to pick up one more point in Atlanta.