NiP send MIBR to BLAST Showdown

NIP came back from a map down to beat MIBR in three maps in Group A's lower bracket round, sending the Brazilians to the Showdown tournament.

The Swedish team stuttered at first but ended the series in cruise control in this keenly-contested affair against MIBR, who are the first side to fall to the last-chance Showdown stage of the new BLAST competition.

At first it looked like it would be a repeat of Friday's match against FaZe. NIP were a rabble and looked uncomfortable on their map pick, Train, where Gabriel "⁠FalleN⁠" Toledo showed glimpses of his old form with the AWP and Fredrik "⁠REZ⁠" Sterner mustered just two frags. But the Swedes improved greatly after that and were on the front foot for the majority of the next two maps, with Simon "⁠twist⁠" Eliasson and Tim "⁠nawwk⁠" Jonasson leading the charge for the team.

The defeat to a new team who are still trying to find their groove will certainly sting MIBR, who leave London after just two matches. This is the second setback of the year for the Brazilians, who had previously failed to qualify for IEM Katowice, and a deep run at their next event, the Dreamhack Open stop in Anaheim at the end of the month, will be an absolute must to stop the bleeding and appease the fans.

FalleN opened the action on Train with a 1v2 clutch to kick MIBR into an early lead, with the Brazilian side riding that momentum to a 7-1 score. NIP could not take advantage of the fact that they began the game on the highly-favored CT side and they constantly found themselves in 4v5 situations following a stinker of a half from REZ, who was constantly picked off by FalleN.

The Ninjas tightened up their defense and enjoyed a brief spell of dominance, but MIBR regained control of proceedings in the final stages of the half to secure a commanding 11-4 lead.

The second half began with nawwk almost pulling off a sensational a 1v2 clutch without any bullets in his Glock before MIBR managed to defuse the bomb in the nick of time. NIP responded on a force buy and had their best period of the game, but by then they were already too far behind to make a comeback as the Brazilians pressed on to the end the map.

NIP looked a different side on Vertigo - the same map where MIBR had pushed Liquid to overtime on Friday - and were in control during the early stages of the game. MIBR then got into their stride and dominated proceedings for a while, preventing their opponents from stringing rounds together, but the Swedes kept their defense very tight towards the end of the half to pick up an 8-7 lead, with Jonas "⁠Lekr0⁠" Olofsson topping the scoreboard for his team with 14 kills after a series of key rounds.

twist kept NIP in the lead with a 1v2 clutch in the pistol round, denying Epitacio "⁠TACO⁠" de Melo what would have been a spectacular 4K. The Swedes pressed on and kept MIBR's defense in check, with the scoreline blooming to a 13-7 advantage. The Brazilians still tried to respond, but their late comeback efforts fell short in the end.

It all came down to Inferno, which is historically one of MIBR's worst maps. The Brazilians struggled to get a footing in the game during the early stages, when twist ran rampant despite a couple of blunders with the AWP, but they fought back towards the end of the half to make it a competitive 6-9 scoreline.

NIP came out of the break with fire in their bellies and hit match point at 15-7 after running all over the Brazilian defense. FalleN's troops still attempted a comeback, but their efforts were in vain as the Swedes landed the finishing blow to move on to Sunday's consolidation final.