OG’s attack was too much for Ninjas in Pyjamas to handle on Mirage.
The final two IEM Summer best-of-ones have been played, with OG and Virtus.pro defeating Ninjas in Pyjamas and fnatic, respectively, giving way to the best-of-three series.
fnatic, who have had a troublesome season so far and have plummeted in the rankings all the way to being on the verge of falling out of the top 30, were no match for Virtus.pro in their opener on Vertigo.
In the other server OG and Ninjas in Pyjamas played a close first half on Mirage, but it was finally the Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen-led team that outmatched their opponents on the attack.
"We know that we’re going to win after the first few rounds when everyone is talking, everyone is happy, everyone is smiling." Shahar "flameZ" Shushan said when asked about the positive atmosphere perceived in the OG side. "The most basic things affect so much in the game."
mantuu ended the match against NIP with 107.5 ADR
Ninjas in Pyjamas broke OG by winning a second round forcebuy, taking a 2-1 lead, but the European combine quickly restabilized on the defense to go up 5-2 until a set piece on a forcebuy got the Swedish team right back in contention in an extremely close half that ended up with Mateusz "mantuu" Wilczewski and company in the lead, 8-7. OG then charged ahead on the attack, making what had been a tight map into a one-sided affair, giving up just two rounds on the way to a 16-9 victory.
Virtus.pro were quick out of the gate on the attacking side of Vertigo, giving up only two rounds in the first half as fnatic failed to put up a strong CT side. The Swedes kept the map going on the attacking side and made an attempt to correct their abysmal first half, even reaching double digits, but were unable to turn the map around as Dzhami "Jame" Ali and Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis powered their team to a 16-10 victory.
IEM Summer 2021Best of 1 Ninjas in PyjamasMatchpage 9 16 3rd June 2021 OG 9Mirage 16
Ninjas in Pyjamas
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Fredrik 'REZ' SternerREZ
17 - 20
-3
83.1
1.12
Hampus 'hampus' Poserhampus
18 - 17
+1
79.1
1.09
Nicolai 'device' Reedtzdevice
16 - 18
-2
63.4
1.00
Linus 'LNZ' HoltängLNZ
13 - 16
-3
63.2
0.88
Nicolas 'Plopski' Gonzalez ZamoraPlopski
11 - 18
-7
43.8
0.61
OG
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewskimantuu
23 - 13
+10
107.5
1.61
Shahar 'flameZ' ShushanflameZ
23 - 16
+7
91.8
1.39
Nikolaj 'niko' Kristensenniko
18 - 17
+1
60.6
1.04
Aleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenAleksib
13 - 14
-1
69.4
0.98
Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn Vangsåvalde
11 - 15
-4
53.7
0.80
IEM Summer 2021Best of 1 fnaticMatchpage 10 16 3rd June 2021 Virtus.pro 10Vertigo 16
fnatic
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Jack 'Jackinho' Ström MattssonJackinho
18 - 16
+2
75.4
1.09
Ludvig 'Brollan' BrolinBrollan
17 - 19
-2
73.3
1.01
Freddy 'KRIMZ' JohanssonKRIMZ
16 - 22
-6
80.0
0.93
Jesper 'JW' WecksellJW
15 - 23
-8
65.0
0.71
Maikil 'Golden' SelimGolden
10 - 19
-9
44.1
0.62
Virtus.pro
K - D
+/-
ADR
Rating 2.0
Dzhami 'Jame' AliJame
26 - 11
+15
105.0
1.70
Mareks 'YEKINDAR' GaļinskisYEKINDAR
23 - 17
+6
89.7
1.36
Alexey 'Qikert' GolubevQikert
20 - 16
+4
71.5
1.18
Sanjar 'SANJI' KulievSANJI
18 - 18
0
79.2
1.08
Timur 'buster' Tulepovbuster
12 - 17
-5
58.3
0.81
OG will face Virtus.pro next in the Group B upper bracket, while Ninjas in Pyjamas and fnatic will go up against each other in the lower bracket, but before that the tournament will continue with Gambit taking on Vitality for a spot in the playoffs and Sprout playing Complexity for survival in the upcoming round of matches.