Legendary Swedish side NiP have secured a spot in the quarterfinals of MLG Columbus, and in doing so have retained their status as a “legend”—ensuring their spot in the next official Valve major.
Not bad for a team with a coach as a starting player.
NiP overcame Mousesports in a 201 victory at MLG Columbus to make it out of the group stage. Prior to their game against Mousesports, the team had defeated Flipsid3 19-17 in the tournament opener, and then fell to a loss against Brazilian Luminosity Gaming in the Group A upper bracket final. Their game against Mousesports was must-win, and the German side was sent home after their loss to NiP.
NiP strolled to victory on Cobblestone to take an early lead in the series, however Mousesports battled back on Cache to take the game to a third and final map. In the moment of truth it was none other than NiP coach and stand-in Bjorn “Threat” Pers carrying the squad. Threat had been the target in all previous games of the tournament—teams would try to single him out and exploit his lack of technical ability—however on Overpass he managed to put up 20 kills. That’s one more kill than Chris “ChrisJ” De Jong and Johannes “Nex” Maget combined.
With their progression to the knockout stages secured, NiP will go on to face Na’Vi in the quarters at the Nationwide Arena. The winner of their match will be going up against either Fnatic or Astralis, so a little more of that NiP magic may be needed… and if Threat could keep up this level of form it certainly wouldn’t hurt them.
