A long day to close out the Legends Stage of the BLAST Paris Major, the final CS:GO Major ever, ended in shocking fashion today when Apeks came back on two separate maps to stun a now-devastated Ninjas in Pyjamas roster.
With this victory, Apeks claim the final spot in the Champions Stage playoffs and will join Heroic, Vitality, Team Liquid, Monte, GamerLegion, Into The Breach, and FaZe Clan on stage at the Accor Arena.
Apeks claimed both wins today in overtime but forced OT on both Vertigo and Ancient after trailing big on both maps. On NiP’s pick of Vertigo, the Ninjas were up 8-2, but Apeks reduced that lead to just 9-6 before halftime. Both teams traded rounds back and forth all the way until overtime on Vertigo, where Apeks stole away the map.
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But NiP’s more disheartening collapse came on Ancient. The Ninjas at one point led 14-3 on Apeks’ map pick and had spent most of the first half yelling and hollering en route to what certainly looked like a third map. Apeks switched up their defense, rattling off eight straight rounds before headtr1ck clutched a vital one-vs-three round to give NiP 15. But Apeks were still able able to force overtime. NiP were shook and could not rally in overtime, falling 19-16 and ending their Major run in heartbreaking fashion.
While the rest of the NiP roster looked absolutely destitute as Apeks celebrated, the team’s in-game leader Aleksib couldn’t help but smile and said post-game it was because he was in a state of sheer disbelief regarding the result. “It feels unreal, I’m just smiling as I can’t believe it,” he told the interviewer. “I felt like we were better, we had great starts in both games and threw them away.”
Apeks closed the door on a wild Legends Stage, one that saw G2 get eliminated early, FaZe beat out NAVI in the final round, and Into the Breach become the first and last British team to make it to a CS:GO Major playoffs. The Major resumes with the Champions Stage in Accor Arena on May 18 at 8am CT, when Heroic face FaZe in the first quarterfinal.
